Prior to the release of his most recent book, Love Wins: A Book About Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived, Rob Bell went through a near excommunication with the Protestant Christian faith regarding the supposed contents of his unreleased book. Social networks were riddled with accusations that Bell was a Universalist, and during media interviews he was accused of preaching a soft, false Gospel.
Instead, Bell’s book invited readers into theological conversations that sometimes only take place in seminary. The reader is asked to consider the meaning of Heaven and Hell, the identity of Jesus, the significance of the crucifixion, and the Gospel. Bell takes the reader through Scriptural instances that beg questions to be asked of the text – as if the text of the Bible itself is asking the reader, “What do you think?”
Bell’s conclusions may not always sit comfortably with the orthodox reader, but the essence of the book is dialectic and conversational; the point is to make you think. Bell embarks upon an ancient tradition of self-examination that began with Socrates. He seeks to open up the theological and apologetic conversation, not reinvent it.
Bell’s book initiates a conversation amongst Christians that needs to be had. It challenges the language Christians use in their prayers and their creeds, and he invites them to consider the meaning of the words they are saying. For all the media attention placed on Bell’s book, it seems none of the attention was the right kind.
The theological questions that are brought up in this book would take more than a short book review to wrestle with, but the premise Bell begins from is clear:
“Love is what God is, love is why Jesus came, love is why He continues to come year after year to person after person.”
Christians are told to look at Jesus if they want a good look at what God is like – Bell’s aim is to redirect the eyes of those believers who’ve been focused more on an unloving evacuation of a depraved world. Instead, he focuses the reader’s attention on the character of a loving God who invaded the world in order to heal it; that same God who invites people to participate in that healing process.
Source:
- Love Wins: A Book About Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived. Rob Bell. New York: HarperOne, 2011. 202 pp.
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