Review of Rob Bell's "What We Talk About When We Talk About God"

Recently I finished Rob Bell's "What We Talk About When We Talk About God." I wrote a really rough draft of my take on the book and then sat on that. I'm just now getting around to editing and posting. Here are my quick impressions.

The Good:
It appears that Bell is trying to translate various strands of liberal theology to an evangelical crowd; it is fun to observe how Bell makes his case.
Another interesting part of the book is Bell dares to criticize America's addiction to war and fossil fuels. For a darling of the evangelical crowd, it probably took some daring on Bell's part (to say nothing of his previous book, "Love Wins").

The chapters "With," and "For" are great meditations on neo-orthodox expressions of justification as well as post-modern discussions of solidarity.
Bell presents these topics in his familiar, overly aware, sometimes overly emotive style. While wading through Bell's style of presentation can test one's patience, it is fun to watch him present the vitality of more liberal expressions of theology to the evangelical crowd he is often associated with.

All in all, reading those chapters is like watching an acrobat. Bell is balancing so many varied interests, it is a feat the chapters are (mostly) coherent.

The Bad:
I know Bell isn't writing for an academic audience, but it is a little disingenuous to employ various expressions of theology "from the underside," and not cite some of these brave women and men who risked their career making these same points.
Often I'd be reading and think, he must be referring to Elizabeth Johnson, or some such theologian. Only to find no such reference to any other's work.
This might just be me being overly-critical, but it did bother me a little.

For those of us who are familiar with various expressions of liberation theology, much of Bell's book is redundant.
In fact, it took until page 97 for me to really get engaged, and then by page 152, I was just slogging the rest of the book out.
(This is not to say the book isn't worth reading.)

The ugly:
Given Bell's writing style, it is nearly a crime to charge almost $30 for a book that could easily be finished in a half a day.

Take away:
A nice, easy book that helps a person get a pulse on where Bell sees, or would like to see, the (Evangelical) church go.
It has some nice ideas, and it is fun to watch Bell balance all the interests mentioned above. Watching his balancing act could offer encouragement to church professionals who bemoan the growth of evangelical churches at the (perceived) expense of main-line, liberal churches.
Last words; might as well wait for the paperback.