Preface and Chapter 1 (Story of Love)

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By viewing any part of this site, you are agreeing to this usage policy. What makes you think these are appropriate methods with which to examine this book? The book is much closer to an extended poem than any of that. How, then, can you criticize it? Simply that your methodologies are different? Surely we need something more than that. The historic Christian faith has been define [sic] in universally acknowledged creeds which state what the universal church teaches on various essentials for the Christian faith.

The reason is in the very word you choose to express what the creeds teach: Bell is merely noting this fact. And he is implying that the doctrine of hell is among the non-essentials. What Bell gets right is, in my opinion, far more important than anything he might get wrong, and the book has much potential to help heal a lot of people that have been hurt by some very bad theology.

This book can and does make real differences to people, and some of those might be your readers. Are you suggesting that Bell makes no philosophical claims? Does he say nothing about historical theology? It seems to me that, so far, he has done both of these.

Review of “Love Wins” by Rob Bell: Preface and Chapter 1

Whether he is rigorous or not, that means his arguments are worth evaluating. Your critiques of my analysis of methodology are, I think, off base. You provided no reason for me to think that it is unfair, you just said that it seems unfair to you. Could you show me why? It seems to me spot on: I actually agree with Bell about the fact that this specific portrayal of salvation is wrong, but his argument against it could easily be turned against him.

Part of the problem with what Bell says about orthodoxy is the fact that he simply refuses to define it so far in the book. I agree that he may be talking about something else, and I even noted that. It therefore seems to me your complaint is off the mark. I explicitly say that he may be using it in this other sense. Regarding your last paragraph: Should we not expect Bell to avoid methodological blunders? If this book has such a major impact, should I not be concerned if it gets the issues it discusses wrong? Your only real critique thus far, it seems, is the discussion of personal relationships.

But the only reason you criticized it for this is because you thought it was unfair without any reason to think so. Furthermore, your last paragraph seems a broad appeal to emotion, saying that because the book helps people, it must be good. Oh I can see this is going to be fun.

I do love a good argument and this is only the first chapter! We would should not read an epistle the same way we read a psalm, for example. My criticism of your post is simply that you are neglecting this fact with Love Wins. It is not a philosophical, theological, or even academic text. It is something else I suggest it is more akin to inspirational prose-poetry.

Thus, the methods used for reading and evaluating those other types of writing are of no special use here.

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Obviously, the modus tollens I just constructed is problematic, but why should Bell care about that? Thus, arguments intended to convince people of a particular position are contrary to the spirit of the book. He says many things e. And yes, you are right that if he indeed makes an argument, it is worth evaluating, but of course this should be done fairly, keeping in mind the genre of the text in which it appears, and what his intentions for the argument likely are.

What is your own methodology? What do you think his is? What are the standards by which the two are compared? What are the criteria of adequacy for assessing and adjudicating among accounts? How are these grounded? In your critique, you have assumed some answers to some of these questions without being explicit about it. Indeed, my main objection above is a way of saying that there is something wrong with your assumptions here.

Love Story Summary & Study Guide Description

I misinterpreted your comments here, although to be fair, your phrasing is rather odd: I am not so afraid of emotion as some philosophers have been; I think it has a valid place in rational argument. Nonetheless, my last paragraph was not an argument in the sense that the ones before it were I hope I would not make such a poor argument as the one you attribute to me ; rather, it was a caution from one apologist to another that this particular text has potential for real, positive change, since it contains a beautiful picture of the love of Jesus, which we will both probably agree is all that really matters in the end.

I think it would be a shame if someone who needed to see that picture missed it because of some apologists quibbling over methodology online. His questions are leading, and clearly they are infused with emotion in order to turn readers towards a conclusion.

Although he may not state his argument, he is making one nonetheless. Wartick -"Always Have a Reason" - February 20, Wartick -"Always Have a Reason" - February 27, Wartick -"Always Have a Reason" - March 6, Wartick -"Always Have a Reason" - March 13, Wartick -"Always Have a Reason" - March 20, Chapters 7 and 8 J.

Wartick -"Always Have a Reason" - March 27, Wartick -"Always Have a Reason" - April 8, You are commenting using your WordPress. You are commenting using your Twitter account. You are commenting using your Facebook account. Notify me of new comments via email. In essence, both Rumi and Ella, through their relationships with Shams and Aziz, are forced to question and then abandon the apparent safety and security of their lives for the uncertainty, ecstasy, and heartbreak of love.

