Dallas, USA - Why would publishers risk offending deeply pious or intellectually prickly Americans with book titles such as "The Koran for Dummies" and "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Jesus?"
It's the economy, stupid.
Religion books are big business, and time has shown there's a market for mildly irreverent, user-friendly guides to the major faiths, sacred texts, crucial figures such as Jesus and the Buddha, and related topics such as fasting, prayer and meditation.
Most readers don't seem to mind that a Dummies book on a holy book comes in the same format as those for operating Windows XP, building a deck or improving one's sexual technique.
John Trigilio hears about once a month from older Catholics upset that he and fellow priest Kenneth Brighenti wrote "Catholicism for Dummies." Far more often, he hears back positively from readers in and outside the faith.
And there are a lot of them.
"Last word we got was that over 100,000 copies have been sold," Father Trigilio said of the book, which has been out just two years.
Some religion titles don't sell nearly as well, and there have been controversies, including one over the different perspectives offered by "Catholicism for Dummies" and "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Understanding Catholicism." (More about that later.)
But representatives for Alpha, the division of Penguin Group that publishes the Idiot's books, and Wiley Publishing, publisher of the Dummies series, say religion has become a mainstay of their product lines.
"It's quite a successful category for us. I wouldn't say it's the most successful, but it's right up there," said Randy Ladenheim-Gil, senior acquisitions editor for the Idiot's series.
Joyce Pepple, his counterpart over at Dummies, said it's not surprising that religion titles do well.
"A lot of religion is complicated. There's history and traditions that need to be explained. And we are very good at providing objective information."
The first book in either series was "DOS for Dummies," a computer guide published in 1991. Two years later, the Idiot's series debuted, focused as well on de-mystifying computer use.
Both series branded themselves by their arresting names, cover designs and colors (Dummies, yellow and black; Idiot's, orange and white). Both used humor in chapter titles and the text. Both also quickly expanded to a range of subjects, such as personal finance, cooking, home repair.
These days, the books are a worldwide sensation. More than 450 Idiot's titles are in print, representing about 32 million copies. There are twice as many Dummies titles, with 150 million copies in English alone. Dummies books have been translated into 39 languages, including French -- where they're known as pour les nulsor "for the zeroes."
The first religion title came in 1997 -- "The Complete Idiot's Guide to the World Religions." The Idiot's series has been more aggressive in this area, with 32 "religion and spirituality" titles currently offered.
The Dummies folks entered the arena with "Religion for Dummies" in 2002. They now have 15 religion and spirituality titles, including "C.S. Lewis & Narnia for Dummies," timed to last month's release of the Disney movie, "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe."
Who's writing and reading all these books?
Often the authors are clergy. An interfaith team, Rabbi Marc Gellman, of Melville, N.Y., and Monsignor Thomas Hartman, of Long Island, N.Y., wrote "Religion for Dummies."
Professors also have been enlisted. Jeffrey Geoghegan, who teaches biblical theology at Boston College, and Michael Homan, who teaches biblical studies at Xavier University, of Louisiana, collaborated on "The Bible for Dummies."
Sometimes, though, workaday professional writers get the call.
"I'm not a scholar or theologian. I didn't even go to Bible college," acknowledged Tracy Macon Sumner. But he said his research skills as a former newspaperman, and his long study of the Bible and church history as an evangelical Christian, qualified him to be co-writer of the Idiot's books on Jesus and on the Reformation and Protestantism.
Manuscripts get an in-house "technical review" before publication, aimed at catching errors. But readers take on faith that the Dummies and Idiot's books are grounded in good scholarship.
"They don't want you to have footnotes, endnotes or citations. They don't even want you to quote from other scholars," said Jana Riess, co-author of "Mormonism for Dummies."
Riess described her Dummies experience as satisfying, but not financially rewarding, given the hours she put in. Advance payments to authors tend to be modest. Of those authors willing to share specifics for this story, the range was from $8,000 to $25,000. The hope is for slow, steady royalty payments, since the books tend to stay in print.
As for readership, it tends to spike around major events, said Pepple of the Dummies series. For example, books on Islam sold briskly in the early phase of the Iraq war.
There are also plenty of readers like Bernie Chandler, of Arlington, Texas, who has a wide-ranging curiosity and a general liking for the Dummies and Idiot's guides.
"They're well organized, and they give you a place to start," he said.
He bought the books first for help with computers, then with such topics as carpentry, gardening and cat care. Though not a Hindu, he is interested in Hinduism, so he read the Idiot's guide on that faith.
Linda Johnsen, author of that book, said her main audience consists of Hindus who feel a need to reconnect.
"Hindus in the U.S. are to some extent cut off from their teachers in India," she said by e-mail. "Their children may know next to nothing about Hinduism or be misled by the dismissive attitude toward their tradition that they experience here."