A PURPOSE OTHER THAN SELF:

'The Purpose-Driven Life' (ROB WALKER, April 11, 2004, NY Times)

One central message of the book ''The Purpose-Driven Life'' is this: ''It's not about you.''

Who wants to hear that? Millions of people, apparently. The book, published by a subsidiary of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation and written by Rick Warren, founder of Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif., is the No. 1 seller at religious bookstores tracked by the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association. It is also available in traditional bookstores and even Costco, and has been on the New York Times Advice best-seller list for more than 60 weeks; at the end of March, it was in the top spot.

''The Purpose-Driven Life'' is divided into 40 chapters, meant to be read one per day. It starts with a blunt dismissal of ''pop psychology, success-motivation'' and the entire self-help industry. In the end, you are instructed to ''abandon your agenda and accept God's agenda,'' which boils down to spreading the word about Christ. Even Lance Witt, Saddleback's spokespastor, seems puzzled that the book is a popular phenomenon. ''It's a very countercultural message,'' he says. ''It does cause us to scratch our heads and ask, 'So why are so many people buying this?' ''

Precisely the message that the anti-religious insist the religious do not buy, just because they don't buy it themselves.

Posted by Orrin Judd at April 14, 2004 7:27 AM