What We Talk About When We Talk About God Author: Rob Bell | Language: English | ISBN:
B0089LOKUS | Format: PDF
What We Talk About When We Talk About God Description
New York Times bestselling author Rob Bell, whom the The New Yorker describes as “one of the most influential Christian leaders in the county,” does for the concept of God what he did for heaven and hell in his book Love Wins: He shows how traditional ideas have grown stale and dysfunctional and how to return vitality and vibrancy to lives of faith today.
Pastor Rob Bell explains why both culture and the church resist talking about God, and shows how we can reconnect with the God who is pulling us forward into a better future. Bell uses his characteristic evocative storytelling to challenge everything you think you know about God. What We Talk About When We Talk About God tackles the misconceptions about God and reveals how God is with us, for us, ahead of us, and how understanding this could change the entire course of our lives.
- File Size: 430 KB
- Print Length: 240 pages
- Publisher: HarperOne; Reprint edition (March 12, 2013)
- Sold by: HarperCollins Publishers
- Language: English
- ASIN: B0089LOKUS
- Text-to-Speech: Enabled
X-Ray:
- Lending: Not Enabled
- Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,168 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
- #6
in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Nonfiction > Religion & Spirituality > Christianity > Reference > Theology - #16
in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Nonfiction > Religion & Spirituality > Christianity > Theology - #25
in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Nonfiction > Religion & Spirituality > Christianity > Christian Living > Spiritual Growth
- #6
in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Nonfiction > Religion & Spirituality > Christianity > Reference > Theology - #16
in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Nonfiction > Religion & Spirituality > Christianity > Theology - #25
in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Nonfiction > Religion & Spirituality > Christianity > Christian Living > Spiritual Growth
Rob Bell's new book, What We Talk About When We Talk About God, is a mind-blowing, life-transforming observation of the world in which we live. It is about everything (literally!), from the space between atoms to the vastness of the universe to the distance between our hearts.
It is very, very good.
But, sadly, it sure to be very, very controversial.
For example, Chapter One ("Hum") sets the stage:
"This book, then, is deeply, deeply personal for me. Much of what I've written here comes directly out of my own doubt, skepticism, and dark nights of the soul when I found myself questioning - to be honest - everything. . . what I experienced, over a long period of time, was a gradual awakening to a new perspective on God - specifically, the God Jesus talked about."
I can just see and hear Rob's critics now. "A new perspective on God," they'll say. "Why? The old perspective has worked just fine for thousands of years!"
Then, Rob reveals the purpose of his new book:
"This is a book about seeing, about becoming more and more alive and aware, orienting ourselves around the God who I believe is the ground of our being, the electricity that lights up the whole house, the transcendent presence in our tastes, sights, and sensations of the depth and dimension and fullness of life, from joy to agony to everything else."
And then he shares the three words he considers the backbone of the book: With, For, Ahead.
"With...because I believe God is with us because I believe that all of us are already experiencing the presence of God in countless ways every single day."
"For...
How does he get away with this?
This is the question I ask myself whenever I pick up a Rob Bell book.
Imagine the original book proposal sent to his editor at HarperOne. Did it sound like this?
Dear Mickey,
I would like to publish anther book with you now that I've moved out to L.A. That last one just went viral, didn't it?! Anyway, tell me what you think. Nothing high tech or fancy on this one. All text in the book will be 14 point font san serif, with big margins. Use that pulpy paper I like. Instead of indented paragraphs we'll just drop a line like most blogs I'm reading recently. The full text of the book will be about the same length as a long piece in The New Yorker.
The book is about God, and it won't have any big words at all, or fancy terminology... until it does, like when I use the German word Grenzbegriff in one chapter, and then the mostly untranslatable Hebrew term kavod in another chapter. But no one will notice, because I will have won them over with my simple and approachable breathless language (you know, like the way I talk in all of those Nooma videos).
I promise
to make
lots
of lists
and format
some paragraphs
like this.
All kinds of people want to talk about God. They really do. This book will sell. It will also make a difference in people's lives. Here's my outline for the book, kind of like the table of contents.
It will be
Open,
Both,
With,
For,
Ahead,
and So.
These are the words that will shape how I talk about God in this book.
Now that's what I'm talking about.
What do you think?
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