The Gospel Coalition on Love Wins

At the recent Gospel Coalition Conference here in Chicago, a session was dedicated to discussing Rob Bell's Love Wins. There are two links: one is Don Carson's talk on universalism and the other is a round table discussion with Don Carson, Kevin DeYoung, Tim Keller, Stephen Um, and Crawford Loritts.

This at the very least should be very interesting and likely useful stuff. I'm listening to it today. I don't think Love Wins offers a straightforward universalism -- pluralism most definitely, universalism no. It would be correct I think to call the view hopeful universalism; but Love Wins does not claim that Hell will be ultimately evacuated. For the book, Love wins out because God, in his love, allows people to choose Hell and that, primarily for Rob Bell's argument, in this life.

D.A. Carson on the Gospel Coalition

Over at CT, Susan Wunderink has a good interview with D.A. Carson on the Gospel Coalition. Carson makes some good points on what it is like to work with others in a post-denominational age, their refusal to export TGC overseas so as to avoid becoming another instrument of American hegemony, and some positive comments on women serving in local churches from a Complementarian perspective using the Sydney Anglicans as a model (I have to confess that because TGC does not have a single woman on its board, I've always had a question mark about whether it would serve to promote women in Christian service). A good interview that is worth reading.