What is the Bible?: How An Ancient Library of Poems, Letters, and Stories Can Transform the Way You Think and Feel About Everything
4.5/5
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About this audiobook
Rob Bell, the beloved author of Love Wins and What We Talk About When We Talk About God, goes deep into the Bible to show how it is more revelatory, revolutionary, and relevant than we ever imagined—and offers a cogent argument for why we need to look at it in a fresh, new way.
In Love Wins, Rob Bell confronted the troubling questions that many people of faith were afraid to ask about heaven, hell, fate, and faith. Using the same inspired, inquisitive approach, he now turns to our most sacred book, the Bible. What Is the Bible? provides insights and answers that make clear why the Bible is so revered and what makes it truly inspiring and essential to our lives.
Rob takes us deep into actual passages to reveal the humanity behind the Scriptures. You cannot get to the holy without going through the human, Rob tells us. When considering a passage, we shouldn’t ask "Why did God say . . .?" To get to the heart of the Bible’s meaning, we should be asking: "What’s the story that’s unfolding here and why did people find it important to tell it? What was it that moved them to record these words? What was happening in the world at that time? What does this passage/story/poem/verse/book tell us about how people understood who they were and who God was at that time?" In asking these questions, Rob goes beyond the one-dimensional question of "is it true?" to reveal the Bible’s authentic transformative power.
Rob addresses the concerns of all those who see the Bible as God’s Word but are troubled by the ethical dilemmas, errors, and inconsistencies in Scripture. With What Is the Bible?, he recaptures the Good Book’s magic and reaffirms its power and inspiration to shape and inspire our lives today.
Rob Bell
Rob Bell is a New York Times bestselling author, speaker, and spiritual teacher. His books include Love Wins, How to Be Here, What We Talk About When We Talk About God, Velvet Elvis, The Zimzum of Love, Sex God, Jesus Wants to Save Christians, and Drops Like Stars. He hosts the weekly podcast The Robcast, which was named by iTunes as one of the best of 2015. He was profiled in The New Yorker and in TIME Magazine as one of 2011’s hundred most influential people. He and his wife, Kristen, have three children and live in Los Angeles.
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Reviews for What is the Bible?
152 ratings19 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5What a Great perspective.
To anyone with an opinion about either Rob Bell or The Bible;
Please read of listen to the book with an open mind and curiosity. I might just open your eyes for… what the Bible in fact is all about - and even more importantly who God is and has always been. - Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5This book is garbage. Bad scholarship and speculation that would never cross a group of really critics, historians, or Bible scholars. He found his niche in being shocking and just continues as he receives more attention and how now disregarded truth and evidence in lieu of marketability.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5As someone newly discovering the Bible at the age of almost 40, I found myself feeling vaguely betrayed that the stories and “rules” I’d been told all my life were SO CLEARLY not what the text was trying to say when I actually read it. I’m deeply moved and more than a little in love with how relevant it still is in the modern world. What I wanted to understand better was how have we (especially white Americans) managed to get it so wrong for so long?! Rob’s book goes a long way to illuminating these questions with humor and empathy. It’s concise, accessible, and while it’s only the most surface discussion of the questions (because it has to be — I loved his ending!!) it’s a valuable perspective that provides entry into a crucial tool for human evolution.
Yes, really. - Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This book was exactly what I needed to hear. It will transform how I read and understand Scripture. I highly recommend it to anyone who has had trouble understanding troubling/confusing passages, defending the Bible, or even think they have it all figured out. In short - it's for everyone.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5It's not that I agree with everything - but I enjoyed it. Thought provoking. I am uber conservative which causes certain cringes to certain content - but uber conservatism can also produce stale narrow mindedness: so I am glad for a little "sport" and "parry" with Rob Bell's thinking. The notes on change in the paper book are great also and wish they made the audio cut. Shalom
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5ABSOLUTELY WONDERFUL!! HEARTFELT, HUMAN AND HILARIOUS. BLESSINGS SURROUND US ALL:) THANK YOU FOR YOUR COURAGE AND KINDNESS IN WRITING AND MAKING THIS AVAILABLE!!
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Why haven’t I found Rob Bell sooner in my life!? His fresh, realistic approach takes old arguments and turns them upside down. If you think the Bible is boring, you haven’t read the Bible. If you think the Bible is the word of God, you haven’t read the Bible.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Amazing! Loved it! Blew me away! Redefined my concept of the Bible and God! Grace and peace!
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Simply incredible book. Made me see the bible in a whole new light, a beautiful, intriguing, delightful, profound, incredible light.
Before finishing this audiobook I started reading it the book version with my friend and has gotten so much more upon second reading. Highly highly recommended. - Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Eye opening and enlightening, this book challenged me to see the Bible in an entirely new and brighter light.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The missing information of all the stories and why did we end up with these stories!
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Beautiful!!! confirmed some things I’ve been wrestling with for a long time and actually has enriched my faith immensely, thank you!
