Rob Bell

Instant New York Times Bestseller Rob Bell, the beloved author of Love Wins and What We Talk About When We Talk About God, goes deep into the Bible to show how it is more revelatory, revolutionary, and relevant than we ever imagined—and offers a cogent argument for why we need to look at it in a fresh, new way. In Love Wins, Rob Bell confronted the troubling questions that many people of faith were afraid to ask about heaven, hell, fate, and faith. Using the same inspired, inquisitive approach, he now turns to our most sacred book, the Bible. What Is the Bible? provides insights and answers that make clear why the Bible is so revered and what makes it truly inspiring and essential to our lives. Rob takes us deep into actual passages to reveal the humanity behind the Scriptures. You cannot get to the holy without going through the human, Rob tells us. When considering a passage, we shouldn’t ask "Why did God say . . .?" To get to the heart of the Bible’s meaning, we should be asking: "What’s the story that’s unfolding here and why did people find it important to tell it? What was it that moved them to record these words? What was happening in the world at that time? What does this passage/story/poem/verse/book tell us about how people understood who they were and who God was at that time?" In asking these questions, Rob goes beyond the one-dimensional question of "is it true?" to reveal the Bible’s authentic transformative power. Rob addresses the concerns of all those who see the Bible as God’s Word but are troubled by the ethical dilemmas, errors, and inconsistencies in Scripture. With What Is the Bible?, he recaptures the Good Book’s magic and reaffirms its power and inspiration to shape and inspire our lives today.

How an Ancient Library of Poems, Letters, and Stories Can Transform the Way You Think and Feel About Everything

What Is the Bible?

Sarah Schumacher

I feel like this might be one of Rob Bell’s best books in recent years. Refreshing.

Jonathan Tysick

So many good things to say about this book as well as some questionable points. Maybe 2.5 is a more accurate rating.

 The Good:  Rob Bell is a near genius communicator and makes non-fiction gripping, entertaining and downright enjoyable. Bell makes the Bible come alive, using historical/social context to make over familiar stories come alive with current relevance and power! Awesome! He defended the Bible's progressiveness and cleverness over and over again. Personal stories, illustrations, jokes and nods to popular culture were very helpful! I really resonated with, agreed with and enjoyed many of his thoughts. In some places this book made me inspired, amazed and downright excited about living life and studying the Bible. There is a lot to praise.

 The Questionable:  At times I wasn't sure what he meant when he wrote "God" (I probably need to read his book "What We Talk about When We Talk about God!). Sometimes Bell spoke about "the universe" or "the divine" or Christ as a sort of energy and once he spoke about "Trinitarian love". I was left confused.

At times he seemingly defended and challenged the supernatural elements of the Bible which was interesting. Bell was very inclusive in this book (more so than in Love Wins: A Book about Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived even) and I think he espoused straight up Universalism. I liked his perspective on progressive revelation, however Bell would more so say it was the development of human consciousness/thought about God instead of God relating to a culture and progressively revealing himself based on where those people were at. 

He straight up said that it was humans who created the sacrificial system and not God who set it up. In that sense he seemed to be saying that when God is spoken about (or speaks) in the Bible (especially the Old Testament) it is not actually God but people's claims/thoughts about God. This makes the Bible not a book in which God reveals himself but rather a sort of history of what various people thought about God (a BIG difference). A big issue I found in the book was that he said Jesus didn't have to die but he was killed. This contradicts what Jesus himself said about his own death (see Matthew 26, Mark 14, and Luke 9, 24, for example)! Yes, he was killed for political reasons, but there was a lot more going on than that. I enjoyed his thoughts on inerrancy, but in terms of inspiration I think Bell made the mistake of saying the Bible is only as divinely inspired as the reader finds it inspiring. Footnotes! I wish this book had footnotes.

 Overall:  this book is very helpful but also potentially very harmful. It is worthy of both praise and challenge. I enjoyed it, am glad I read it but I won't be recommending it to many people.

Summer Stanley

Thought provoking and easy to read. My only complaint is that it wasn't longer.

Les Reynolds

Great book. Lots of great insights, some verging on mind-blowing. Delightful heretical.

What Is the Bible? How an Ancient Library of Poems, Letters, and Stories Can Transform the Way You Think and Feel About Everything

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