'Love Wins' by Rob Bell

Date: 13 September 2012 18:56:52

We got this as a Christmas present a couple of Christmases ago and I finally managed to start and finish it recently! It's the book that got a lot of conservative evangelicals' knickers in a twist as it was allegedly promoting (shock horror) universalism and that hell wasn't a burning lake of fire of eternal torment, but in all honesty I'm wondering what all the fuss is all about - I don't think he said anything remotely controversial! I am pretty sympathetic to what he's saying overall (whilst not being convinced by bits of a couple of his interpretations of individual parables), although it was quite difficult sometimes to figure out what his point actually is amongst all the millions of questions. What did rile me though was his habit of breaking up sentences into smaller lines like this. Although I suppose it does mean that it makes it a really quick read. I'm being a bit unfair - I suppose if you are from a very conservative religious background then this would be pretty ground-shaking. But personally I think if you want a book that argues for universalism, then Keith Ward's "The Bible: A Challenge for Fundamentalists" is much better. I must dig that out again sometime for a reread.