CHELSEA — An accomplished writer and editor who hails from Chelsea and specializes in Christian poetry has written a new book titled “Blessings of the Tanakh.”
Ken Bazyn, the longtime editorial director of the Religious Book Club, has been published in 40 periodicals and is also known for his photography, which has appeared in 45 magazines. He recently shared some details of his life and work with the News Chronicle along with thoughts on the new book and his plans for the future.
After growing up on a farm south of Chelsea and graduating from the newly consolidated South Tama County High School in 1968 — he wrote a few pieces for the school newspaper, he noted — the author embarked on a boomerang journey of sorts that led him to enroll for two years at the University of Iowa and two years at Wheaton College before graduating with a double major in Greek and religion. From there, he traveled across the world as a short-term missionary in Tehran, Iran with International Missions, where he taught English as a second language and helped with Bible correspondence courses and a radio ministry.
He then returned to the University of Iowa to do graduate work in comparative literature and ultimately landed a job in Manhattan, where he was the editor of the Minister’s Book Club and Evangelical Book Club for four years.
He was later hired to help the Genesis Project when it was working on the “Jesus” film, for which he wrote articles and study guides.
“When that stint was over, I became editor of Religious Book Club in 1980 and have been in that slot ever since,” he said. “Our objective is to choose good books from a broad variety of publishers on all sorts of subjects ranging from theology to spirituality, issues and ethics to Bible study, art to children’s books. Our audience of serious readers encompasses mainline Protestants, evangelicals, Roman Catholics, and Eastern Orthodox.”
He went on to explain that his primary responsibility is to recommend books, and if they are approved, to write the advertising copy. Numerous titles the Religious Book Club carries go on to win awards or receive exceptional reviews in national publications.
“Blessings of the Tanakh” is Bazyn’s ninth book of poetry, and he said he’s been at it since he was about 30 years old.
His previous books were collections of poems focused on Jesus, artistic creativity, humanity, nature, humor, and more. One critic, Louis Markos, has called Bazyn’s style “imagist in its thick use of overlapping symbols, metaphysical in its yoking together of unexpected metaphors from multiple disciplines.”
Blessings of the Tanakh concerns the Old Testament and Judaism.
“Here I encourage readers to see how intriguing is YHWH who revealed himself to Abraham, Moses, Elijah, and others. He made a covenant with fallen humanity, redeemed Israel from slavery to the Pharaoh of Egypt and is known for his holiness and steadfast love,” he said.
Using 35mm color slides and black-and-white negatives, Bazyn also incorporates his other talent for photography into his books.
And while Bazyn’s work is firmly rooted in his Christian faith and theology, the introduction to “Blessings of the Tanakh” presents strong connections between the good book and several seminal works of secular literature.
“The Bible has had an immense influence on Western culture. You can see such motifs as the rivalry between brothers in Steinbeck’s East of Eden and Dostoveysky’s Brothers Karamazov,” he said. “Stevenson’s Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde highlights our dual nature and how easy it is to fall into evil. The introduction to my book includes a fictional re-creation of the Cain and Abel story, drawing on these literary giants to help flesh out the themes.”
An avid reader, Bazyn has accumulated a large library over the years — as he put it, living in Manhattan within walking distance of Barnes & Noble’s flagship store and its discount annex proved to be “just too tempting.”
“Literature helps us to see life from another point of view, so we don’t become cramped in our own autobiography,” Bazyn said. “Benedictine scholar Jean Leclerc claims that grace elevates and enriches the soul, while culture and education refine and embellish our capacity to benefit others.”
Although he’s lived in bustling places like New York City and Tehran, Bazyn is happy to have landed back in Chelsea, where he and his wife Barbara currently reside. It actually worked out that the owner of the Religious Book Club, at the time Bazyn returned to Iowa, was using Meredith Publishing in Des Moines for their fulfillment, so he volunteered to help oversee the inventory by keeping in contact with the warehouse.
“When I moved back to Chelsea, it was a nice surprise to see many of my old neighbors still living nearby. Our farm house was owned by my uncle and aunt, Charlie and Mary Veit, (and) my sister Kathy lives a few miles away,” he said.
He also commented on how his writing process changes between rural and urban settings.
“Being in the country certainly helps to slow down one’s life so you can find extended periods to write and rewrite. My first drafts, unfortunately, are often rather dull, so I need to rework the language over and over to improve it,” Bazyn said. “My wife Barbara, who used to teach composition, is a great help in suggesting changes, proofreading, and correcting my grammar. Incidentally, she also has published poetry. On the other hand, residing in a metropolitan area is a great stimulant to thought since there you meet people from all walks of life. It’s also much easier to take advantage of the cultural scene — theaters, museums, concert halls, and so on, which can stretch your horizons. Each location has its own peculiar advantages depending on one’s personality.”
Bazyn isn’t done writing yet as he is working on more poetry/photography combinations and essays of Christian nonfiction. He has been serving as the lay leader at the Chelsea United Methodist Church, where he grew up, for a number of years, and has led the afterschool kids’ club program while occasionally preaching. His most popular book, “The Seven Deadly Sins and Their Offspring,” which received nationwide reviews, began as sermons preached in Chelsea and Grinnell.
Wherever the rest of his journey takes him, Bazyn will remain firmly rooted in his faith and his undying love of the written word.
“I was fortunate enough to early on stumble into a line of work which I thoroughly enjoy and have had modest success with. I wish the same for others,” he said. “And obviously, I’m a great admirer of Jesus Christ whom I believe to be God’s own Son. The British Catholic novelist Evelyn Waugh once compared conversion to ‘stepping across a chimney piece out of a Looking-glass World, where everything is an absurd caricature, into the real world God made; and then begins the delicious process of exploring it limitlessly.’ What an exciting adventure it is to decipher more and more about the God who created this awe-inspiring universe.”
To learn more about Bazyn and purchase copies of his books, visit https://wipfandstock.com/author/ken-bazyn/.
