The Canongate enterprise may also be the means of achieving other objectives that would condition the masses to accept a counterfeit Christianity. A subtle snare is being laid with the selection of the Authorized Version of 1611, which contained the Apocrypha . The publishers believed that the key to the success of Pocket Canons would be the introduction to each volume, written by high-profile figures, most of them from the literary world rather than from church circles. He expected many others to follow this lead. He and a lawyer associate are considering suing Canongate Books for blasphemous libel, he added.
Publication is set for next month.
The trouble arose when Slennett, who runs SCB, took exception to the introductions to Revelation by Will Self, and to the Book of Job by Louis de Bernieres. Self is an enfant terrible of the British literary scene, and de Bernieres is the author of the best-selling novel, Captain Corelli's Mandolin. It is the dross of the opium of the people. I have no conception of humans as born in sin, screaming for redemption. He also embellished his introduction with a four-letter word.