What We Talk About When We Talk About God
4.5/5
()
About this audiobook
New York Times bestselling author Rob Bell, whom The New Yorker describes as “one of the most influential Christian leaders in the country,” does for the concept of God what he did for heaven and hell in his book Love Wins: He shows how traditional ideas have grown stale and dysfunctional and how to return vitality and vibrancy to lives of faith today.
Pastor Rob Bell explains why both culture and the church resist talking about God, and shows how we can reconnect with the God who is pulling us forward into a better future. Bell uses his characteristic evocative storytelling to challenge everything you think you know about God. What We Talk About When We Talk About God tackles the misconceptions about God and reveals how God is with us, for us, ahead of us, and how understanding this could change the entire course of our lives.
Editor's Note
Compelling argument…
In down-to-earth terms — full of pop culture examples and new interpretations of old scripture — Bell compellingly argues that God isn’t outdated, but that our ways of thinking about God are.
Rob Bell
Rob Bell is a New York Times bestselling author, speaker, and spiritual teacher. His books include Love Wins, How to Be Here, What We Talk About When We Talk About God, Velvet Elvis, The Zimzum of Love, Sex God, Jesus Wants to Save Christians, and Drops Like Stars. He hosts the weekly podcast The Robcast, which was named by iTunes as one of the best of 2015. He was profiled in The New Yorker and in TIME Magazine as one of 2011’s hundred most influential people. He and his wife, Kristen, have three children and live in Los Angeles.
More audiobooks from Rob Bell
How to Be Here: A Guide to Creating a Life Worth Living Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Velvet Elvis: Repainting the Christian Faith Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sex God: Exploring the Endless Connections Between Sexuality and Spirituality Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Zimzum of Love: A New Way of Understanding Marriage Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Jesus Wants to Save Christians: A Manifesto for the Church in Exile Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Everything Is Spiritual: Finding Your Way in a Turbulent World Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Related to What We Talk About When We Talk About God
Related audiobooks
Love Wins: A Book About Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Sin of Certainty: Why God Desires Our Trust More Than Our "Correct" Beliefs Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Finding God in the Waves: How I Lost My Faith and Found it Again Through Science Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Faith Unraveled: How a Girl Who Knew All the Answers Learned to Ask Questions Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Everything Must Change: Jesus, Global Crises, and a Revolution of Hope Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5God After Deconstruction Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Irresistible Revolution: Living as an Ordinary Radical Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5From Wild Man to Wise Man: Reflections on Male Spirituality Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Wrestling with God: Finding Hope and Meaning in Our Daily Struggles to Be Human Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Life's Too Short to Pretend You're Not Religious: Reframed and Expanded Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Why?: Making Sense of God's Will Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Everything Is Spiritual: Finding Your Way in a Turbulent World Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A New Kind of Christianity: Ten Questions That Are Transforming the Faith Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Faith After Doubt: Why Your Beliefs Stopped Working and What to Do About It Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Love Matters More: How Fighting to Be Right Keeps Us from Loving Like Jesus Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Do I Stay Christian?: A Guide for the Doubters, the Disappointed, and the Disillusioned Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Great Spiritual Migration: How the World's Largest Religion Is Seeking a Better Way to Be Christian Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Open and Relational Theology: An Introduction to Life-Changing Ideas Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Insurrection: To Believe is Human To Doubt, Divine Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Bible Tells Me So: Why Defending Scripture Has Made Us Unable to Read It Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Finding Faith---A Search for What Is Real Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Freeing Jesus: Rediscovering Jesus as Friend, Teacher, Savior, Lord, Way, and Presence Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Secret Message of Jesus: Uncovering the Truth that Could Change Everything Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Still Christian: Following Jesus Out of American Evangelicalism Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Learning to Walk in the Dark: Because Sometimes God Shows Up at Night Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Inspired: Slaying Giants, Walking on Water, and Loving the Bible Again Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Out of Sorts: Making Peace with an Evolving Faith Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Christianity For You
The Great Divorce Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Decluttering at the Speed of Life: Winning Your Never-Ending Battle with Stuff Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Four Loves Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Becoming Free Indeed: My Story of Disentangling Faith from Fear Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Mere Christianity Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Boundaries: When To Say Yes, How to Say No Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Grief Observed Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory: American Evangelicals in an Age of Extremism Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Anxious for Nothing: Finding Calm in a Chaotic World Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Boundaries Updated and Expanded Edition: When to Say Yes, How to Say No To Take Control of Your Life Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Present Over Perfect: Leaving Behind Frantic for a Simpler, More Soulful Way of Living Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Garden Within: Where the War with Your Emotions Ends and Your Most Powerful Life Begins Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Girl, Wash Your Face: Stop Believing the Lies About Who You Are so You Can Become Who You Were Meant to Be Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Winning the War in Your Mind: Change Your Thinking, Change Your Life Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5All My Knotted-Up Life: A Memoir Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Holy Bible in Audio - King James Version: The Complete Old & New Testament Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Good Boundaries and Goodbyes: Loving Others Without Losing the Best of Who You Are Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Road Back to You: An Enneagram Journey to Self-Discovery Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Unoffendable: How Just One Change Can Make All of Life Better (updated with two new chapters) Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership 25th Anniversary: Follow Them and People Will Follow You Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Little Book of Letting Go Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Return of the Gods Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Love Does: Discover a Secretly Incredible Life in an Ordinary World Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Wild at Heart: Discovering the Secret of a Man's Soul Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Cost of Discipleship Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Purpose Driven Life: What on Earth Am I Here For? Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5It's Not Supposed to Be This Way: Finding Unexpected Strength When Disappointments Leave You Shattered Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Uninvited: Living Loved When You Feel Less Than, Left Out, and Lonely Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Reviews for What We Talk About When We Talk About God
75 ratings9 reviews
What our readers think
Readers find this title to be a thought-provoking and insightful book that explores the concept of God's presence in our everyday lives. It offers a fresh perspective for both skeptics and believers, addressing the relevance of God in the modern world. The book is praised for its ability to take readers on a journey beyond space and time, while also bringing them back to the present moment. Overall, it is a great read that offers valuable insights."
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Rob 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.
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Rob 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!
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5The 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.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Is God like an Oldsmobile? Outdated? Behind the times? A relic of yesteryear? This book concisely answers this question. Great read for the skeptic and believer alike.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I 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.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5WoW! I will have to listen to this again. I got a lot from this book, a lot and there is more to go back and listen slow and pause to give thought to. It will take you way out beyond space and time and bring you back to the here and now. Summation; God is everywhere, everyday, all around us, in the large, the small, the mundane and the highlights of life, he is as close as our breath.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Awesome book! Very thought provoking
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bell 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.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5There 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.