Bell was at our Writer’s Symposium in February, just before his Love Wins book came out and just before Time Magazine put his book on the cover, and the national talk shows interviewed him, and some religious leaders renewed their labeling of him as a heretic. A lot of religious leaders like the book, and are secretly relieved that it’s out there, but many are afraid to admit it because they think they will alienate some in their congregations. I actually read Love Wins (lots of people complain about it who haven’t read it) and liked it. C.S. Lewis had some similar views in his book The Great Divorce. And Lauren Winner, another Writer’s Symposium alum of years past, wrote in the New York Times Sunday Books section that Bell’s views were discussed back in the 1800s.
In this interview we talk about writing, but we also get into some of the criticism he has received over the years. He was very transparent in this conversation.
