Reviewing JWSC by Rob Bell and Don Golden: my preface and their introduction

I want to take some time to review, chapter by chapter, Rob Bell and Don Golden’s new book, Jesus Wants to Save Christians: A Manifesto for the Church in Exile. Bell and Golden worked together at Mars Hill Bible Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan for three years, though Golden is now vice president of church engagement at World Relief in Baltimore, Maryland. Bell of course is known for his Nooma short-film series and his previous books, Velvet Elvis and Sex God. 

JSWC is loaded with endnotes, many of those notes being multiple specific Scripture references to support the authors’ narrative interpretations. This could be the result of a simple desire for academic detail; it might also be a response, in some way, to some of the hyper-conservative American church leaders who have attempted to pin Bell’s theology as apart from “orthodox” Christianity and the meaning of the biblical text. It seems that those type of criticisms of Bell will be even farther-fetched after his and Golden’s careful and deliberate pointing to Scripture’s backing in JWSC.

The book espouses what Bell and Golden term the “New Exodus” perspective. They credit Tom Holland, a professor of Biblical Theology at Wales Evangelical School of Theology, for leading the charge of this New Exodus understanding. 

JWSC is consistent with Bell’s record of narrative approach to Scripture in writing and teaching. The book’s introduction sets forth that JWSC follows the full narrative of Scripture, and so – as is the case with the Bible – skipping to the middle or end of the book will tarnish the power of the writing. (pgs. 8-9)

Bell and Golden’s introduction, “Air Puffers and Rubber Gloves,” establishes Cain’s murder of Abel as concurrent with a societal shift from a nomadic orientation to an agricultural one. Not only is ownership and boundary entering this early society, but there’s the issue of just where this settlement is taking place – east of Eden. (pgs. 12-13) 

Take the geography of this image literally or symbolically – it doesn’t diminish their point either way – and “east of Eden” is clearly representative of distance from shalom. The book of Genesis frequents this image. After the fall, God inquires about Adam’s location; Adam’s reply is, “East.” So in Genesis 4 Cain is building a city east of Eden, setting up camp in exile from Eden. Bell and Golden imply (rightly) that we find ourselves in a similar predicament – living out our residency “east of Eden,” settling for what exists rather than what could be. (pgs. 17-19)

JWSC is consistent in its claims that things could be better but aren’t, and that the blame for our east-of-Eden state should be attributed to our disobedience and not some sort of helpless depravity or fatalistic determinism. Bell and Golden are not having a circular conversation with their readers. JWSC is a call to responsibility and obedience, for an enabled people to fulfill the Abrahamic Covenant by living as a blessing for others.