Jason Hood’s Hilarious Review of Rob Bell’s New Book on Marriage

Over at Books & Culture, Jason Hood has a hilarious review of Rob Bell’s new book The Zimzum of Love by compiling the script for an editorial board meeting of the publishers to discuss Rob Bell’s book.

Here’s part of it:

JP: “Rob, I’ve been worried. Normally these books take six weeks to write—a few lovely stories, basic relationship principles, etc.”

RB: “I’ve got stories. But now I’ve got something else, that magic gimmick-hook thing. Tsimtsum.”

ME: “Dimsum?”

JP: “Sounds like a stretch, Rob.”

RB: “No, Tsimtsum.”

ME: “I hear it now. Eastern religion. Ancient flavoring. I love it. Tell me more.”

RB: “It’s Jewish, in fact, and only a few hundred years old, not ancient. When God wanted to create the world, God had to contract. God pulls away from the world to create room for something other than God to exist and thrive.”

ME: “Um, before we get specific let’s firm up the brand. The ancient Hebrew concept of Tsimtsum.’ Sounds trustworthy. Has an ad fontes sheen. Sells much better than ‘post-medieval’ or ‘early modern.'”

RB: “Okay. We can freshen it up as ‘Zimzum.’ And you can use it as a verb.”

ME: “‘An ancient new way of understanding marriage.’ That’s the subtitle.”

JP: “But let’s slow down, because I’m getting stuck here. What does zimzumhave to do with marriage?”

RE: “Well, we create space. Like God.”

AE: “Like deism? You pull away from the person to save the relationship? Brilliant. Codependency seems like a limited audience, but maybe there’s hidden gold there. I know I always need some space from my partner. That’s why I volunteered to edit the collected works of Jacob Neusner.”

RB: “No, it’s not deism … see, there’s this space between you and your partner, and energy flows in this space. It’s like creation: God zimzums, creating and making space in love for something Other. ‘Tsimtsum’ means to “unleash energy and create space for someone to thrive while they’re doing the same for you, unleashing energy and generating the flow that is the lifeblood of marriage.”

ME: “I’m confused. Are you making space and contracting, or are you moving forward with energy?

AE: “And is zimzum a place or an abstract concept? Or is it a verb? Or is this just a metaphor?”

RB: “Actually, it’s Kabbalah.”

ME: “Don’t tell people that. Madonna cornered Kabbalah. And she’s lame. Please continue.”