Contact: Sheila Weber, The Better Hour, 646-322-6853, Sheila@thebetterhour.com  

NEW YORK, May 19 /Christian Newswire/ -- Well known actor and narrator Max McLean has newly released an audio recording, entitled "A Practical View of Real Christianity," containing excerpts from William Wilberforce's best selling book of the same title. The original book in 1797 was a best seller in the U.K. and the U.S. for more than 50 years for the duration of the "Second Great Awakening." The recording is now available on Amazon.com. 

William Wilberforce is the British parliamentarian best known for his leadership to end the transatlantic slave trade in 1807, and later full emancipation, as well as the more than 60 philanthropies he helped establish for the pursuit of justice and service to the poor. His tireless perseverance and reliance on the gospel of Jesus Christ made Wilberforce one of the most effective political leaders in history. His character, vision and integrity for these arduous accomplishments came from a deep, personal knowledge of God and the Holy Scriptures. 
 
"Today there is a wide gap between cultural Christianity and real Christianity," says CD narrator Max Mclean. "It is important to look at Wilberforce as a guide to help us move beyond being Christian in name only and towards being a dynamic, world-changing follower of Christ."

In 1793, Wilberforce began to write a pamphlet which over the next four years grew into a 491-page book entitled "A Practical View of the Religion of the Professed Christians of the Higher and Upper Middle Classes as compared with Real Christianity."  His best-selling book was released in 13 editions in England and 26 in America.  Today, we know this book by its shorter title, "A Practical View of Real Christianity." 

McLean noted that the new audio CD will inspire listeners with "the passion that fueled Wilberforce's life and the story of how his group of friends in Clapham helped transform a self-indulgent and decadent British society into the more civilized nation that led to Victorian England."

The new audio CD was spearheaded by New York City businessman Chuck Stetson, who also helped initiate the new one-hour TV documentary film, "THE BETTER HOUR: The Legacy of William Wilberforce," which was broadcast nationally in February 2008 and will be rebroadcast nationally on public television on June 28 and 29, 2008. The DVD is available at www.thebetterhour.com.  Both efforts focus on how to build a better culture—what the poet William Cowper termed "the better hour."

Max McLean is President of Fellowship for the Performing Arts, narrator for the "Listener's Bible" audio line, and featured daily on 670 radio affiliates worldwide on "Listen to the Bible." McLean is well known for his theatrical presentations of "Mark's Gospel," "Genesis," and "The Screwtape Letters," each having received critical acclaim in "The Chicago Tribune," "The New York Times," "The Wall Street Journal," plus others.

McLean is currently appearing in "The Screwtape Letters" in an off-Broadway theater in Washington, D.C. He has appeared in New York off-Broadway; at the Edinburgh Fringe Theater Festival in Scotland; Pegasus Theater in Chicago; the Dallas Theater Center; the Stratford Festival Theater, as well as at dozens of colleges nationwide, including Duke, Brown and Smith. His recordings of the Bible have been twice nominated for Best Inspirational Audio by the Audio Publisher's Association.
"THE BETTER HOUR: The Legacy of William Wilberforce" TV documentary film and DVD is sponsored by the Wilberforce Project, a division of Essentials in Education and will be rebroadcast on June 28th and 29th, 2008. All information is at www.thebetterhour.com.