Rob Bell and Historical Perspective

Rob Bell, provocative writer and founder of Mars Hill Bible Church in Grandville, Michigan, announced this week that he is leaving his congregation in order to pursue a platform with a “broader audience.” When Rob Bell’s latest book, Love Wins: Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person who ever Lived, came out earlier this year, the popular pastor became something of a whipping boy for evangelicals, many of whom made renewed efforts to shore up orthodox definitions of heaven and hell. Indeed, Bell’s book immediately sparked a veritable cottage industry of popular publishing designed to provide the predicable rebuttal to Bell’s descent into heresy. I remember discussions that emerged all across the campus of the evangelical college where I teach – discussions that could become a case study of the relationship between theological dogma and boundary definition for religious communities.

There is an irony, however, that I can’t help but tease out. The evangelical context in which I currently reside has Brethren roots that connect with the pietist movement in 18th century Germany. And what is ironic about all the fuss over Bell’s book among evangelicals in my denomination (OK, “fellowship”), is the fact that the notion of apocatastasis, the technical term for “universal restoration” (a post-heaven or post-hell process in which all things and people will finally be restored to fellowship with God; often proof-texted from Acts 3:21) has had a fair amount of adherents among the Brethren over the centuries. This has even included Alexander Mack, the founder this branch of Brethrenism, as well as some of the other Pietists that influenced him. Although Mack would reject apocatastasis later in life, it remained on the margins among the Brethren for decades.

In the end, perspectives of Bell’s book will run the gamut. But historical awareness will always provide a useful framework for dialogue about contemporary ideas.