Love, Hell and Rob Bell

April 18, 2011 in Uncategorized with 14 Comments

Had a great opportunity to talk with Rob Bell about his new book, “Love Wins.” A quick Google search will bring up thousands upon thousands of either fans or protesters, and I won’t re-tread ground that others have covered in brutal and somewhat reactionary detail. Much thanks to my good buddy Johnny for setting this thing up. One important note, I do recommend reading the book but not because I think you’ll agree or I am trying to sell any one perspective from the book.

This book simply begins a discussion that needs to happen often.

  • Sam

    Good conversation Casey. I need to pick up that book.

  • Bill Jacobsen

    As interviewers, you and Johnny provided Rob with grace and the proper space to articulate his answers and thought processes in writing the book. As a pastor, I appreciated Rob’s continuous return back to the Gospels, what Jesus said and how He acted towards all people, and the imagery of the banquet table. When asked the question about the different camps people tend to get into on controversial issues, Rob gave an insightful answer about sitting at a very LARGE table and having the Communion elements right in the middle for ALL to share. Thank you for allowing Rob to articulate his viewpoints. “Love Wins” is next on my reading list so I can also enter the discussion from an informed perspective and not from an uniformed reactionary one that so many others have done in various media genre’s.

  • waylon

    first scotty mac, and now rob bell. i will say again, i’m jalous! i wish i would have known you were going to get to talk to rob, i would have asked you to tell him i say hi and that he’s invited to come hang out with me down here in southern illinois :)

    if i were you, i’d never wash that ear again that you used to listen to rob bell on the phone.

  • Wayne

    Congrats to Casey and Johnathon for getting the interview — and kudos for conducting such a good one with Rob. The question and response from Rob about getting together around the Lord’s Table is worth the whole listen.

  • http://www.caseytygrett.com casey tygrett

    Thanks gentlemen. I appreciate the comments – it was a fun interview.

  • http://www.wschurch.org Eddie Lowen

    Casey & Johnathon, you handled this opportunity well. I especially liked the question/response about the seeming widening rift between the Reformed tribe and others. Fun to see you guys get this interview. When he was talking about people coming from the east & west, etc., (timestamp: 16:13) Rob referenced someone who said there are people coming who will blow our minds. Whom did he cite?

  • http://www.pennstateclips.com/ Penn State Clips

    The fact that so many people “reviewed” (i.e., ripped on) Rob Bell’s book before its release date was not a surprise to me.

    We used to show the Nooma videos as part of our Men’s Breakfast discussions. Eventually I received an email protesting the use of the Nooma videos.

    The email included out-of-context quotes from “Velvet Elvis,” which proved that Rob Bell is evil incarnate. Turns out the author of the email hadn’t actually read “Velvet Elvis,” but had instead pulled the out-of-context quotes from a Web site!

    I think I’ll withhold judgement on “Love Wins” until I’ve read (or more likely listened to) the book. (Imagine that!)

    Casey, thanks for a nice job with this interview. It sounds like whether or not one agrees with Bell he’s forcing Christians to engage in important discussions about the nature of God, which is perhaps the point.

  • Matt

    It’s great to see someone in leadership at Parkview allowing for intellectual curiosity, and realizing that Bell deserved to be properly interviewed so he could respond to evangelicals who have committed themselves to spreading the gospel by being ideologues. Bell is not afraid to call himself a teacher, as pastors should, and is helping those of us who are not experts on theology to understand the scriptures in the time and place they were written. Too often, Christian leaders are lukewarm in this regard because they are scared to stand up for the truth – especially when the truth isn’t black and white.

    Thank you so much for shedding some light on this subject, the book, and one of the great thinkers of our time.

  • http://www.pennstateclips.com/ Penn State Clips

    I listened to “Love Wins” this week. It didn’t take long (it’s only three CDs), but it’s pretty deep, so I’ll listen to it again after I finish my current book.

    “Love Wins” challenges conventional thinking with questions, Bible references, and historical context. (I will leave it as an exercise for the more scholarly to debate the meaning of certain words from the original text.)

    I love any book that forces me to think, to examine subjects in a way I hadn’t considered, and challenges me to more deeply examine my own faith. Rob’s book does all three of these things.

    Shame on anyone who criticizes “Love Wins” without actually reading it. Even if you don’t believe all of it (or any of it!), it’s a great discussion starter.

  • http://christianityandvirtue.blogspot.com David Russell Mosley

    The problem I still have with this book, besides disagreeing with some of his conclusions, is that whenever Bell mentions early Church history or ancient Jewish history he never provides citations. He says that many in the early church held to similar views on the eternality of hell that he says Scripture teaches. The problem is that he gives no names or book titles to support this claim.

    • cktygrett

      true enough. the thing would not have blown up the way it did if there were footnotes. I’m convinced of it and I’m with you. Now, given your accurate and extensive knowledge of church history, can you supply his footnotes?

      • http://christianityandvirtue.blogspot.com David Russell Mosley

        Perhaps some. I know Origen and a few others had some universalistic beliefs similar to those of Bell, but for the most part the early Church believed in an eternal hell for the unrepentant.

        • cktygrett

          Yeah that’s where my head was too. Interesting the other hermeneutical baggage that comes along with Origen. I would be interested to see what Rob thought of his theory of 2 unique Creations of humans, referring to Genesis 1′s account and then Genesis 2.

          Your thoughts?

  • http://christianityandvirtue.blogspot.com David Russell Mosley

    Casey,

    I actually responded to this some time ago and my comment wasn’t saved. Here’s round two.

    I don’t think Rob Bell could agree with Origen’s view of a first soulish creation followed by the fall and then a physical creation. This wouldn’t fit his theology of the earth, nor even his theology of resurrection, which is rather strong. I myself find Origen’s beliefs untenable and being too much affected by Platonism, which would be why his strongest supporters usually edited or qualified those sections. I certainly don’t think that holding to Origen’s universalism dictates that one must also hold to his understanding of physical creation. That’s like saying if you hold to Augustine’s conception of the Trinity (which I do not, but many do) then you must hold to his conception of God’s grace (which I emphatically do not).