Neither Shams nor Aziz can offer anything like a promise of lasting happiness. Along the way, Shams imparts the forty rules of love, essential Sufi wisdom that Shams both preaches and embodies. He repeatedly defies social and religious conventions, putting himself in danger and drawing down the scorn and wrath of the self-righteous, literal-minded moralists who surround him. Similarly, Aziz—and his story of Rumi and Shams—inspires Ella to step out of a marriage that has become emotionally and spiritually stifling for her.

A Bina Love Story Chapter 1: Preface, a Twilight + Demons Crossover fanfic | FanFiction

It is not an easy story that Elif Shafak tells, nor an entirely happy one. There are costs, she seems to say, to living an authentic life. But, as the novel shows, the costs of not living one are far greater. Elif Shafak was born in Strasbourg, France, in She is an award-winning novelist and the most widely read female writer in Turkey. Critics have hailed her as one of the most distinctive voices in contemporary literature in both Turkish and English. Her books have been translated into more than thirty languages. Married with two children, Elif divides her time between London and Istanbul.

What prompted you to write a novel centered on the relationship between Rumi and his beloved teacher Shams of Tabriz? My starting point, as simple as it sounds, was the concept of love. I wanted to write a novel on love but from a spiritual angle. Once you make that your wish the path takes you to Rumi, the voice of love. His poetry and philosophy have always inspired me. His words speak to us across centuries, cultures.

One can never finish reading him; it is an endless journey. Why did you decide to make The Forty Rules of Love such a polyphonic novel, using so many different narrators? The truth of fiction is not a fixed thing. If anything, it is more fluid than solid. It changes depending on each person, each character. Literature, unlike daily politics, recognizes the significance of ambiguity, plurality, flexibility. Interestingly, this artistic approach is also in harmony with Sufi philosophy. Sufis, like artists, live in an ever-fluid world. They believe one should never be too sure of himself and they respect the amazing diversity in the universe.

So it was very important to me to reflect that variety as I was writing my story. What kind of research did you do for the novel? How much imaginative license did you take with the historical facts? When you write about historical figures you feel somewhat intimidated at the beginning. It is not like writing about imaginary characters.

• Love Story Summary & Study Guide?
• The Forty Rules of Love Reader’s Guide;
• READERS GUIDE;
• Review of “Love Wins” by Rob Bell: Preface and Chapter 1 | J.W. Wartick -"Always Have a Reason".
• Questions and Topics for Discussion.

So to get the facts right, I did a lot of research. It is not a new subject to me. So there was some background. However, after a period of intense reading and researching, I stopped doing that and solely concentrated in my story. I allowed the characters to guide me.

In my experience the more we, as writers, try to control our characters, the more lifeless they become. By the same token, the less there is of the ego of the writer in the process of writing, the more alive the fictional characters and the more creative the story. What are the challenges of writing about such a well-known and revered figure like Rumi? Do you feel you succeeded remaining true to the historical Rumi while bringing him fully into the imaginative realm of your novel?

It was a big challenge, I must say. On the one hand I have huge respect for both Rumi and Shams of Tabriz. So it was important to me to hear their voices, to understand their legacy as best as I could. Yet on the other hand, I am a writer. I do not believe in heroes. In literature, there are no perfect heroes. Every person is a microcosm with many sides and conflicting aspects. So it was essential for me to see them as human beings, without putting them up on a pedestal.

Writing this novel changed me perhaps in more ways than I can understand or explain. Every book changes us to a certain extent. Some books more so than others. They transform their readers, and they also transform their writers. This was one of those books for me. When I finished it I was not the same person I was at the beginning. Much of the novel concerns the position of women both in the medieval Islamic world and in contemporary Western society.

What is your sense of how women are faring in the Middle East today compared to women in Western cultures? We tend to think that as human beings we have made amazing progress throughout the centuries. And we like to think that the women in the West are emancipated whereas women in the East are oppressed all the time. It is true that we have made progress but in some other ways we are not as different from the people of the past as we like to think. Also there are so many things in common between the women in the East and the women in the West. It is not solely the problem of some women in some parts of the world.

Basically, as I was writing this novel I wanted to connect people, places, stories—to show the connections, some obvious, some much more subtle. How would you explain the extraordinary popularity of Rumi in the West right now? What is it about his poetry—and his spirituality—that readers find so engaging?