Largest Christian Book Publisher Removes Ravi Zacharias Books From Print
Ravi Zacharias’ books and resources will no longer be offered by HarperCollins Christian Publishing (HCCP), the religious publishing arm of HarperCollins that includes both Thomas Nelson and Zondervan, after it was revealed in an RZIM investigation that the late apologist spent decades as a serial sexual predator.
HCPP has published over 20 books that were either authored or co-authored by Zacharias over the last 25 years, including his most well-known work, Can Man Live Without God? which has been published in 21 languages. His latest book, Seeing Jesus From the East: A Fresh Look at History’s Most Influential Figure, co-authored with Abdu Murray (Zondervan), was released in April 2020. Zacharias has sold over 2 million books.
Casey Francis Harrell, vice president of corporate communication for HCCP, said in a statement about the decision to remove the books from print:
In September, when the most-recent sexual misconduct allegations against the late Ravi Zacharias surfaced, HarperCollins Christian Publishing immediately suspended all projects and shipments of his work.
Following the findings in the independent report, the company will immediately take all his publications out of print. We are deeply saddened, and we mourn for the victims.
This is not unexpected news, as there was been much discussion over the last 4 months over what to do with his books, with people even asking whether or not they should be burned, after the interim report revealed that the allegations of sexual impropriety were true. Steve Baughman revealed last month that Zacharias’ upcoming book Jesus for You, set for release in 2021, had been scrapped.
Lee Strobel, who prominently featured Ravi Zacharias in his book The Case for Christ, the international bestseller that had over 5 million copies in print as of 2016, announced that he and his publisher were likewise halting printings of their book, and would be revising it to remove mention of Zacharias and his interview.
When questioned about the decision, after being accused of engaging in “cancel culture,” Strobel pointed out, “The difference is Ravi never showed repentance. The book is for spiritual seekers and I don’t want his hypocrisy to be a stumbling block to them in considering the evidence for Christ.”
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While I won’t claim to never have been aided by Zacharias, I will say that I always felt he was overrated. Most of his argumentation was vacuous and ambiguous. He would answer a question for 10 minutes but would “say” absolutely nothing most times. He would rely on philosophy and flowery speech to wow his audiences; direct answers were hard to find. I am not trying to disparage him at all. I’m just saying that people need better discernment and not fall into the trap of worshipping the “Christian celebrity.” While some of his stuff is great, most was just a waste of time.
You summed it up very well. I think the only reason he was popular was because he was so “vacuous and ambiguous”. His schtick was appearing intellectual yet non-denominational and many christians saw him as the their counterpart to atheist celebrities like Richard Dawkins and Peter Hitchens.
Illustrative to compare Harper Collins, a secular publisher distancing itself from Zacharias, to Lifeway, an allegedly Christian publisher who still carries, well, insert your favorite heretic here.
This is one of the reasons I’ve left organized religion entirely.
Self righteous jerks like Strobel deleting history because… “no repentance.” And apparently no forgiveness, jerkoff, right?
Make sure we’re all pure before we get to church, where we can worship melanin and communism.
No, thanks.
errr, did you read the evidence against him? pretty ugly. i had his back till i read it. strobel doing right thing. i question if he even was a believer at this point. but hey, thats for God to decide, not me.
Your logical fallacy is false equivalence. Strobel is not “deleting history “. Rather, he is not causing seekers and new believe to stumble.
No proof. No judicial opinion. No names, dates, places, no defence possible and the list goes on. Pure conjecture; pure propaganda to demoralize Christians and disparage our faith.
Have you read the summary of the investigation? His own ministry has admitted the accusations. There has been plenty of evidence and witnesses put forward and vetted. I agree with John, Zacharias was overrated and vacuous. He was also an unrepentant sinner who used his celebrity status to fund and prey on others. As far as Strobel- I just wish he had the discernment to remove Ravi prior to this.