Robert G. Brown, ‘Review of Rob Bell, What is the Bible?

How an Ancient Library of Poems,

Letters, and Stories Can Transform the Way You Think and Feel about Everything’, in Baptist
Ministers Journal, 338 (2018), 27.

BELL, ROB, What is the Bible?: How an Ancient Library of Poems, Letters, and Stories Can Transform the Way You Think
and Feel About Everything (London: William Collins, 2017), pp. 322. £16.99. ISBN 978-0-00-825957-0.

Bell’s tenth published work seeks to provide lay Christians with his guide to what the Bible ‘is’ and
how to read it, based upon his assumption that there are significant numbers of believers who have
gotten these things wrong. Though not stated explicitly, one can see how the book is targeted at
American Evangelicalism. It is split into two parts, the first contains Bell’s main thoughts and the
second is a pre-emptive Q&A - both lack footnotes and passage references. It is written in Bell’s
typical sermon style, which some may love while others may find a hindrance.

The main thesis of the book is that the best way to read a biblical passage is to read it within its
historical context. A key example that Bell gives is that one should read the Gospels with the
recognition that Jesus was a first-century Jew. Bell describes his context-based hermeneutics as ‘a
whole new way’ of reading, which is an uncomfortable claim. It may be new to those who have never
thought to read a passage in context, but it certainly is not new to those who have ever engaged with a
commentary or studied a modern exegesis textbook. Bell’s prioritisation of context leads to the
(theoretical) simplifying of an ‘application’ type stage in biblical exposition. In Bell’s perspective,
preachers do not need to engage in complex gymnastics to bring a passage into the modern world, but
rather simply need to read it as a powerful text within its own historical context, which in turn will
highlight insights for today.

One may have noticed that Bell’s main thesis, in my opinion, is not actually about what the Bible is,
but rather about how one should read it. What does he say about the Bible’s nature, then? Bell makes
the point regularly that the Bible was written by human beings and is thus a library of ancient human
documents connected with the trajectories of early Christianity and ancient Judaism. However, the
key question, which Bell unfortunately fails to address despite chapters entitled, ‘is it the Word of
God?’ and, ‘is it inspired?’, is: was the Bible in some way composed by God? The absence of an
answer means, in my opinion, that he fails to properly answer his own title question. One cannot help
but wonder if Bell deliberately avoided stating that he thinks the Bible was not composed in some
way by God to mitigate an aggressive response like what he received from his earlier Love Wins.

The value of this book depends on the beliefs the reader holds about the Bible; those with more
conservative views will likely find themselves most challenged by it, and those who are new to the
topic will be most educated by it. Ultimately, the book does make good (though not new) points.