Drops Like Stars: A Few Thoughts on Creativity and Suffering - Softcover

Rob Bell lives with his family in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where he's the founding pastor of Mars Hill Bible Church. Rob is the author of Velvet Elvis, Sex God, Jesus Wants to Save Christians, and Drops Like Stars. He also appeared in a pioneering series of twenty-four short films called NOOMA, as well as in longer version DVDs-- The Art of the Sermon, Everything is Spiritual, The Gods Aren't Angry, and Drops Like Stars. Visit the author online at www.robbell.com. SPANISH BIO: Rob Bell es el pastor fundador de la Iglesia Biblica Mars Hill en Grandville, Michigan. Es graduado de la Universidad de Wheaton en Illinois y tiene una maestria en divinidad del Seminario Teologico Fuller en Pasadena, California. Rob es autor de Una obra de arte original, Sexo Dios y Jesus quiere salvar a los cristianos, entre otros. Tambien aparece en la primera serie de peliculas cortas a la que se ha denominado NOOMA. Rob y su esposa, Kristen, tienen tres hijos y residen en Grand Rapids, Michigan.

While Bell's books Velvet Elvis and Sex God received generally strong reviews, this effort to understand the relationship between suffering and creativity feels superficial and overly self-conscious. Few readers will dispute Bell's gentle assertions: that life can be extremely difficult and capricious, that it is often difficult to find God amid suffering, that suffering has a great potential to unify disparate people, and that great bursts of creative energy can arise from pain. Bell explores these issues not by covert biblical exegesis—which was a surprising and welcome highlight of Velvet Elvis—but new-fashioned storytelling. Bell weaves inspiring stories of people who turned their suffering into something transformative, and many of these stories are memorable. They are certainly accessible: Bell draws from fiction, movies, real-life situations and his own life. These anecdotes do not make a book, however, and Bell's spare prose lacks original insights into age-old theodicy questions. Although the design and layout are first-rate, $35 is a lot of money for a 160-page book that is mostly white space. (Aug.)
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