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Rob Bell and a New American Christianity

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Rob Bell and a New American Christianity Rob Bell and a New American Christianity By James K. Wellman Jr. Abingdon Press Copyright © 2012 James K. Wellman, Jr. All rights reserved. ISBN: 978-1-4267-4844-8 Contents 1. Mystery, 2. Subversion, 3. Charisma, 4. Canvas, 5. Radical, 6. Heretic, 7. A Beautiful Jesus, Acknowledgements, CHAPTER 1 MYSTERY Rob Bell's star is rising, even as he remains (and loves remaining) a man of mystery. His person and work provoke visceral reactions that range from adoration to repulsion, while raising profound questions. In 2011 he was named to the Time 100 list—the 100 most influential people in the world. That same year, Bell left Mars Hill, a megachurch, which he founded in 1999, to pursue broader opportunities in Hollywood to, as he explained, "compellingly share the gospel." Bell is known to many for his Nooma films, a series of twenty-four, twelve- minute sermons. At the time of this writing, these films have been downloaded nearly three million times. In 2001 Bell switched publishing houses to HarperOne and hit the New York Times bestseller list with his controversial book, titled Love Wins: A Book about Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived. In 2012, Bell worked on a hybrid talk show featuring religious and spiritual content—including interviews, short sermon-like presentations, and world-changing ideas—collected from Bell's tenure at Mars Hill. It was a show that Bell insisted had "never been done before." This show was developed after the TV show Stronger—which was based on Bell's unpublished novel—failed to be piloted by the Studios, despite being produced by Lost's Carlton Cuse. So, who is Rob Bell? As a pastor and an artist, Bell exhibits the irrepressible spirit of the American religious entrepreneur, but his story also serves as a frame to explore deeper patterns within the seismic shifts in modern American culture. His story and life function as a leading indicator of what it means to be a Christian in the changing modern American religious landscape. The face of American Christianity is in transition, and Rob Bell, with his own evolving look and artistry, has opened a window on this hybrid horizon. By hailing from a conservative Christian background, Bell has maintained the core attribute of the faith—a passion for Jesus—but has also built a career and a philosophy of life that is more complex than what we usually attribute to American evangelical circles. For much of his pastoral career he has been a superstar in the evangelical world, but his appeal is much broader, including the "spiritual but not religious," liberal Christians across the spectrum, and even folks who simply admire his artistry as a communicator. Of course, not all consumers of Bell's work are equally enthused. Evangelicals frequently discount Bell's efforts as "fluff," and "pabulum," consumed by unknowing and uneducated young people. One evangelical pastor told me, "He is one of the most dangerous figures on the Christian landscape today." Still others in evangelical circles have dismissed him as a heretic or worse. Mark Driscoll, the equally controversial and popular evangelical pastor, who planted a church called Mars Hill just a year before Bell's, rails against Bell as some sort of biblical heretic: "I don't know him; he's a creative guy and an amazing communicator, but he holds up rabbinical authority as a key to Bible interpretation. If a Rabbi doesn't love Jesus, they have a bad interpretation. Bell argues that the Bible sets into motion a direction that while it appears to contradict the Bible literally, we should nonetheless embrace it. This came out when he shifted from male elders on his board to female elders. It's not biblical." Bell is well-known for using various forms of media to circulate his view of Christianity. He makes his teachings easily accessible through new mediums, including film, while concurrently never shrinking from complicated discussions. In the 2007 film, Everything is Spiritual, he describes the evolutionary story of creation, mixing a dense but clear explication of the scientific origins of the universe, all framed within a wider worldview that humans, by nature, are spiritual—there is nothing humans do that is not spiritual. A friend of mine who stands outside of Christianity but has deep interests in religion and spirituality viewed Bell's film. Though admiring his intelligence and artfulness, he exclaimed in frustration, "Why is Bell so determined to retrieve Christianity? He's obviously a very smart guy and he gets the science of creation and its spiritual corollary, but why force it into the Christian narrative?" In fact, what makes Bell's voice so unique is that he is willing to use every medium and discipline to convey that the Christian story is by its very nature fundamental to every aspect of life, regardless of what others might think, or how interpreters, whether religious or not, might react. Bell's recognition and celebrity hit a new high with the publication of Love Wins—a 2011 New York Times bestseller. The book and the controversy skyrocketed Bell into the national media. In Love Wins, Bell invoked the well-known interpretation of the kingdom of God, which holds that heaven and hell may not be somewhere else—but that, rather, they are right here among us. For Bell, the "new creation" in Christ is already working within creation to transform it through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. This is hardly a new idea, but Bell's placement within the evangelical community, created a firestorm even as it drew the interest not only of many young evangelicals, but also of readers across the religious and ideological spectrum. Nonetheless, the voices of young Calvinist evangelical leaders condemned Love Wins with a comprehensive and ferocious attack. Pastor and author Kevin DeYoung called Bell's Christology "classic liberalism," his use of scripture "mistaken" and a form of "biblicism," his history "misleading," and his eschatology "muddled," finally concluding that Bell is a "universalist" who worships "a different god ... [a] small god so bound by notions of radical free will that I wonder how Bell can be so confident God's love will melt the hardest heart." The fierce nature of these attacks is balanced by the passionate tone of positive responses to Bell. For many he is a celebrity and a rock star. In one short YouTube video, a random Mars Hill attendee says she wants to meet Rob Bell, and her friend responds, "Let's go now." The college student and friend go, meeting Bell on the stage at Mars Hill where the three of them talk. Afterward Bell gives each of them an awkward but gentle hug around the shoulders, his face maintaining a calm and pastoral look. When the video shifts to their return from meeting Bell, the girl exclaims, "Why am I acting like this is a celebrity?" But she isn't alone in viewing Bell as a celebrity. A friend of Bell's told me that he was recently walking with Bell in New York City when a group of young women ran up to Bell to ask for autographs. I had an even more personal experience with this phenomenon. During the course of my research, my fifteen-year-old daughter got to know Rob Bell through the Nooma films. Soon after I started this project, the complete set of Nooma DVDs came in the mail, and my daughter suggested we do a father/daughter night and start watching them together. She bubbled, "I like him better in brown hair" (referring to his blond stage in the earliest films). In the later films, when Bell is pictured with a crew cut, she exclaimed, "I like him better with long hair!" After we watched the fourth film, she murmured, "I love Rob Bell," then moving past the hair comments, she added, "I feel like he understands where I'm coming from; I want to be like him." This kind of adoration is exhibited not only by young people, but also by a legion of older followers who see him as a gifted communicator of a message that moved them. One online reviewer described Bell's Drop Like the Stars Tour Film on Amazon: "The idea that a person could essentially preach a two hour sermon, hold the attention of those participating the entire time, make people laugh, make people cry, have them do something during the interaction that not only heals those who are present, but also does some good for a group of people in need, and then records it so that other people can witness what happened during a two hour gathering is ludicrous. And yet, Bell doesn't even look like he's trying. He pulls it off with the same grace and humility we have come to expect from him." A thirty-year-old volunteer at Mars Hill who had tried out different churches explained her experience to me like this: "I was looking for a form of Christianity that is real, gritty, and matches the experience of my life—and I found what I was looking for here. We talk about the issues that we all face here and how faith makes a difference; it's real, it's powerful and it gives me hope for the church." These powerful reactions to Bell don't come only from his own "tribe" of evangelicals. A progressive Episcopalian priest who has one of the fastest- growing churches in his diocese explained, "I was searching for some good, honest, progressive media to use with adolescents as we tried to forge a spirituality of sexuality.
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