by Leaf Arbuthnot, Telegraph
The church of St Bartholomew the Great near Smithfield, in London, has stood, in one form or another, since 1123. Though the number of people identifying as Christian in London has declined in recent years, St Bart’s has recently been drawing crowds of young people to its pews, so the Rev Marcus Walker tells me – and the youth are keeping him on his toes.
“I’m having to brush up on recent publications in theology,” he says. “People want to know things they didn’t 15 years ago, like, ‘Where can I read about Just War?’ and ‘What’s a good commentary on Galatians?’”
The thirst that Walker has observed among his congregation for books that explore Christian ideas seems to extend beyond St Bart’s walls. Last year, in Britain, there was a 10.5 per cent rise in the sales of books in the “Religion” category, according to Nielsen figures. Bible sales, in particular, are climbing to record highs – up 106 per cent since 2019.
A number of “shooting star” books have provided publishers with ample evidence that readers are interested – from the TV personality Bear Grylls’s The Greatest Story Ever Told, which topped hardback bestseller lists last year, to the mythographer Martin Shaw’s book about rediscovering God, Liturgies of the Wild, which has surged in the charts too.
In July, JD Vance, the US vice president, is due to publish a book about his conversion to Catholicism; more controversially still, the former Fox TV host Tucker Carlson recently announced that he was launching an imprint, and that one of its first books will be How to Become a Christian in Seven Days – by one Russell Brand.