Velvet Elvis, by Rob Bell

In December I had a month off from assigned reading for work so I inhaled some of my own books of which Velvet Elvis by Rob Bell was the last.

Rob Bell is pastor of a well known mega-chuch in Michigan named Mars Hill. As the founding pastor he began preaching at age 28, and the first service held approximately 1,000 people. The church quickly grew and now sees 10,000 people each week amongst its various sites around Grand Rapids.

The full title of the book is: Velvet Elvis: Repainting the Christian Faith. And while Bell's hermeneutic will often be a fresh approach to interpreting the Bible, I think it's an audacious claim to "repaint" the entire Christian faith in less than 200 pages.

Bell interprets the Bible through the lens of social justice, which is why his teaching may seem fresh and rejuvinating to many brought up in the main stream conservative Bible belt. He emphasizes more strongly the social justice issues that Jesus pushed for, the stark political slant of the New Testament, and the need to live into one's own potential as one purs

ues God and God's vision for our world. Such issues may be foreign to traditional churchgoers who grew up hearing sermons which emphasized right belief a bit more than loving action.

This is not to say that Bell doesn't affirm traditional doctrine, in fact, he claims to practice historic orthodox Christian faith. Rather it is as if he has said to straight up church dogma, "Been there, got the t-shirt."

The book reads quickly, and the candor with which he writes is attractive. At one point in an early chapter he says something like this: I love the Bible. I believe it is God's word and is authoritative for life and faith. But sometimes when I hear people quote the Bible, it makes me want to barf. Can I say that? Can I get that off my chest?

Each chapter reads like a sermon in disguise. For me th

e book was hit and miss. Some chapters were enthrawling with new ideas and presentations of a Jesus who welcomed the unwelcome, hugged the untouchable, led a life of inclusion, and recognized the humanity in every person he met. But one or two chapters seemed to fizzle to the ground. Again, this is how it affected me. For some, the fizzly chapters may be the best ones - it's very subjective.

Overall, the book presents energetically what I would call progressively-conservative theology. As a possible litmus test I look forward to reading Bell's other books. I recommend Velvet Elvis to almost all "regular" Christians as a taste of something different, inspiring, yet still (in my opinion) Biblical.