We know there's something more. We sense it, we feel it, and we want it. But how do we find it - a spirituality that stands up to the questions of an honest, searching mind? "This book is for those who need a fresh take on Jesus and what it means for us to live the kind of life he teaches us to live," writes Rob Bell. "This pursuit of Jesus is leading us backward as much as forward...I am learning that what seems brand new is often just the discovery of something that has been there all along - it just got lost somewhere and it needs to be picked up, dusted off, and reclaimed." "We have to test everything," writes Bell. "Do that to this book. Don't swallow it uncritically. Think about it. Wrestle with it. Just because I'm a Christian and I'm trying to articulate a Christian world view doesn't mean I've got it nailed. I'm contributing to the discussion. God has spoken, and the rest is commentary, right?" Velvet Elvis offers original and refreshingly personal perspectives on what Christianity is really about.

About the Author

Rob Bell is the founding pastor of Mars Hill Church and is featured in the first series of spiritual short films called NOOMA. He recently completed his first book titled Velvet Elvis: Repainting the Christian Faith. Rob and his wife, Kristen, have two boys and live in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Reviews

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 2005 Reed Business Information.

'Rob Bell is able to draw more depth out of the New Testament than I thought possible....I would have finished this book in record time if I didn't have to put it down so often just so I could sit back and process what I was learning. Buy two copies, one for you and one to pass around.' -- YouthWorker Journal