This is offensive and I’m Jewish. Taking a club to freedom of speech and anything too non-Islamic.
Academic publisher suspends publication of ‘too Christian’ Encyclopedia(hat tip Urban Infidel)
CNA STAFF, Feb 12, 2009 / 03:37 am (CNA).- The scholarly publisher Blackwell is being accused of censorship for suspending the publication of the “too Christian” Encyclopedia of Christian Civilization and seeking to destroy existing copies pending a full revision of the text. The encyclopedia’s Editor-in-Chief is filing two lawsuits against the company to require the encyclopedia be published without removing its “Christian content, tone and character.”
George Thomas Kurian, Editor-in-Chief of the Encyclopedia of Christian Civilization (ECC), has circulated a letter protesting Blackwell’s actions, which he calls a “looming crisis” in the publication of the work.
According to Kurian, the ECC was completed in 2008 a year ahead of schedule and in four volumes instead of the original three.
“It was edited, copyedited, fact checked, proofread and finally approved by Blackwell’s editorial team,” he wrote, saying the completed work was launched at the American Academy of Religion and the Society of Biblical Literature where it received “high praise.”
Kurian said the EEC was “lauded and praised” by Miami University Prof. Edwin Yamauchi and Notre Dame Prof. Mark Noll.
On the Amazon.com web page for the ECC, Prof. Yamauchi said the work “promises to be an exceedingly valuable reference work” and is “nearly exhaustive in scope” providing articles on broad topics like the “Roman Catholic Church” and giving “succinct analysis” of themes such as “Christian existentialism.”
He writes that the ECC also provides a “cornucopia” of maps, charts and appendices.
According to Amazon.com, Prof. Noll said the “thoughtfully conceived” ECC presents “authoritative articles, sensible bibliographies, and consistently illuminating treatments.”
Kurian claimed that some members of the ECC editorial board determined that the encyclopedia’s introduction and many of the entries were “too Christian, too orthodox, too anti-secular and too anti-Muslim and not politically correct enough for being used in universities.”
He alleged that “under mounting pressure from the powerful anti-Christian lobby” Blackwell Religion publisher Rebecca Harkin and Editorial Director Phillip Carpenter agreed with the critics’ assessment, suspended publication of the ECC, and began proceedings to pulp the entire edition of several thousand copies of the four-volume ECC set.
Reader Andrew sent me this:
Thanks for making the post about the “too Christian” rejection by Blackwell Publishers.
I go to Hartford Seminary, and Hartford Seminary published their journal, The Muslim World, through Blackwell. Blackwell is very pro-Moslem, and sometimes nasty to Christians. As an example, the Muslim World journal, which used to be a major source for Christian missionaries to express arguments against Islam and for Christianity as well as western civilization, has completely reversed. It’s now chaired by Dr. Yahya Michot (a.k.a. Nasreddin Lebaltier- look up his name online), who is very anti-Christian (I know- I had class with him). It also has very close ties to Dr. Ingrid Mattson, ISNA president and Hamas operative (I also had class with her).
Blackwell has become essentially a Moslem-sympathist publisher, and I’m afraid from my standpoint in Islamic Studies, it’s only time before it’s a Moslem publishing house.
