Book Review: God Wins

3 STARS

God Wins by Mark Galli is one of the earlier book responses to Rob Bell’s Love Wins. There’s much to praise in this book. For one, Galli focuses on the arguments in the book and avoids talking about Bell hardly at all. Additionally, he doesn’t limit his focus to hell, but instead covers the full range of topics from the question about who God is, the biblical concept of atonement, and the importance of faith. It is only at the end of the book that he addresses hell and judgment and a defense against universalism.

I was most surprised by Galli’s explanation of salvation. His commitment to historical Christian belief shines through in all of his chapters, but I didn’t realize he’d hold to monergism as well (the Holy Spirit revives us apart from our effort or will). That is definitely a plus!

Galli is a “big-tent” evangelical. His positive attitude and desire for dialogue is a great addition to the discussion, yet he’s much more generous in his personal assessment of Bell than Bell’s own statements deserve. At one point Galli says that even though Love Wins would indicate Bell is a universalist, since Bell says he’s not, Galli takes him at his word. This kind of “big-tented-ness” is prevalent throughout.

God Wins is a kind and compassionate response to the claims of Love Wins, but it stands on its own merits. Still, some slippage regarding important teachings from the Bible makes me wonder if another book might be worth considering.

To buy the audiobook from christianaudio, click here.

To buy the print version from Amazon, click here.

I received this book free from christianaudio as part of their book review program. I was not obligated to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are mine.