Todd Mangum’s Impressions of Rob Bell’s Love Wins
Dr. Todd Mangum, Dean of the Faculty, Professor of Theology at Biblical Seminary
Todd Mangum, one of my professors from seminary, offers a good critique of Rob Bell’s Love Wins. I wanted to offer it here since I have been putting forth some of my own reflections.
Some might say: Why do you accept critique of Rob Bell? It appears you agree with him. First, I don’t agree with all of what Rob Bell has said in his book. I think he oversimplifies some things and has poor arguments in some areas. However, I have asked the Christian community to see where Bell is coming from and move away from the “fiery-arrow argumentation” being hurled by his opponents. Second, I accept such a critique because I don’t believe Todd has a vendetta against Bell. In fact, I believe Todd enjoys BEll, for the most part. Todd’s impressions (as he calls them) are fair, and, thus, he deserves to be heard.
There are three things Todd does really well in that review:
1. He explains why Bell’s opponents are so angry.
2. He offers a reasonable critique of Bell’s writing style.
3. He critiques Bell’s theology in a fair-level-headed manner.
I don’t agree 100% with some of Mangum’s points under #3, but I think this is a good example of charitable Christian debate/discussion. Thanks for linking to it.