Terms like diversity and inclusivity and the use of gender-neutral pronouns may be fighting words in today’s culture wars, but a handful of religion publishers with forthcoming Bible-centered books for children see these as biblical values worth sharing with the next generation. They also see an audience.
“We noticed a gap in the marketplace for people who are looking for a more open-minded Bible for progressive Christians, one that is focused on love and justice,” says Naomi Krueger, Beaming Books senior acquisition editor. She commissioned the Just Love Story Bible (Sept.) for elementary school–age readers; in it, all the characters are depicted in what the authors call “rich shades of brown,” and Jesus exhorts his followers to love the stranger and to join him in “a movement of revolutionary love.”
Krueger says she intends the book to be “an antidote to Christian white supremacy.” “The illustrations are by a Black artist, Cheryl ‘Ras’ Thuesday,” she adds. “It’s written by a black pastor, Jacqui Lewis, and a white author, Shannon Daley-Harris, who has dedicated her life to justice. Its countercultural message is really appropriate for this time.”
Hodder Faith, an imprint of Hachette U.K. division Hodder & Stoughton, is set to publish Come and See: An Invitation to a Radical Encounter with Jesus (Sept.), a devotional for ages 11 and up by Shannon T.L. Kearns. He’s a transgender priest and a cofounder of Queer Theology, which Hodder Faith publishing director Andy Lyon calls “one of the biggest LGBTQ platforms in the church in the States.”
“If you want to take children into the Bible and still be respected as an LGBTQ person, there are not a lot of resources for you,” Lyon adds. “It’s called Come and See, because it’s about being seen and knowing you belong. You see Jesus and then Jesus sees you.”
At Westminster John Knox, executive editor Jessica Miller Kelley points to a book she created, Growing in God’s Love: A Family Devotional (Oct.), for adults and children ages five to 17 with a subtle lesson woven into its text. The only time the words mother or father appear are in passages from scripture. The language in the devotional commentary is “intentionally inclusive not only of gender diversity but also diversity in family structure, not assuming that the grown-ups and kids using the book together are biologically or even legally related and including devotions about chosen family and complicated family relationships,” Kelley says.
For now, religion publishers driving in the progressive lane are few and far between. And while more conventional Bible books for kids are forthcoming from evangelical and traditional Christian houses—including from major players like David C Cook and Zonderkidz—progressive publishers expect company. Krueger says readers will be very excited to find a progressive Bible storybook that validates the view that “there’s more than one way of being a Christian.”
