Velvet Elvis

By: Taft Ayers

This book was written in 2005 and is 177 pages long. It is a very easy read and pretty rad. Yeah, I said rad.

Rob Bell, author of Velvet Elvis, and founding minister of Mars Hill Bible Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan, is concerned with motion. In particular, he is tired of seeing a stagnant church, stuck in what he likens to a painting of Elvis hanging in his basement. Bell's interpretation of this painting is that it represents well the king of rock and roll, but as merely one artist's interpretation, it is not the definitive painting in all of history. But what if the artist—or even its viewers—were convinced this painting was the only true painting ever done of Elvis?

According to Bell, this is what has happened to the Christian church—the church has bought into the fact that Christianity as we know and experience it is a painting that can neither be changed nor altered. And Bell wants that idea to change. This book, then, is for those who are also wrestling with the true definition of church, and of Christianity. It is a book for those “who need a fresh take on Jesus and what it means to live the kind of life he teaches us to live” (14). It is his “Velvet Elvis,” his “repainting of the Christian faith.”

Bell's repainting is meant to grab the reader's attention. His chapters are called “movements,” and his page numbers are placed vertically on the outside corner of each page with three digits always represented, even when the number is below 100, as in 033. The specific layout of various phrases and sentences are also strategically placed so that the more emphatic points are separate from the previous paragraph—beacons stranded in the middle of the page as though the phrase itself is a lighthouse pointing the reader to the solid grounding of the particular point he is trying to make. For instance, when Bell speaks of the Council of Nicea and the work they did to canonize the Scriptures in the fourth century, he writes:

At some point we have to have faith. Faith that God is capable of guiding people. Faith that God has not left us alone. Faith that the same Spirit who guided Paul and Peter and those people in a room in the 300's is still

with

us

today.

Guiding us, showing us, enlightening us. (68)

And this format is found on nearly every page of the book. This slightly unorthodox style, while certainly not an impediment to his work, can be misconstrued as an assumption by Bell that the reader cannot be left to pull out the aspects of his most important and most supporting arguments. And his desire to interest the reader in unconventional ways transcends the visual aspects of the book.

One of many strengths found in the book is the historical depth Bell brings to his writing. He is well versed in rabbinical history and teachings; he draws freely from the sixteenth century Reformation; and he is thoroughly steeped in Scripture. Yet in his reliance on such resources to support his thesis, he states that one cannot receive any of these teachings without asking pertinent questions.

As he writes, “every generation has to ask the difficult questions of what it means to be a Christian here and now, in this place, at this time” (13). And just as his writing style is meant to surprise and alarm the reader, so are his various questions and statements.

In the beginning of the book, Bell discusses the importance of perceiving doctrine as a mere indicator of the complexity of God. The doctrines of the Christian faith are not the point. “They help us understand the point, but they are a means and not an end. We take them seriously, and at the same time we keep them in proper perspective” (22). With this in mind, he questions various Christian doctrines such as the virgin birth of Christ, the Trinity, and the concept of sola scriptura or Scripture alone. At first glance these questions seem at the least preposterous and at the most, heretical. But as one continues to read, one easily discovers the truth to which he holds. Such questions serve—just as do the aesthetics of the book—to test our sensibilities, and ultimately to draw us back to Christ. Despite these seemingly outrageous claims, when one mines the depths of his words, the truth of Christ is easily found.

At the crux of Bell's ministry, his life, his argument, and his desire for the church is a simplification, a dressing down, an uncovering, or in his words, a repainting of Christianity. In a particularly revealing part of the book, where Bell is offering the reader a glimpse into his heart for ministry, we read this:

You have to understand that I started out playing in bands, back when alternative music was…alternative…I understood music to be the raw art form that comes from your guts.

Do it yourself.

Strip it down.

Bare bones.

Take away all the fluff and the hype.

This ethos heavily shaped my understandings of what church should be like: strip everything away and get down to the most basic elements. (98)

This is his vision for Christianity and the church—simply to be followers of Christ, testing, probing, healing, redeeming, or in his words, repainting.

Bell devotes the last section of the book to the redemption found in Christ: we are accepted just as we are, called holy, and given a new objective—to tell others of the hope found in Christ and the church. This redemption spreads beyond the self, and out into all of God's creation. As Christians we are called to bring this good news, this gospel, to all people. “So this reality, this reconciliation, is true for everybody,” says Bell. “Paul insisted that when Jesus died on the cross, he was reconciling ‘all things, in heaven and on earth, to God.'”

This is the reality into which Bell invites you. It's a reality that when stripped down to its most simplistic form is the Jesus that has been, is, and will be for all who believe in him.

Best book I have read in 2010. It will enhance your walk with God.

Just sayin'.