The review I mean...
Kevin DeYoung, of the Reformed Church in America, has written what I consider to be an excellent review of Rob Bell’s Love Wins. And I say this, not having read Love Wins yet. I am saying this because DeYoung’s review is so very clear about orthodox Christianity and Reformed faith. And even if you do not read Love Wins you will nonetheless learn a great deal of biblical theology and church history by reading the review. Of course there is a catch. The review is very long.
What really surprised me since everyone is talking and writing about Bell’s controversial views of hell, is the poor Christology in the book. For instance DeYoung writes:
“Most readers of Love Wins will want to talk about Bell’s universalism. But just as troubling is his Christology. Bell has a Joseph Campbell “The Hero with a Thousand Faces” view of Christ. Jesus is hidden in various cultures and in every aspect of creation. Some people find him and some don’t. Some call him Jesus; some have too much baggage with Christianity, so they call him by a different name (159).
Bell finds support for this Christological hide-and-seek in 1 Corinthians 10. This is where Paul calls to mind the Exodus narrative and asserts that the rock (the one that gushed water) was Christ (1 Cor. 10:4). From this Bell concludes, “There are rocks everywhere” (139). If Paul saw Christ in the rock, then who knows where else we might find him (144)? Jesus cannot be confined to any one religion, Bell argues. He transcends our labels and cages, especially the one called Christianity (150). Christ is present in all cultures and can be found everywhere. Sometimes missionaries travel around the world only to find that the Christ they preach was already present by a different name (152).”
That is found under the subtitle, “Christological Problems.”
So go to, “God Is Still Holy and What You Learned in Sunday School Is Still True: A Review of “Love Wins” and read!
Hat Tip to one of my pastors Jeff Hoffmeyer
3 comments:
Viola, just remember that a number of folks have followed C.S. Lewis into this kind of thinking. He made this kind of thought very apparent in the last book of the Narnia series, and there are a couple of other places where he grazes by the topic. Unfortunately, there is a very serious difference between the Holy Spirit's work being found laying the ground on which others can build and trying to synthesize belief systems into some mishmash where God is found everywhere in every system.
Most of what you say is true, but I don't equate an author's fictional story with a book that is supposed to be about Christian theology. C.S. Lewis is a wonderful Christian story teller and apologist, but he is not the word of God.
I know of people who came to know Christ partly by reading Lewis’ Mere Christianity, Chuck Colson is one of them.
I should have been more clear...I am also a C.S. Lewis fan. His work is great. I'm just saying that a few people out there analyze him a little too closely and come up with this sort of thing.
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