Francis Chan among authors with books challenging Rob Bell’s view of heaven

Christian publishers are releasing several books in response to Rob Bell’s controversial Love Wins (HarperOne), which critics say promotes universalism—the belief that all humans end up in heaven, and hell is not a physical place.

Most prominent is David C. Cook, rushing out former pastor and best-selling author Francis Chan’s third book. Scheduled for release July 5, Erasing Hell: What God Said About Eternity and the Things We Make Up  “promises to be both controversial and confessional, directly addressing a variety of views on hell, the Bible and God,” Cook said.

Co-written with Bible college professor Preston Sprinkle, the book aims to offer a comprehensive and thorough study on God’s character, Chan said. Erasing Hell “is not a book that tells you ‘here’s what you ought to believe,’ ” Chan said in a video trailer. “It’s a book that helps you think through all the evidence out there—all of what Scripture teaches—and come to your own conclusions. … We can’t afford to be wrong about this issue.” 

Don Pape, publisher of trade books and study resources for Cook, told Christian Retailing that Chan approached the publishing house about the project in April. Chan “has an important message and is concerned, as always, with the truth,” he said. “This topic could easily be maligned or misinterpreted.”

Retailing for $14.99, Erasing Hell will be simultaneously released by Oasis Audio on audiobook, with the four-CD set retailing for $19.99. Chan’s first book, Crazy Love, has sold more than a million copies since it was released by Cook in May 2008. Chan’s second book with Cook—Forgotten God—has been a fixture on the Christian market best-seller charts since it was published in 2009. 

Last month, Multnomah Books published the e-book Hell, Rob Bell and What Happens When People Die by Bobby Conway, lead pastor of Life Fellowship Church in Charlotte, N.C., and the founder and host of the online program One Minute Apologist. In the e-book, Conway offers “a succinct, biblical and orthodox evangelical response to Love Wins.”

Meanwhile, scheduled for release this month by Tyndale House Publishers during the International Christian Retail Show in Atlanta, God Wins: Heaven, Hell, and Why the Good News Is Better Than Love Wins by Christianity Today Senior Managing Editor Mark Galli is “a response to the provocative questions raised” by Love Wins.

“There is so much confusion swirling around the book,” said Jon Farrar, acquisitions director at Tyndale House. “It will be refreshing to have a clear and reasonable analysis of Love Wins.”

Galli added: “The main problem with Love Wins is that the good news is even better—deeper, richer, more complex—than it lets on. I champion the historic Christian view on these matters, and Bell offers a decidedly minority view. That means that the burden of proof rests on his shoulders. The fact that so many resonate with Bell’s concerns about these themes means we need to wrestle with them afresh.”

David C. Cook is also releasing on Aug. 1 Hell Is Real (But I Hate to Admit It)  by Brian Jones, senior pastor at Christ’s Church of the Valley in a Philadelphia suburb. The book will “confront, frustrate and ultimately change the mindset of Christians who have grown content not sharing the saving message of Christ with their spiritually lost friends.” 

Ginia Hairston Croker, senior director of marketing, trade books and multimedia for David C. Cook, told Christian Retailing that Hell Is Real was acquired last summer “before we even knew about Love Wins.”

“Even though this book was not written as a response to Love Wins, the timing of the release is ideal because this topic has become the ‘issue of the day,’ ” she said. 

In April, Edenridge Press published Christ Alone: An Evangelical Response to Rob Bell’s Love Wins by seminary professor Michael E. Wittmer. 

• Prev
• Next