- Hardcover: 194 pages
- Publisher: Zondervan Books (July 21 2005)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 031026345X
- ISBN-13: 978-0310263456
- Product Dimensions: 21.2 x 16.4 x 1.8 cm
- Shipping Weight: 386 g
- Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #228,985 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
Bell, pastor of Mars Hill Bible Church in Grand Rapids, Mich., offers an innovative and intriguing, if uneven, first book. This introduction to the Christian faith is definitely outside the usual evangelical box. Bell wants to offer "a fresh take on Jesus"—a riff that begins with the assertion that Jesus wanted to "call people to live in tune with reality" and that he "had no use for religion." Bell invites seekers into a Christianity that has room for doubts (his church recently hosted an evening where doubters were invited to ask their hardest, most challenging questions). He mocks literalists whose faith seems to depend on a six-day creation, and one of his favorite people is a woman who turned up repeatedly at his church, only to tell him that she totally disagreed with his teachings. He cites his church as a place of forgiveness, mystery, community and transformation. Bell is well-versed in Jewish teachings and draws from rabbinic wisdom and stories freely. His casual, hip tone can grate at times, and his footnotes, instructing readers to drop everything and read the books that have influenced him, grow old. Still, this is faithful, creative Christianity, and Gen-Xers especially will find Bell a welcome guide to the Christian faith. (Aug.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Book Description
We know there’s something more.We sense it, we feel it, we know it.And we want it.We want an authentic spirituality.
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Most helpful customer reviews
17 of 19 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Velvet Elvis Book Review,
By Matt Triemstra (Ottawa, ON CANADA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Velvet Elvis: Repainting The Christian Faith (Paperback)
Velvet Elvis Review(Bell, Rob: Velvet Elvis, Zondervan, 2005. 194 Pages) As a young adult, born and raised in the modern age, I instinctively understand that while God never changes, culture and time do. I've always wanted to explore and wrestle with my faith but felt like I wasn't allowed because the church always had the final word and that to question that was to question my `salvation'. Rob Bell is all about questions. In his book Velvet Elvis he asks all the questions I've ever had but have never been able to articulate or ask myself. Just like Rob's painting of the Velvet Elvis is not the final or best picture of Elvis, so to is today's portrait of the church not the final rendition. It will keep changing and growing because it must. If you've ever seen Rob Bell's NOOMA videos, he writes like he talks. Velvet Elvis is very readable, short lines and paragraphs make this book simple and user friendly. His personal stories, vulnerability and use of humour help us to identify with Rob and makes the issues he tackles more real. Rob is not irreverent. He challenges us to look beyond religion and asks why we believe the things we do. What does the Bible actually say? What was the context? For instance did you know that nowhere in the Bible does Christ say to identify ourselves first and foremost as sinners? (Bell,139) And yet this is usually the beginning of every Salvation prayer. You will also not find in the Bible the phrase "inviting Jesus into your heart." (Bell, 109), whish is again another phrase that has become common place in Christian circles. We do need to acknowledge our sin and allow Jesus to work in our lives, but Rob explains to us that there's a bigger picture. Salvation is not all about ME it's about God restoring creation. We can believe in Jesus but have we allowed him to heal our soul? Rob also helps moves us away from an individualistic approach to Christianity. We've been conditioned to look at our faith inwardly through a personal prayer life, a personal devotional life and a personal walk with Christ, but God always intended our faith to be a shared journey. There is no final destination, we continue to grow together and the goal for Christians should not be getting into heaven but rather bringing heaven to earth. Perhaps the biggest revelation for me personally was realizing that God chose me, believes in me and gets frustrated with me when I forget my potential for greatness. (Bell, 134) This is a must read for the next generation of Christians and Christian leaders and while I could write for a very long time about how this book has changed my worldview, I'd rather you read it and together we can wrestle with the issues. Let's begin the journey together.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great for small group discussion,
This review is from: Velvet Elvis: Repainting The Christian Faith (Paperback)
Our small group is currently studying this text - it has engaged us all in reflecting upon our beliefs and been the focus for many meaningful discussions. If you are buying this book check out the online book study about to begin at: http://groups.google.com/group/respondtoChrist
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars
It was okay...,
By
This review is from: Velvet Elvis: Repainting The Christian Faith (Paperback)
I'll be honest, I read the book with a preconceived notion that Rob Bell is somewhat of a heretic. After reading it, I can no longer say that.Rob Bell does a good job of raising issues that Christians need to deal with, and some of his information is great. I really enjoyed some of the stuff he shared about Jewish rabbis and it shed new light on some of Jesus' actions in the gospels. Unfortunately, I found the chapter titles and section headings to be useless. Yes, they were there and they delineated the text, but when I wanted to go back and reference something, I found it very difficult to remember if the chapter I wanted was "Jump" or "Yoke" or one of the others. Moveover, his writing style bothered me. It was disjointed. It lacked flow. I was frustrated. A lot. (You get what I mean?) Finally, (and this is my only non-trivial complaint) he made some claims that, when carefully considered, seem to be problematic. For example, Rob Bell claims that it doesn't matter if Mary wasn't a virgin when Jesus was born. I would submit to you that it does. His points about the meaning of the Greek words are true, but the angel clearly said to Joseph that the child was conceived by the Holy Spirit. Therefore, if you reject that Mary absolutely was a virgin, you are saying that the Bible might not be right in that one spot. If it's not right in even one spot, why should you trust any of it? Anyway, it just seems like he is unaware of the consequences of some of his ideas.
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