Everyone will want to buy and read Rob Bell’s new book, which I think is to appear in a week or two. It is called Velvet Elvis: Repainting the Christian Faith. Rob Bell is the kind of pastor I’m thankful for because it is these sorts who keep gospel hope alive among the sort of students I teach.

It is written in some kind of pomo techno style with all kinds of short sentences and new paragraphs, and it is not always easy to follow the logical flow (which probably means it doesn’t have one at that point), but he’s got plenty of good things to say about the nature of evangelism and community, the doctrine of Scripture as a missional/living text, an incredibly vulnerable story about his own burning out, some stuff on hell, environment, and he always has to talk somehow about Jesus and Jewish education about which, frankly, he’s not got his facts right: he’s imposed medieval educational practices on 1st century Galilee. (Sorry to be critical, but we don’t know much about 1st Century Galilean educational practices.)

Full of good, good stories.

And lots of short paragraphs.

Many of them one-liners.

But, overall a good read and one I think that my college kids will read and say, “I sooooo like Rob Bell, like he’s way cool. Me and my friends are gunna go up to Mars Hill some day to experience it.”

I hope they tell me about it when they get back, because Kris and I want to get there, too.