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5This just did not do it for me. Bell brings up some interesting ideas in the beginning and then skates over them to exclaim how cool and interesting something else is. His writing style is conversational, which is fine, but the liberal italics and bolded phrases become exhausting.
And here's what I as a Christian am really concerned about: Bell continually emphasizes the Bible's being written by humans. Again and again, with very little discussion on the Divine that causes us to read and form doctrines from it. That's true, yes, but it was also inspired by God. That's why we read it in the first place. I feel like this is only going to confirm secular bias about the Bible being a book of fairy stories.
Ultimately, Bell is entertaining and brings up a few salient points, but this is not spiritually meaty. - Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5If I could give it no stars, I would. Through most of the book Bell only raises questions but provides minimal, if only, answers. Although I believe everyone must interpret the bible in their own way, many of us need added guidance. Bell clearly has a far left political view but attempts to hide it - in certain spots, though, it is clear political persuasion is his agenda. Don't wast your money. My copy has already gone in the trash.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5That Rob Bell speaks so often in theaters rather than in churches may say as much about the controversial nature of his views on Christianity as it does about his popularity. Many churches would hesitate to invite him in. And they might not be large enough to hold the crowds.Bell views things just a little differently than most Christians, whether of the mainline variety, evangelicals or fundamentalists. That makes him difficult to pin down.Reading his 2017 book “What Is the Bible?” makes him no easier to pin down, but it may cause one to realize that pinning him, or anyone else (including God), down may be the wrong objective. One of the last statements he makes in the book is this: “Do your best to read it (the Bible) without any ideas about God entering the picture.” Read it with an open and clear mind. Pay attention to every detail. Discover the real story behind the story and why it is important. Embrace the truth wherever it is found. Bell doesn’t say so, but perhaps we should read people in the same way.Bell sees the Bible as a library of literature in many forms, written over a period of many centuries, that somebody thought important enough to preserve and combine. Before we can know its importance to us today, the object of most Bible study, we should know why it was so important to those who wrote it down in the first place, he argues.He views the Bible as a record of the development of a new way of perceiving God. At one time the favor of gods was won through animal sacrifice, even child sacrifice. That’s why Abraham seems so calm when he is about to sacrifice Isaac. Gradually these attitudes change through the Old Testament. Then in the New Testament comes the sacrifice of Jesus. The cross may make little sense to people of today, but it did to the people of that time. Thus Bell suggests trying to get into the minds of those who wrote it all down and were the first to read it.This is exciting stuff, probably not a phrase often used for a book about the Bible.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Rob Bell is excited about a lot of things, but what he is most excited about is the Bible. To those outside of the church there is the perception that the Bible is rigid and violent. Even those inside of the church have a complicated relationship with it. This book by Rob Bell is a breath of fresh air that tries to cast a vision of the Bible that is bright, hopeful, provocative, and inspiring.
Why bother with such a strange, old book? Because it’s a book about them, then, that somehow speaks to you and me, here and now, and it can change the way you think and feel about everything.
To those who are unfamiliar with Rob’s work, some back story is helpful. He was an evangelical pastor and author. He is a personality who at his very core is a pot stirrer. Like most interesting people who are doing worthwhile work, you will have an opinion about him. He became considered an outsider, and even a heretic, as a result of some of his writings. That hasn’t stopped him from continuing to explore what it means to be a Christian in the 21st century.
His work over the last several years has focused on speaking to those who are outside of the “Church.” It could be those who have never been in it or those who have left it. If you are a content Christian, Rob will seem dangerous to you. I do not think I can convince you otherwise. This book is for those that look at the Church and despair. For those that feel like the Church and the Bible has nothing to offer. For those who are a part of it, but struggle to make the pieces fit and find reason to stay.
In it he gives voice to many thoughts and emotions that I have experienced for years. Giving a clear voice to those emotions disarms them and lays the foundation to build on top of. The end result? After you get used to his quirky style of writing, his statements that seem a little over-the-top, and his weird sense of humor, you’re left with hope and excitement to continue onward. - Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bell is great at making you really think. In that regard, this book is not unlike many of his previous ones and well worth reading. I was a little let down by some things in this book, however. The principle thing that I got hung up on was - to quote him quoting his professor in Seminary - "you can take it way farther". He seems to start along a line of thinking in a number of places and then just switches gears and starts on another topic - some chapters are just a tease. The other thing that made me roll my eyes more than once was his hipster/SoCal attitude. Dude. You live in LA now, I get it already... It just seemed like he was working a little too hard, unnecessarily, to convey how hip and cool he is.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5excellent and thought provoking.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I really like Rob Bell. I like his sense of wonder. I like that he thinks that you should have lots of questions when you read the Bible. I really like that he recommends studying it as, not just the Word, but the Word as written down by real people living in real historical situations. I found this a fast but helpful read, and I'm sure I'll go back to it often.