Robbing the Bell Tower: an Interpretation

I want to offer an interpretation of the parable I posted a couple of weeks ago, the day after the online firestorm began surrounding Rob Bell’s latest book Love Wins. Here, and in a follow up post, I’ll also briefly review the book.

However, I am not aiming to do an in-depth review at this point, nor do I think it necessary to do so. JR Woodward is posting what is already looking like the best in the blogosphere on the topic; and for further background, check out Mark Galli’s CT review and, of course, see Kevin DeYoung’s now-infamous 20-pager (and firm heresy declaration) over at The Gospel Coalition.

And there is also a great FAQ at the Mars Hill (GR) site.

First, the parable. You can read it here.

“Robbing the Bell Tower” is clearly an allusion to our author, just in case that slipped past anyone. And while the parable is not meant as a defense of Rob or Love Wins, it is meant to be a response to the catalyzing event that this book may represent.

Note: Currently, the web is abuzz with a “shift,” “split,” and “crack” in the evangelical landscape. I’ve commented on it. And in this case, hell seems to be the fissure that is starting the quake. There is a recognition that the topic of hell is one that we simply do not talk about – that is, not in depth, not in lieu of all its implications, not while confronting all the questions it raises. Instead of talking, evangelicals mostly mention hell.

They mention it in a firm dogmatic yell or in a whisper, but it is a mention, not well fleshed out, and virtually unexplained from the text itself. (A recent sermon I listened to went on and on about ‘the doctrine of hell’ and ‘the fires of hell’ while hell was not mentioned once in the textbeing preached.)

But something happens when a person – a person who is more than just a guy, a person who is a popular public figure representing a movement, which Rob is – comes along and pries open the lockbox and starts poking around. That something may be a shift, split, and crack. And once the cracking starts, all the deeper layers are exposed so that it’s not just about hell anymore, but the stuff underneath it (if you can imagine stuff underneath the underworld).

The Bell Tower, then, is the accepted Authority, standing like an old man in the sun.

And in my thinking, the accepted Authority would have to be Scripture. And this is rather Protestant and evangelical of me, but here I stand, I can do no other. Scripture is always the authority. It is the ‘old man’s mind.’ And the second-order work of theology in the hands of the church (that is, leaders-within-communities) is assumed as the mechanism of Scriptural authority.

The ringing, gonging Bell itself is both timekeeper and alarm in the story. And this is representative of the sounds made by those who authoritatively handle the accepted Authority in the midst of the community – who, in fact, ring the Bell. These are the elders – the scholars, theologians, pastors, teachers, authors, and yes, even TGC bloggers. These authority figures, handling the Scriptures, make the sounds that order the church in doctrine and practice. They also make the sounds that alarm the church when there is danger (e.g., false teaching).

The gong sounded loud and clear that night of February 26th: “Farewell Rob Bell” (John Piper gong). And again: “It is unspeakably sad when those called to be ministers of the Word distort the gospel and deceive the people of God with false doctrine” (Justin Taylor gong). And a third time: “At least now we know what Rob Bell thinks about hell” (Kevin DeYoung gong). And all before anyone had read the book.

The townspeople are clearly broadstroked in the story – the best description would be well-meaning, conservative, evangelical, Christian people. And most likely, BIG fans of John Piper and the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary’s neoReformed breeding ground. These folks seem mindless, but that’s not what I was going for; instead, they are simply devoted. They keep time by the Bell exclusively – hourly and half-hourly gongs order the day. They don’t have watches or clocks (note the lack of care for historical accuracy here – it’s just not the point).

Similarly, the alarm-gong (three times and three times only) is the ubiquitous sound of danger which means, “Everyone – retreat to safety!”

There is, then, only one kind of alarm gong, and thus, only one kind of response.

Things get interesting, obviously, when the Bell rings once and then…it is gone from sound and sight. The single-gong and disappearance of the Bell is the cracking that is currently happening in evangelicalism (perhaps I should have done a Liberty Bell cracking thing, but alas, the story is written). It is not Love Wins, per se – but it is the thing that is happening because of the catalytic moment of which Love Wins is a part.

Notice that the disappearance causes panic and fright, mourning and tears, and eventually angry yelling among the townsfolk. The night of Saturday February 26th wasn’t too far off the mark.

Everything culminates in a town meeting. The elders are the ones who calmly explain the situation. No one has robbed the Bell Tower. Instead, the elders have been working. They have changed the way they represent the Authority – the Tower.

Removing the gonging Bell entirely, it becomes a Clock Tower instead.

Note that the elders are still in place – pastors, teachers, theologians, scholars, authors, speakers, et al – are all necessary and vital in ordering the church in doctrine and practice. We need the elders, but a certain kind of elders. The kind who are willing to make the change. (David Fitch is saying we need a new ‘coalition’, even though I’m hoping we can use a different word; others are saying similar things.) And note, these elders are subversive in their actions. What is needed here is not a set of little corrections to the ringing and swinging of the Bell; what is needed is for someone to start something completely new in place of the old.

Also note the way the Clock changes things: instead of hourly and half-hourly gongs, there is a precise time given (without need for the leaders to ring any bell) so that everyone can order their lives accordingly. Further, instead of the three-alarm gong, there will be a watchman in the Tower and teams sent out to notify the citizens of the precise danger facing them, whether storm or army or whatever.

In this sense, the community comes to life as the interactive environment in which the authority works in organic, relational, and careful ways.

And overall, it is the element of precision that is the overriding difference. By this I don’t mean systematic dogmatism but something like the opposite of that. The parallel here is actually flexibility and generosity in our orthodoxy because of a deeper and more complete, complex, and nuanced perspective on just what the Authority is actually saying, in context. This is, I think, the essence of what is becoming clear in this cracking phase we are seeing on the evangelical scene. There’s an awakening to several important streams of scholarship, namely, ‘New Perspective’ New Testament studies, neo-Anabaptist thought, and post-Christendom missiology. And all fully within the heart and spirit of evangelical concern.

The crevasse, in other words, is not creating a divide. It is rather giving way to a people emerging out of the crevasse itself, fully within the evangelical landscape, yet different from those on either side. People of the crevasse, rising from the depths of their theological Sheol.

With respect to Bellpocalypse, the result is a greater precision in regards to how we order the faith as we move forward into the next 2,000 years – and especially greater care with just how we treat matters of concern and alarm (a.k.a., heresy, schism, etc.).

Which brings us back to Rob Bell and Love Wins.

To be continued, tomorrow :).