More Bell... this time with Martin Bashir
Thanks to my good friend Wes Trevor, today I watched an MSNBC interview with Rob Bell. Now, I hate to add to the "theological firestorm" any more than I already have (two posts ago), but I had to make a comment on this. Go ahead and watch it first...
First of all, whose idea was it to interview Rob Bell for less than seven minutes? Sorry, but the guy's just not wired to be so brief. Secondly, I'm amazed that a journalist would try to sum up an entire history of Christian theological reflection in an "either-or" question. I mean, how would you answer that first question? Of course it's a paradox. And it's not just the first question. Most of Bashir's questions were presumptuous. Why Origin and not Arius? Well, why any theologian over another? Nobody can deal with them all in one book. Silly question. I think, although in a setting like this the interviewer always "wins", Rob Bell actually handled the questions quite well.
I'm still very excited to read the book and I hope all this argument around it doesn't manage to spoil it. I don't think Rob Bell's doing anything new and I don't think he thinks so either. We could have had the same interview with Karl Barth and he's remembered as one of the greatest theologians in history.
First of all, whose idea was it to interview Rob Bell for less than seven minutes? Sorry, but the guy's just not wired to be so brief. Secondly, I'm amazed that a journalist would try to sum up an entire history of Christian theological reflection in an "either-or" question. I mean, how would you answer that first question? Of course it's a paradox. And it's not just the first question. Most of Bashir's questions were presumptuous. Why Origin and not Arius? Well, why any theologian over another? Nobody can deal with them all in one book. Silly question. I think, although in a setting like this the interviewer always "wins", Rob Bell actually handled the questions quite well.
I'm still very excited to read the book and I hope all this argument around it doesn't manage to spoil it. I don't think Rob Bell's doing anything new and I don't think he thinks so either. We could have had the same interview with Karl Barth and he's remembered as one of the greatest theologians in history.