For decades, the world of Evangelical Christianity was remote from the New York literary scene. But now, the major publishing houses are getting religion, pushing for shelf space in Evangelical stores and paying blockbuster advances for their best-selling authors, as surging sales are propelling avowedly Evangelical books to the top of even the mainstream best-seller lists.

Take as an example the eye-popping sum of a $45 million advance recently paid by the books division of AOL Time Warner, which started a new Evangelical line last fall, for a series of Evangelical thrillers by the best-selling author Timothy LaHaye. In the stagnant book market, the fast-growing sales of Christian books - mainly to Evangelical readers - have become too big to overlook. The Christian Booksellers Association put the total sales of Evangelical books at $1.77 billion last year out of an estimated $11 billion in general consumer book sales. Last year for the first time the best-selling works of both fiction and nonfiction in the country were forthrightly Evangelical. If these kinds of sales trends continue, "The Remnant," an apocalyptic thriller by Dr. LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins to be published in July by the Christian Tyndale House Publishers, will be this year's best-selling novel, too, surpassing even Tom Clancy's latest. But like many Evangelical hits, "The Remnant" centers on themes that might stop conversation at a Manhattan book party: the title describes the 144,000 Jews many Evangelicals believe will convert to Christianity to usher in the Second Coming.

Other publishers have balked at the booming of other genres of Evangelical books known as "prophecy books" because of the frequent emphasis on the place of Jews in God's plans. Prophecy books range from Biblical interpretations to historical novels, but the most famous prophecy books are the best-selling "Left Behind" series of novels by Dr. LaHaye and Mr. Jenkins, which accounts for the generous advance by AOL Times Warner.

Dr. LaHaye and other prophecy writers advocate aggressive proselytizing and stress the grim fates they foresee for non-Christians. Most of these draw on a prominent strain of Evangelical thought holding that the Bible foretold the historical persecution of Jews, the creation of modern Israel in 1948, their future suffering under the rule of the Anti-Christ, and finally the mass conversion of 144,000 "Jewish Evangelists." The Zondervan division of HarperCollins, the book division of AOL Time Warner, and several Christian houses have published books by Dr. LaHaye related to his prophetic convictions.

But publishers' path to church can be a cultural minefield as there is resistance from Evangelical readers deeply suspicious of the major media companies and their many worldly products. That resistance could easily trigger an angry backlash from pulpits and a wave of returned books. It is a tough market to crack. Evangelical readers prefer to shop in specialized Evangelical stores where they are sure books are certified as spiritually correct, and those store owners in turn prefer to buy from publishers who are also like-minded believers.

"Every time a Christian company is bought by a secular company we cringe because you don't know what is going to come out of them next," said one Evangelical bookstore buyer.