Velvet Elvis: Repainting the Christian Faith | 
 enlarge | Author: Rob Bell
Publisher: Zondervan
Category: Book
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Rating:  243 reviews
Sales Rank: 575665
Format: Audiobook, Unabridged
Media: Audio CD
Edition: Unabridged
Number Of Items: 1
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Dimensions (in): 6 x 5 x 0.7
ISBN: 0310266637
Dewey Decimal Number: 248
EAN: 9780310266631
ASIN: 0310266637
Publication Date: August 1, 2005
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Product Description
We know theres something more. We sense it, we feel it, we know it. And we want it. We want an authentic spirituality.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 238 more reviews...
 Velvet Elvis is not heretical, just light with no substance December 29, 2008
In Velvet Elvis, Rob Bell repeatedly calls into question a person's capability to accurately interpret Scriptures, saying God's Word is much too deep and mysterious for us to even comprehend, much less formulate dogmatic creeds around. His book and his ideas, he claims, are merely his contribution to the Christian theological discussion that has been going on for centuries. They might be right, they might be wrong, but who's to say? The best we can hope for is to acknowledge our theological beliefs as nothing more than our personal interpretation of Scripture.
While this might be true in a sense, Bell's notion that we can't be sure about any of our doctrines is nonsense. While the Bible is vague on certain points it is crystal clear on others. To not acknowledge that fact is to surrender the clarity of God's Word and makes God out to be one very poor communicator!
In Bell's world, that's all right, though. He makes it clear that he doesn't view doctrine as essential to the Christian faith. In fact, he famously equates his faith to jumping on a trampoline. He says that doctrines are like the springs of the trampoline. The more springs in the right place, the higher one can jump but, if some springs are missing, one can still keep jumping.
So what are some of the springs he believes to be optional to the Christian faith? The first example Bell gives is the concept of the Trinity. You know, the Triune God all orthodox Christians worship - just a spring for our faith. Another example he gives is the virgin birth. Just another spring for Bell. So, following Bell's logic, you can throw out the Trinity and inerrancy of Scripture, two of the foundational Christian beliefs for centuries, and we can still all be jumping on the same trampoline.
He compares the faith of those of us with fixed beliefs to a brick wall. He says the bricks are a definite shape and size and cannot bend. Bell then goes on to state that once one of these bricks is compromised then the whole wall can come crumbling down. Well, yeah. Take away the resurrection, the inerrancy of Scripture or the deity of Christ and I would say there would be nothing left of the Christian faith. The resulting picture Bell leaves his reader with is his distinct version of the Christian faith, where everybody's jumping on a trampoline having fun. He compares this to the orthodox version where the believer is left manning a brick wall on the verge of collapse.
Two things about that view:
1) Bell's right about the wall. The Christian faith does require defense and it can be work. There are several doctrines essential to the Gospel that cannot be compromised without the Christian faith unraveling at the seams. There are several Biblical examples of defining the Christian walk as a struggle, competition or war, but not one that comes close to describing it as a big trampoline party.
2) When your beliefs come under attack, would you rather be jumping on a trampoline or using a brick wall as cover? That's what I thought.
Bell is also not too concerned about the historical accuracy of Scripture. He constantly bombards his readers with long series of questions like whether it's important that the story of Adam and Eve actually happened. He provides no answers to these questions and leaves readers with the impression they are unanswerable or, at least, unanswered up to now.
What to like: Now that I've sufficiently and frankly given my view of the book, I am not afraid to say that Bell does make some good points. First, no matter your opinion of his views and ideologies, he is brutally honest about his own shortcomings and struggles. He goes into detail describing an experience he had after he started pastoring where he was emotionally and mentally burnt out and felt like quitting right in the middle of Sunday worship services.
At another point in the book, I believe, he accurately reasons why Christian college students so often turn from their faith while attending a secular school. Bell states they are presented with the false dichotomy of intellectual honestly or Jesus. Due to an insufficient Christian worldview, they do not understand that all truth comes from God and, faced with this choice, choose intellectual honesty.
At other places in Velvet Elvis, Bell weighs in with some interesting and fresh reflections about the connection between ancient Jewish and Middle Eastern culture and the life and teachings of Jesus.
What not to like: Where to begin? As I've already stated, Rob Bell constantly undermines the clarity of the Bible. By stating that we are not capable of properly understanding doctrine is not commenting on our own finite mental capacities but on God's capability to communicate with us. Why would God bother giving us His word if we were incapable of understanding it? Beyond this, however, Bell erodes the importance of theological doctrine by saying it is dispensable. Again, it's not like he's saying peripheral Christian views are not essential, but he strikes to the heart of the Christian faith with the doctrines he lists as optional (i.e. the Trinity).
I also find it frustrating that throughout the book he throws out rhetorical questions to prove a point, and then acts like theologians have never answered them. The vast majority of the questions he uses for this purpose have been answered satisfactorily by scholars and church leaders numerous times. Either Bell is ignorant of this (unlikely) or refuses to acknowledge this fact.
If you've read this book and feel like it's one of the best you've ever read on the Christian faith, I encourage you to read more - a lot more. Start with books by Sproul or Piper or Chesterton or Lewis and work your way back to the great works of Spurgeon, Jonathan Edwards and Augustine.
Big deal December 8, 2008
I have been hearing about Rob Bell's Velvet Elvis since it was published. Some reactions are positive (some very positive) and others suggest it borders on heresy. Quite a spread of opinion. There are some people I really respect who have some big issues with Bell and what he says and believes. I had formed an opinion of the man and the book before I'd actually read it. This lacks integrity, so I thought I should read it. And I have.
This isn't really a review; it isn't meant to be read like one. I am way behind the times in reading it, so there's no point in writing a review. I have to say, though, I was disappointed. It was not the controversial read I was expecting. Equally, it was not the groundbreaking blockbuster I was expecting either. It was, in the end, a bit of a let down.
I wasn't a big fan of the style Bell wrote in.
It...was...a bit...silly?
Yeah. It really was.
Truly.
If you've read it what I just wrote, and how I wrote it, will make sense. Short paragraphs are fine, but writing like that doesn't exactly add drama in my opinion. This was merely a quirk, though. Bell, in the book, doesn't actually get around to saying much at all. He doesn't reach a climax, and if he tried, then his point wasn't particularly good. I quite liked the book, overall. It was easy to read, and had some nice moments and some interesting points. However, his general thrust was not particularly compelling. He didn't, as the subtitle suggests, repaint the Christian faith. However, his use of rabbinical anecdotes and sources made for some interesting insights. His thoughts about God and creation are compelling.
His focus is also a tad skewed; human-focused, when it should be God-focused. I can also see why some are concerned about Bell's writing and ideas. Velvet Elvis doesn't contain any dreadful heresy. It does, however, hint at it. That is, perhaps, the concern with it. Those same trends concern me also. If I was to put a star rating for the book, I'd give 2.5/5. Not great, not bad. I'm still happy to have read it.
Post-Modern Elvis November 4, 2008
This is another good book to add the to library of the post-modern, emerging conversation. I was impressed with the non-abrasive nature that Bell takes in making his point. His approach, like Don Miller will cross over generational boundaries and help to bring the church together in our similarities and differences. Much has been said about Velvet Elvis already and this book's popularity as solidified Rob Bell as a voice in the future of the Church.
 Honey and Poison October 5, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
What good will it do if you mix truth and error, and present it to a child in the faith to feed on? Why are we doing this to the little ones in the faith ?
