Ok so I thought seeing as I'd read this, I should put something about it, even though probably enough has been said to last several lifetimes. For some better reviews than this one, look on Scot McKnight's blog (a six-part review) and an article by Greg Downes in Christianity magazine.
Rob Bell is one of my favourite authors. I have read all his books, and occasially listen to his Mars Hill podcasts. Another reason I was looking forward to this book is because over the last few years, I have been teaching on the subject of heaven and hell at lots of conferences and churches, so was keen to hear what he had to say and how it could add to the many, probably too many books and articles I have read so far!
So what did I think? Well, as he says at the start, he is not saying anything that hasn't already been said at some point over the last 2000 years. Most of the book is typical Rob Bell - provocative questions, great stories, beautiful depictions of Christian hope, and challenging application. But what surprised me was the tone of parts of the book. The first chapter in particular seems unusually aggressive, almost as if some people have really wound him up and he's out to stir things up and offend a few people (this is probably not the case, but that's how it feels to me). I always have appreciated the questions he asks, but found the way he asks them in chapter 1 quite unhelpful, and perhaps not very gracious,
There is also the use of quite extreme caricatures of views Rob Bell disagrees with. Even on the back of the book, he talks about the idea that if you respond the wrong way to the gospel, that 'God will torture you forever in hell'. I don't know anyone who believes this, even those who believe in an eternal hell. He also talks about the traditional view of God being love on the one hand, but then also being cruel on the other. No Christian would believe that God is cruel, whatever their beliefs about the afterlife. It seems that he sets up a number of 'straw men' which are then very easy to knock down, particularly in the first chapter. I think one thing this whole discussion has shown is that Christians are generally not very good at disagreeing with each other!
In chapter 2 the book really gets into its stride, with some great Tom Wright-esque theology put in persuasive terms. The big thing here is to encourage us to focus on bringing heaven to earth, rather than obsessing about getting souls into heaven. Then chapters 3 and 4 are more controversial, but less polemical than earlier in the book. It appears that what he is suggesting is this: God wants everyone to spend eternity with him, but because of free choice, it is possible that this will not happen. However, he argues that death is not the last chance for people to choose to be saved - that there may be an infinite number of chances for people to repent - as Revelation says, the gates of the Holy City are never shut.
And the rest of the book continues along these lines.
So is he a universalist? Yes, a type of universalist. In a book of this nature, it's hard to cover all the bases of such a huge issue, so don't expect a comprehensive biblical and philosophical discussion. A much more detailed, coherent, and in my opinion more gracious argument for universal salvation is made in The Evangelical Universalist by Gregory McDonald.
Would I recommend this book? I would recommend it for a big picture view of what the kingdom of God is all about. I would not recommend it as a balanced discussion of the issues around heaven and hell. For a book that deals fairly objectively with the main issues, see The Nature of Hell by the Evangelical Alliance.
My main feelings about this book are that it contains lots of great stuff, but it's I'm not sure how helpful it will be. I think for some it may help them to find a space within the Christian faith where it is ok to ask big questions and not feel guilty about it. For others, it could be unhelpful in the way he deconstructs many long-held beliefs without acknowledging other opinions or interpretations of the key verses. For anyone who is going to read the book, I would also recommend the EA book as a balance so they can get a carefully reasoned account of all the major opinions on hell, rather than one persuasive argument alongside a caricatured version of the other opinions. So yes read it, but please read more widely on this issue.
Rob Bell is still one of my favourite authors. Even though he's raving heretic bound for the lake of fire. (joke)
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