A Publishing Flood of Biblical Proportions

Get ready for a biblical flood of new books on an old subject--Genesis.

And many of the authors--including historians, Scripture scholars and clergy--have Bill Moyers to thank. They and others appear on his 10-week series, “Genesis: A Living Conversation With Bill Moyers,” starting tonight on PBS.

And, of course, Moyers has his own book on the subject.

With several more authors not included in the series but with their own books, a virtual ark-load of information about the age-old topic arrives in stores this month. Careers and fortunes might well be made along the way.

At the center of the activity is the first book of the Bible, long since established as humanity’s position paper. Filled with ancient stories about the best and worst of human nature and the ongoing struggle to remain faithful to God, it tells of the divine act of creation, of Adam and Eve’s life in paradise and then on Earth, where they are banished for disobeying.

Cain murders his brother Abel, Noah builds an ark to survive a flood, Abraham rejects his own child, Ishmael. And these are just the best known tales of woe.

The new books on Genesis approach it from various points of view:

* The most scholarly is by Robert Alter, professor of Hebrew and comparative literature at UC Berkeley. His “Genesis: Translation and Commentary” (W.W. Norton & Co.) is meant to reclaim the meaning and literary strategies of the original text.

* Stephen Mitchell’s “Genesis: A New Translation of the Classic Biblical Stories” (HarperCollins) is a modern translation for the spiritually eclectic.

* Historian Karen Armstrong is perhaps the best known by popular audiences. Her book, “In the Beginning” (Alfred A. Knopf), follows several bestsellers, including “A History of God.”

* Norman Cohn offers “Noah’s Flood” (Yale University Press), a social and psychological history of this particular story’s impact on the Western mind.

* Moyers’ book, “Genesis: A Living Conversation” (Doubleday), contains the transcript of the discussion groups recorded by television cameras for his series. He has a companion book, “Talking About Genesis: A Resource Guide” (Doubleday), for those who want to form their own study group.

* Rabbi Burton L. Visotzky, a professor at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America in New York, led a five-year study group on Genesis, which Moyers visited and which inspired his series. Visotzky’s book, “The Genesis of Ethics” (Crown Publishers), grew out of those monthly discussions and focuses on moral development and community building.

* Published last year, Avivah Gottlieb Zornberg’s “The Beginning of Desire: Reflections on Genesis” (Doubleday) is being released in paperback in conjunction with the series.

* To add spice to the Genesis discussion, David Rosenberg, who is not included in the Moyers series, edited a book of essays that he calls an alternative to traditional interpretations of the ancient stories. “Genesis as It Is Written” (Harper San Francisco) is a collection of writers who are not biblical scholars or clerics. Playwright David Mamet and novelist Ron Hansen are among the contributors.

“It’s not that Bill Moyers stimulated all the books,” says Lynn Garrett, religion editor of Publisher’s Weekly and Religion BookLine, about the flurry of publishing activity. “In some cases publishers timed the publications to go with the show.”

Sensible, given the expected outcome. If this latest series does as well as Moyers’ recent others, a wave is about to break over the book business, offering quite a ride. Two of Moyers’ earlier books, both tied to PBS series, became bestsellers. “Healing of the Mind,” on mental health, sold more than 200,000 books and topped the New York Times bestseller list when that series aired in 1993. “Language of Life,” in summer 1995 and featuring contemporary poets, was not as successful but it too became a bestseller.

Two earlier Moyers’ specials opened publishers eyes to the potential. In 1990, “A Gathering of Men” explored male bonding and featured poet Robert Bly and his book “Iron John.”

“Look what happens to the careers of people on Moyers shows,” says Marly Rusoff, Doubleday vice president and associate publisher. “Robert Bly was a poet whose books sold 10,000 copies at best. But then he sold half a million copies of ‘Iron John.’ ”

Two years earlier, Moyers worked the same magic for mythologist Joseph Campbell.

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The wheels of modern technology are also spinning new possibilities for promoting Genesis. PBS has set up a site on the World Wide Web, with information on how to start a study group and essays by guests seen on the series. And Moyers will answer questions sent to him at the Web site throughout the series.

Rosenberg, Moyers’ self-claimed challenger, has a Web site, too, offering commentary on each of the shows. “Moyers wanted no controversy on his series,” says Rosenberg who was briefly involved as a consultant to it.

Paul Kelly, marketing manager for Harper San Francisco, believes any discussion will fire up sales: “Our expectations wouldn’t be half as high for this book if there was no Moyers show on the subject.”

Adds Liz Williams, a vice president for Ballantine books: “Bill Moyers is like Oprah. When he gets behind an author or idea, sales go through the roof.”

* TELEVISION REVIEW

“Genesis” marks a real departure for TV treatment of the Bible. F12