Other books, DVDs and TV shows on religious themes

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Books about Jesus, God and religion always have sold steadily, but in recent years several individual works of fiction and nonfiction have seen explosive sales. After several years of steady growth, January saw a spike in sales of religious books — a 35 percent increase over comparable 2003 figures.

Here are some religion-based books that have become literary blockbusters:

"The Da Vinci Code" by Dan Brown (Doubleday). This tale of a murder mystery with links to Jesus and Mary Magdalene, the Holy Grail and sinister secret religious societies is a publishing phenomenon — 6.65 million copies sold since it was published a year ago this week, and it's been translated into 40 languages. Movie rights have been sold to the producers of "A Beautiful Mind."

"Glorious Appearing: The End of Days (Left Behind No. 12)" by Tim F. Lahaye and Jerry B. Jenkins (Tyndale House). The 12th and final installment in this series based on the biblical apocalypse is due in bookstores March 30. It has an initial print run of 1.9 million copies, based on prior sales of 50 million books in the series.

"The Red Tent" by Anita Diamant (Picador). A fictional re-creation of the life of Dinah, daughter of Leah and Jacob of the Old Testament. It has proved phenomenally popular, especially among women, who appreciate its perspective on biblical times from a woman's point of view.

"Walking the Bible: A Journey By Land Through the Five Books of Moses" and "Abraham: A Journey to the Heart of Three Faiths" by Bruce Feiler (Morrow). "Walking the Bible" describes Feiler's contemporary 10,000-mile journey through the land occupied by the biblical Moses. It spent more than a year on the New York Times best-seller list and will be made into a PBS miniseries. "Abraham" recounts the author's search for the shared ancestor of Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

— Mary Ann Gwinn, Seattle Times book editor

TV

While "The Passion" may be a feature-film sensation, religion-themed programs on TV have had mixed results.

	The CBS Sunday Movie "Jesus" stars Jeremy Sisto.

Quality remains the overriding factor in determining a show's success, regardless of the network and its target audience.

To paraphrase an old axiom, there seem to be no atheists in ABC's hard-pressed foxhole. The fourth-place network recently has tried to woo its working-class and heartland viewers with the movie "Judas," a slew of the Rev. Billy Graham specials, and a three-hour prime-time documentary on "Jesus and Paul" slated for April 5 and hosted by Peter Jennings.

But audience enthusiasm has limits. "Judas," an old project taken off the shelf where it had been languishing, scored poorly in the ratings, well behind a lineup of CBS repeats.

Also risen is CBS' "Jesus," which was a big hit when it first aired in 2000 and is scheduled to air again March 28. The four-hour miniseries may be the most particular test of "Passion" passion. Part 1, dealing with Jesus' upbringing and ministry, has been eliminated. Instead, CBS will broadcast only Part 2, which covers Christ's Sermon on the Mount to his crucifixion, the main focus of Gibson's film.

	BOB D'AMICO / ABC "Judas," an old ABC project taken off the shelf where it had been languishing, scored poorly in the ratings.

TV's religious focus isn't entirely new; in fact, the medium may have anticipated what the film industry is just discovering. Witness CBS' hit series "Joan of Arcadia," about a teenager who is approached by God in various guises, and The WB's long-running multigenerational drama "7th Heaven," about a minister's family and the moral and ethical quandaries each member often faces.

But one challenge for TV is that even programs with sincere intentions may not find favor. The critically praised ABC series "Nothing Sacred," about a radical inner-city priest, was attacked by conservative Roman Catholic groups and eventually canceled.

— Kay McFadden, Seattle Times TV critic

DVDS

The "Passion" effect on the home-video industry is hard to quantify. According to Video Store Magazine, there was already a rise in family and religious titles since 9-11, and they surge around Easter anyway. That said, there's not exactly an explosion on the consumer end, with just three religious titles in the bottom half of Amazon's top 100 sellers as of yesterday. Some recent second comings on DVD:

"The Ten Commandments Special Collector's Edition" (Paramount, 1956, G): The biblical box-office champ — until "The Passion" overtakes it — on two discs with lots of extras that include a solid commentary from author/historian Katherine Orrison and documentaries with Charlton "Moses" Heston telling funny stories about Cecil B. DeMille.

"Brother Sun, Sister Moon" (Paramount, 1972, PG): Franco Zeffirelli's story of St. Francis of Assisi. And it's a musical. And the music is by Donovan, the "Sunshine Superman" hippie guy.

"Jesus Christ, Superstar" (Universal, 1973, G): Just to set the record straight, it doesn't go "Who in the hell do you think you are?" It's "Do you think you're what they say you are?"

"VeggieTales — An Easter Carol" (Warner, 2003, G): Easter's about chocolate bunnies, right kids? Wrong! A talking tomato and cucumber will help show you why.

— Mark Rahner, Seattle Times DVD writer

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