Scot McKnight's blog pointed me to some thoughts on Rob Bell on Ben Witherington's blog:
http://benwitherington.blogspot.com/2007/02/velvet-elvis-and-king-has-he-left.html
I'm so bad at reading the culturally important, so what I know of Bell I know second hand. But interestingly I had a conversation just this week with Adam Thada about Bell and about how accurate some of his biblical/cultural comments are. My impression has been that he does what so many popular preachers do--he gives very memorable insights, "secrets" if you would, into the original context of the Bible that really drive points home... but they usually are a little off. This is a pervasive preaching phenomenon from Spong on the left to some holiness preachers I've known who really impress their audience with these little secrets that even the biblical authors didn't know ;-)
Adam and I were talking about him saying something about having to take a mark in the days of Domitian to buy or sell. I don't know of any evidence for anything like this and have never seen it in anything I've read on Revelation in the scholarly or popular domain. There is good reason to think the book of Revelation's imagery might connect strongly to current events in the late first century in Rome and Ephesus. But I really don't think this is one of them. I've wondered if this comment had something to do with the use of Roman coinage at this time, which indicated that Domitian was a god.
Witherington's review is overall very positive toward Bell and this is my current feeling toward him too. But Witherington has confirmed my impression as well, that Bell's knowledge of ancient culture, history, and context is not always all it's cracked up to be.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
7 comments:
I think it would be fun one of us to post someday on some of the "Top Ten Biblical Studies" myths or something along those lines. There's all kinds of illustrations and explanation points given from the pulpit that seek to give background or facts on this or that passage which have no root in any proven facts. There's a great many urgan legends floating around churches. One random example would be the "Needle's Gate" idea that supposedly lies behind Christ's statement about the camel going through the eye of a needle.
Then there's the one about the high priest wearing a bell and a rope into the Holy of Holies so that they could pull him out if he died. Where's that in the OT?
Maybe Leviticus can also shed some light onto the exact definition of a "hillazon" from which "Biblical blue" for the tassels of Hebrew robes, etc. was used. No? I believe that we are relying more upon Talmudic references and traditions rather than Biblical sources for both the hillazon and the bell & rope scenario. Such items and their origins have worth but are clearly dangerous if used for absolute doctrine. Great points!
I have been fascinated with Bell as well. He seems to defy categories. Kind of emergent, meets mega-church pastor, meets pop theologian. I enjoy his teaching style, but I, likewise, have often wondered about where he gets some of the details.
Thanks for linking that post, for clarifying things.
Given the reality that popularity always brings equal portions of criticisms, most of the criticisms I've seen have been quite mild. Preach on, Rob.
Now to listen to another Mars Hill I downloaded while reading blogs...
WHAT?!? If the mark isn't in the Bible, does that mean the Left Behind series isn't Scripture?
Post a Comment