Is Rob Bell An Evangelical? Part I
by on October 29, 2009
On September 27th, Rob Bell, best-selling Christian writer and pastor, told the Boston Globe that he embraces “the term evangelical, if by that we mean a belief that we together can actually work for change in the world, caring for the environment, extending to the poor generosity and kindness, a hopeful outlook.”
Is Rob Bell an evangelical?
What is an Evangelical?
In the Rabbinic tradition the term evangelical (besora in the Hebrew), occured six times in the Old Testament. It meant “glad tidings.”
In the Greek world the news of the birth of a Caesar or emperor is described as euangelion. The messenger of that good news was greatly celebrated (or in the case of the Magi, apprehended).
Mark used the word euangelion eight times in his narrative. The Apostle Paul used it sixty times.
Historically, evangelicals have been “good news people.”
As I have come to understand it, the term “evangelical” has three main components: the upward, the inward, and the outward. I have collected a list of other beliefs that younger evangelicals are also deeming important.
The Upward
Many use the word “evangelical” to talk about the days of John Wesley, George Whitefield, and Jonathan Edwards. David Bebbington’s work on evangelicalism and revival has shaped much of our understanding of these traditions. This December, Professor Bebbington will be presenting a paper at the Evangelicalism and Fundamentalism in Britain Conference at King’s College in London.
When it comes to a personal relationship with God -the upward element of Christianity – evangelicals usually cluster around the biblical truths rediscovered by Martin Luther, John Calvin and the other protesters of Rome in the 16th century.
Grace alone. Faith alone. Christ alone.
Bell would agree with these. No need to take pilgrimages to earn indulgences. No need to sleep on stones or deprive the body of necessities. The free gift of God’s grace is a gift. Not a work to be earned through penance. See my blog on self flagellation.
Evangelicals believed that the punishment for sin already happened to Christ, the lamb “that was slain before the foundation of the world” (Revelation 13:8). To get a good picture of an Augustinian Catholic turned Protestant, watch Luther directed by Eric Till in 2003.
The upward dimension of evangelicalism also includes a conversion experience. Bell highlights the process of renewing the Christian life, but often to the exclusion of a “magic prayer” that is supposed to save you. For him, conversion is a process of turning from that which separates us from the goodness of God. He also resists too much emphasis on the next life because he feels it takes away from the focus on the present life.
What is a conversion experience? John Wesley said that his heart was “strangely warmed.” Others describe it as a moment of clarity and conviction, a turning from sin to grace, dark to light. In 19th-century Britain, there were also records of anti-conversion experiences – those who turned away from the Christian faith, and particularly from evangelicalism. Read the works of Marian Evans (better known to us as George Elliot), John Romane’s A Candid Examination of Theism (1878), and in the 20th century, Edmund Gosse’s Father and Son (1907).
In a survey conducted forty years ago, evangelical Christians talked about their conversion experience in terms of a single momentary event – like Paul on the Road to Damascus. A recent survey reveals that people are now talking about their faith with postmodern words like journey and pilgrimage – a road to Emmaus experience. Bell speaks to a generation who is struggling to understand what it means to be a Christian living in a time of linguistic transition.
In many ways, the rise of Calvinism has brought the term “evangelical” back into vogue. Bell would resist being labeled as Calvinist, unlike his contemporary Mark Driscoll. The upward resurgence of Calvinism in younger evangelicals embraces not only the tenants of the Reformers but also the theology that was championed by the English Puritans. Popular preacher/theologians like J. I. Packer, Tim Keller, C. J. Maheney and John Piper fan the flame of Puritan teachings, making them attractive and accessible to younger generations of Christians.
What’s all the God-centered fuss about? Check out this article on John Calvin.
Rob Bell is no Calvinist. He does not stress the doctrines of grace as expressed in the reformed tradition. He would take issue with Jonathan Edwards who emphasized that humans are “sinners in the hands of an angry God”. Read Jonathan Edwards: A Life by George Marsden).
“The gods are not angry,” Bell keeps insisting.
Most evangelicals would react to this by saying that God should get angry at sin, murder, rape, selfishness, genocide, laxity, laziness, indulgence. A neutral God is no friend of William Wilberforce, leading Anglican evangelical and abolisher of the Slave Trade.
The “good news” that evangelicals tout is that God has offered a solution to the problems of evil through the person and work of Jesus Christ. He has entered our environment as one of us, and as a result, Christians enter the world and “become flesh” to others.
In “Is Rob Bell An Evangelical? Part II” we will examine the inward and the outward elements of evangelicalism.
- Here’s a video of Bell at his best: