Why Publish God and the Gay Christian?

The April 22 publication by the Convergent Books imprint of God and the Gay Christian by Matthew Vines has raised some questions and concerns within our community. As the chief publishing executive for the WaterBrook Press, Multnomah Books, Convergent Books, and Image Books portfolio of publishing imprints, I would like you to have some additional facts and perspective about our publication: Why are we publishing God and the Gay Christian? We can agree that the cultural battle over same-sex relationships and the Christian church is one of the defining issues of this generation. Convergent Books is publishing God and the Gay Christian by Matthew Vines because we believe it offers a thoughtful examination of Scripture on the topic of same-sex relationships from a bold, young, evangelical writer whose first calling is to promote a civil, loving, and biblically based conversation on the subject. Who is Convergent Books, and what is its relationship to WaterBrook Press and Multnomah Books? Convergent Books is a relatively new imprint that is one of the Crown Publishing Groups religious publishing lines. WaterBrook Press and Multnomah Books are sister imprints of Convergent Books, within the Crown Group, as is Image Books, a Catholic-interest imprint, all four of which I oversee. It is important to know that WaterBrook, Multnomah, Convergent, and Image each have their own distinct editorial guidelines and missions. Convergents mission is to publish nonfiction for less traditional Christians and spiritual seekers who are drawn to an open, inclusive, and culturally engaged exploration of faith. As such, Matthew Vines new book is appropriately positioned as a Convergent publication. God and the Gay Christian is not published by WaterBrook or by Multnomahnor would it be editorially appropriate for either. Is God and the Gay Christian a secret publication? It has been suggested that my colleagues and I are trying to engineer a secret publication of Matthews book, and sneak it into the marketplace. Completely untrue. At no time have we tried to keep the books content secret from any booksellers, media, or prospective readers. In fact, we sent out some 800 advance-reader copies of the complete text nationwide to build prepublication awareness of the title. We have extensive marketing and publicity campaigns in place, with which we hope to reach the widest possible readership. Has our organizations staff been silenced about Matthews book? A published report raised the question of whether my colleagues have been pressured to not express privately or publicly any objections they might have to the Convergent publication of God and the Gay Christian. This allegation is as untrue as it is deeply offensive to me.
an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House 1745 Broadway, New York, NY 10019

Upon making the final decision to publish Mathews book as a Convergent title, I met with our entire staff, in small groups, to discuss itand to emphasize to everyone my longstanding policy: No colleague of ours is ever expected to work on any book we acquire that violates their personal beliefs. Indeed, I did have a few staff members who came to me for further private discussion, and asked to opt out of working on this title. We have honored their request with the greatest respect. We will continue to pursue this collaborative respectful approach with all future books we publish. Stephen W. Cobb Chief Publishing Executive WaterBrook Press, Multnomah Books, Convergent Books, Image Books 4/16/14