What We Talk About When We Talk About God

By Rob Bell

Rob Bell’s bestselling book Love Wins struck a powerful chord with a new generation of Christians who are asking the questions church leaders have been afraid to touch. His new book, What We Talk About When We Talk About God, continues down this path, helping us with the ultimate big-picture issue: how do we know God?

Love Wins was a Sunday Times bestseller that created a media storm, launching Bell as a national religious voice who is reinvigorating what it means to be religious and a Christian today.

He is one of the most influential voices in the Christian world, and now his new book, What We Talk About When We Talk About God, is poised to blow open the doors on how we understand God.

Bell believes we need to drop our primitive, tribal views of God and instead understand the God who wants us to become who we were designed to be, a God who created a universe of quarks and quantum string dynamics, but who also gives meaning to why new-born babies and stories of heroes and sacrifice inspire in us a deep reverence.

What We Talk About When We Talk About God will reveal that God is not in need of repair to catch him up with today’s world so much as we need to discover the God who goes before us and beckons us forward.

A book full of mystery, controversy, and reverence, What We Talk About When We Talk About God has fans and critics alike anxiously awaiting, and promises not to disappoint.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins UK
• Release date: Mar 12, 2013
• ISBN: 9780007448463

Rob Bell

Rob Bell is the author of the Sunday Times bestselling books “Love Wins” and “What We Talk About When We Talk About God.”

Reviews for What We Talk About When We Talk About God

[themadturtle · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Bell writes in such a straight-forward manner that leaves little question or debate on what he's really saying. That's one of the things I like about his books. While nothing in this book is as radical as the material in 'Love Wins', this book covers and important subject that, I think, often gets overlooked. It was an enjoyable read that asks some good questions and makes some good points.

[al9g · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

There is plenty to chew on in this book but I do have to say it is probably not as good as "Love Wins." Still there is food for reflection and I especially enjoyed the sections where he marries spiritual understandings to quantum physics. He is not the first theologian I have read who has broached this subject and favorably compared understandings of quantum physics to a deeper understanding of God and creation but he is probably the most readable. Definitely worth a read.

[tabascofromgudreads · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

The author's intent is clearly very positive, and I loved the book for that inspiring energy, but, based on what I was looking for, this was not the book for me. The theologic reasoning doesn't even scratch the surface of the main themes around "God" already handled centuries ago by the great spiritual thinkers, not only Christian ones like the Fathers of the Church, but Muslim and Hindu too. After reading "The experience of God" by David Bentley Hart, I have to be honest, this felt like drinking watered-down Pepsi after having had a glass of Chateau Brion Graves 1975.

[revslick_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Rob Bell reminds me of one of my first camp counselors at Camp Wesley Pines who told me you can be a Christian and still have fun as he proceeded to put gummy worms up his nose. He' also creatively shared life, love, and gospel, which is exactly what Rob does in his books. Bell creatively communicates a basic introduction of a God we can all understand with some brief words. The first two are Be Open and Both describing the current tension of a surface level understanding of science and religion with a richer undercurrent of both science and religion while also reminding the reader to be open to the possibilities. At the end of the largest section of the book he has a reminder that it doesn't have to be either/or. It can very well be both/and. Next he teases with an excellent overview of God by reminding us that God is With Us, For Us, and Ahead of Us. Lastly, he invites the reader into this exploration of seeing and experiencing God in this new framework with an afterword called So (think So What). What he introduces is not new or cliche in fact I've used and heard many of these in sermons/messages in recovery and church for quite some time; however he does craft the message in a way that is inviting and inspiring to seek God now and always.

[maryreinert · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I believe what Rob Bell has to say is so important for anyone to read regardless if they are from the traditional school of religious thought (as I am) or are acknowledged non-believers. Bell provides so much food for thought. I've heard some call Bell "dangerous" and others call him "a modern day saint." Probably somewhere in between, but he is nonetheless provocative. And, I think that whatever you believe, it should be questioned on a regular basis; perhaps that will make your belief stronger, or it may steer you in a different direction completely. It's the search that should never be forgotten.Actually what Bell has to say isn't that new to me. Many years ago, I took a very insightful Bible course called the Bethel Series [...], a non-denominational series which uses the Bible as a textbook and uses an historical approach to the Hebrew-Christian heritage of faith studying the Bible in the historical context in which it was written. It doesn't assume that you have give up your reasoning in order to be a Christian. We learned to "think like a Hebrew". Bell also wants us to learn to think in new ways, to recognize that not everything can be explained by logic, and that things are much more than a sum of the parts. The God that Bell wants us to meet anew is one that has always been with mankind and will always be regardless of time, location, culture, or theology.I am a life-long "traditional" Lutheran church-goer. To me, this book is not a condemnation of traditional belief, but it is an invitation to explore and think anew.I give this 4 stars rather than 5 due to what I would call a "flippant" writing style in some places. The book reads more like a conversation or speech interspersed with attempts at humor. But I am that traditionalist who likes nice neat structured paragraphs. But I realize that Bell is attempting to reach a much broader audience than old English teachers. However, the message is strong enough for me to easily overlook that modernistic approach of writing.

[johntaitt · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Profound reading! I would recommend this book to other pastors.

[eliason-598967 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Rob Bell dares to imagine a God that doesn’t just care about a select few, but loves all the creation that He called ‘good.’ Perhaps it’s time for you too to question the rigid, modern and western ways of viewing the Creator that we treasure so dearly, and embark on a journey to find whom this God really is. If you are questioning dogmatic faith but still feel a pull towards the Divine, this book is a must read!