es needed to publish Sunday School curricula, Bible study resources,rnand theological treatises that reflected their own theologicalrndistinctiveness. Nondenominational tract societies, collegernstudent ministries, and other groups committed tornevangelism and the promulgation of the Christian faith alsornturned to publishing, a fitting medium particularly for thernstrongly Word-centered emphasis of Protestant evangelicalism.rnIn Michigan, a number of pious laymen of the Reformed persuasionrnstarted family businesses devoted to serving Christrnthrough what they published, companies such as William B.rnEerdmans, Fleming H. Revell, Baker Book House, and Zondervan.rnMany Christian publishers today still retain their denominationalrnidentity or missionary purpose. But the balance betweenrnmission and business is not always easy to keep. As the Christianrnpublishing industry grew and became more successful, itrnhad to face the iron laws of competition and the need for capital.rnIts economic success also attracted investors whose sole interestrnwas the bottom line.rnIn 1969, Sam Moore, who began as a door-to-door Bible salesman,rnbought Thomas Nelson, the venerable British publisherrnof the King James Version. To raise capital for the venture,rnhe went public, selling shares of his new company on the stockrnexchange. Mr. Moore kept the Thomas Nelson name, movedrnthe company to Nashville, and expanded its scope and its sales.rnAn updated translation of the 1611 classic, the New King JamesrnBible, was a hit with the Bible-buying public. Thomas Nelsonrnbranched out into fiction, popular scholarship, biographies,rnand inspirational titles.rnZondervan, a company with deep roots in the Calvinist traditionrn(which historically has usually distanced itself from thernrevivalism and emphasis on personal experience that characterizesrnmost American evangelicals) also hit it big with a Bible.rnThe New International Version, a new translation that aspiredrnto both accuracy and readability for modern readers, became arnrunaway best-seller. Zondervan, too, expanded its list to coverrnthe whole gamut of religious writing, from theological scholarshiprnand Bible-study aids to more popular titles on child-raisingrnand conversion narratives.rnAnother company, Word Publishers of Dallas, Texas, rodernthe wave of the charismatic movement of the I970’s with onerntop-seller after another. Though Word did not have a Bible tornpublish, it did have the new genre of “Contemporary ChristianrnMusic.” Word branched off into the recording industry,rnputting Christian lyrics to a rock ‘n’ roll beat and launchingrnmusic superstars of their own to a vast audience of Christianrnteenagers.rnBy the 1980’s, although a multitiide of other publishers werernturning out successful tides, Thomas Nelson, Zondervan, andrnWord had become “the big three” of Christian publishing.rnTheir success made them intriguing targets for secular investorsrnin this age of corporate mergers and takeovers. In 1984, Wordrnwas purchased by ABC, the television network (which itselfrnwould be purchased by Capital Cities in 1986). In 1988, Zondervanrnwas purchased by the publishing giant HarperCollins,rnwhich is part of the media empire of Rupert Murdoch, the Australianrnmogul whose holdings run from sleazy tabloids to thernFOX Television Network. (Yes, Rupert Murdoch owns therncopyright to the New International Version of the Bible.)rnThen the big three became the big two. In 1992, ThomasrnNelson bought Word from Capital Cities for $72 million inrncash. (This transaction kept Word from belonging to Disney,rnwhich bought Capital Cities in 1996, preventing the irony ofrnDisney-boycotters being published by a Disney conglomerate.)rnIn the terms of the merger, the two companies would retainrntheir separate names and catalogues, but NelsonAVord is now arnsingle corporate entity—owned not by a church, a ministry, orrna pious family but by stockholders trading on the New YorkrnStock Exchange.rnNow what is wrong with Rupert Murdoch and Wall Streetrntycoons owning the two biggest Christian publishers? In principle,rnnothing. In the labyrinthine maze of corporate ownership,rna company can still maintain its independence and itsrnprinciples regardless of who happens to hold its stock. And partrnof the conservatism that characterizes most evangelical Protestantsrnsurely includes a high respect for the free enterprise system,rnwith its entrepreneurship, profit-taking, and networks ofrnprivate property. Religion, however, is one of the few realmsrnthat is not enhanced by commercial considerations. As Christianity’srnfounder observed, no one can serve both God andrnMammon at the same time (Luke 16:13).rnFor one thing, publicly held corporations are not allowed torndiscriminate on the basis of religion in their hiring. Churchesrnand nonprofit religious groups can, of course, since they have arnFirst Amendment right to promote their religious identities.rnPractices taken for granted in religious ministries, such as hiringrnonly Christians, much less Christians holding particular religiousrndoctrines, suddenly becomes problematic.rnAnd then there is the pressure to turn a profit. ProclaimingrnGod’s Law and spreading the Gospel are never particularlyrnpopular—human beings rebel at the notion that they are sinners,rnand Christ and the message of salvation through His Crossrnare described in Scripture as scandals and stumbling blocks (1rnCorinthians 1:23). The temptation, then, is to make the messagernmore palatable to consumers, something easier to sell.rnNot surprisingly, then, conflicts broke out in the Christianrnpublishing industry with their new corporate masters. In 1992,rnfor example, managers at Zondervan led a group of employeesrnin an attempt to buy the company back from HarperCollinsrnand Mr. Murdoch. The goal, according to then-presidentrnJames Buick, was “to return the direction and control of therncompany into the Christian commimity.” The employee buyoutrnattempt failed, and HarperCollins solidified its control.rnWhile at first HarperCollins kept a hands-off approach, lettingrnZondervan operate as it always had, before long the parentrncompany started to interfere. A dictate was handed down thatrnZondervan must publish more books that sell more and fewerrnthat sell fewer. Academic lines were scrapped. Sales thresholdsrnwere established. Zondervan’s priorities shifted to the massmarket,rnto tides that would appeal to the broadest possible audience.rnConsider, for example, the autobiography of hamburgerrnmogul Dave Thomas, founder of Wendy’s. The book, appropriatelyrntitled Well Done!, is mildly inspirational —in the HoratiornAlger sense —but it has no explicitly Christian content.rnHarperCollins wanted to co-publish the book with Zondervan,rnand thus it was so. The book had huge promotional tie-ins withrnthe hamburger chain and was featured in nearly every Christianrnbookstore in the country.rnThe big two and the scores of smaller publishing companiesrncontinued to publish works of theological integrity. But the dynamicsrnof the industry started to change. The church-basedrnand family business publishers had a hard time competing withrnMAY 1998/25rnrnrn