May 24, 2008

Small Retail: Couple took a leap of faith to buy Christian bookstoreBy Andrea JamesSeattlePI.NWSource.com

At Episcopal Bookstore in Seattle, religion is fluid, the Bible will always be open to interpretation, and God may be the one or the creator, but is rarely he.

As bookkeeper and book buyer, Nancy Marshall works behind the scenes to keep the shop’s wares leaning left — toward a liberal theology.

“My customers will not anymore buy something that refers to God as ‘he,’ ” she said. “If I’m made in the image of God, God isn’t ‘he.’ “

Items that take on a stricter religious view — anything that promotes men as heads of household, for instance — won’t be sold. There’s no “pro-life” section, she said.

Liberal much?

“Oh, yes,” she said proudly.

John and Nancy Marshall took out a second mortgage on their home in 1992 to buy Episcopal Bookstore — a $42,000 gamble that they say was a leap of faith.

John had survived cancer and couldn’t go back to teaching. They needed another option.

“We agreed to manage it for a year to see if we really wanted to do this and buy it. It was kind of a jump off a cliff,” John said.

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