Rob Bell was a nationally renowned popular Evangelical Michigan megachurch founder and pastor (one of Timeâ??s100 most influential people!) until his 2011 book Love Wins questioned traditional Christian understandings about salvation and damnation. He was following the trajectory of other post-Evangelicals towards liberal Protestantism and well beyond. Bell lost his pastorate and much of his Evangelical following, a fall meriting a New York Times feature.
But Bell is a creative and talented religious entrepreneur in America, where there are always more chances for self re-creation. He moved to California, naturally, continued as a widely read blogger, and accelerated his liberal theological journey, embracing same sex marriage as a â??justice issue,â? of course, and doubtless much else as he streaked away from orthodoxy. His new book, The Zimzum of Love: A New Way of Understanding Marriage, has been mocked for citing the Bible only three times, further signifying his expansion into a post-Christian frontier. He now surfs at the beach, rejects theological categories, and happily relates to others whoâ??ve escaped the rigid confines of organized religion.
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