One quote from this book says a lot about Rob Bell's attitude towards the Good News of Jesus Christ. Even if he doesn't believe it wholeheartedly, it opens him, his students and followers up to tolerating all kind of future heresies. The history of the faith teaches us that it takes one concession to evil for errors to creep into the church and end up ruining lives. Doctrines are walls to protect the believer. They're neither prison bars nor optional guideposts. Creation in 6 24 hrs days is different than the Virgin birth. You can still have atonement and salvation without 6 24 hrs days creation, but you can't if Jesus had an earthly father!!!! God is His Word, and His Word is Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the only way to the Father. We know about Jesus Christ through the historical Christian faith. Hence we can't have God without the Christian faith, because without it we don't have Jesus Christ who is the only way to the Father. While God is beyond all description, we can't be with Him without His historical self-revelation of Himself. He chose to become what He is not by nature, that we may become what we are not by nature (but by grace). If God chose to become man, that men may become like God, then that means that God who is beyond all description chose to confine Himself that we may experience Him. Now Rob Bell wants to downplay the importance of this confined description of God, which is our only means to move from what is limited to what is beyond description. He wants to do away with the bricks of doctrines which guide our way and protect us from wandering aimlessly, the incarnation of God, the voluntary self-confinement of God, His self-emptying, for the God who is beyond description but can never be accessed. He takes away the bricks of historical christianity, the narrow way to heaven, to give you a trampoline to jump on which will never get you up enough to God. God had to come down to you.
I saw it mentioned in one of the posts. Rob Bell relies too much on Rabbinic interpretation that he forgets that the Rabbis rejected Christ and still do. This means that many of his views about the Gospels will be tainted with anti-Christian views, resulting in confused paragraphs like the following on page 17:
"What if tomorrow someone digs up definitive proof that Jesus had a real, earthly, biological father named Larry, and archeologists find Larry's tomb and do DNA samples and prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that the virgin birth was really just a bit of mythologizing the Gospel writers threw in to appeal to the followers of Mithra and Dionysian religious cults that were hugely popular at the time of Jesus, whose gods had virgin births? But what if as you study the origin of the word virgin, you discover that the word virgin in the gospel of Matthew actually comes from the book of Isaiah, and then you find out that in the Hebrew language at that time, the word virgin could mean several things. And what if you discover that in the first century being "born of a virgin" also referred to a child whose mother became pregnant the first time she had intercourse?"
Throughout the centuries Church fathers and apologists answered definitively these claims. To even speak this way about the apostles, the disciples of Christ and the New Testament reveals hidden doubts in the soul of the author. Even though I know that he's trying to prepare his readers for future "definitive scientific" proofs against the faith, I'd like to remind him that if these claims are true, then there is no need to prepare them for it's better for them to lose their faith in that "lie" and to move on with their lives. But what if the faith is not a lie, as all the faithful throughout Church history found out, and it is the only way for a true relationship with God, and for this reason Satan keeps on slandering it to keep people captive. If this is the case, what is Rob Bell doing exactly ?
If you want a fresh look at the Christian Faith as was always believed, check out the lectures of Cyril of Jerusalem which he gave to the new converts in 4th century Jerusalem. It's free on the web or you can buy the church fathers' volumes here on Amazon.I promise you you'll find all the good things that Rob Bell said in his book (honey) without all the poisons, in fact in those lectures you'll find the antidotes to those poisons. For the Christian faith has been around for so long now that every objection has been answered by the people who actually lived in the early centuries, who spoke the original languages and even died for what they believed.
 Deep, Thoughtful, and Very Refreshing July 10, 2008
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
Rob Bell presents a view of Christ that anyone would be attracted to. His explanation of contemporary Jewish customs and beliefs adds clarity to much of what Jesus said and did. The book challenges your thinking and asks Christians if they are following Christ because they are convinced that it is the best way to live.
Bell gives a fresh take on many key Biblical stories and doctrines, such as Jesus as "Rabbi," bringing Heaven (or Hell) to Earth by our lives, the value of Christian community in collectively interpreting Scripture (which he calls binding and loosing), etc. A very good read. You will learn a lot, think a lot, and be a better Christian after reading this book.
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