Susan R. Garrett’s book No Ordinary Angel awarded gold medal
5/19/2009

Please join Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary in celebrating the accomplishment of LPTS Professor Susan R. Garrett, whose book, No Ordinary Angel: Celestial Spirits and Christian Claims about Jesus (Yale University Press, 2008), is a gold medal winner in the 2009 Independent Publisher Book Awards.

The 13th annual IPPY Awards, sponsored by the Jenkins Group publishing company, recognize excellence in independent publishing in 65 national categories and 20 regional categories. This year, 3,380 books were in entered in the national contest (an average of 50 contenders per category) and 710 books were entered in the regional contest (an average of 35 per category).

In the religion category, Dr. Garrett’s book took first place, gold. The Third Basic Instinct: How Religion Doesn't Get You, by Alex S. Key (BookSurge), received the silver award, and two books, The Living Buddha: An Interpretive Biography, by Daisaku Ikeda and translated by Burton Watson (Middleway Press), and Flesh Made Word: Saints’ Stories and the Western Imagination, by Aviad Kleinberg and translated by Jane Marie Todd (Belknap/Harvard), were recognized with bronze awards.

Released in November 2008, No Ordinary Angel has appeal for a wide audience. In her book, Garrett looks at what recent talk about angels teaches about our culture’s deepest questions, fears, and longings.

One of Garrett’s goals for the book is to inform people about recent scholarly discussions of how ancient beliefs about angels influenced the earliest ideas about Jesus as the Christ. She also hopes to highlight and clarify some widespread developments in recent popular spirituality. She hopes that the information she offers “will also lead to enhanced understanding of and appreciation for the person and work of Jesus.”

Under several publishers’ names Independent Publishers was founded 25 years ago to promote the independent spirit in publishing.

According to the IP website, the “IPPY” Awards were conceived as a broad-based, unaffiliated awards program open to all members of the independent publishing industry, and are open to authors and publishers worldwide who produce books written in English and intended for the North American market. “Independent” is defined as 1) independently owned and operated; 2) operated by a foundation or university; or 3) long-time independents that became incorporated but operate autonomously and publish fewer than 50 titles a year.

To view award results in other categories, visit the IP website: http://tinyurl.com/2009-IPPY-Awards.