The first book responding to Rob Bell’s controversial Love Wins: A Book About Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived is due out April 21. Christ Alone: An Evangelical Response to Rob Bell’s Love Wins will be published by Grand Rapids-based Edenridge Press. The author is Grand Rapids Theological Seminary professor Michael E. Wittmer, who has written Heaven is a Place on Earth (Zondervan, 2004) and Don’t Stop Believing (Zondervan, 2008).

Said Quentin Schultze, CEO of Edenridge Press, “This is a great book that will contribute to the conversation that Bell started but without being too quick and snarky, as is unfortunately the case with so many blogs, including those that began attacking or hailing Love Wins before their authors had read it.”

Bell’s book (reviewed in this issue), published this month by HarperOne, thrust the afterlife into the media spotlight in late February when blogger Justin Taylor, writing for The Gospel Coalition, lambasted Bell for his alleged stance on universalism, the belief that all humans end up in heaven. Taylor’s blog ran weeks before the book’s release date.

The ensuing uproar prompted HarperOne to move the book’s publication date up from March 28 to March 15. Bell opened his book tour on March 14 at the New York Society for Ethical Culture with a live-streamed event with Newsweek editor Lisa Miller. He has since been interviewed on Good Morning America, MSNBC’s Morning Joe, and by Martin Bashir on MSNBC, among other appearances.

Print and online media from the Baptist Press to The New York Times have covered the controversy. In a recent interview that ran March 19 in his hometown newspaper, The Grand Rapids Press, Bell commented that no one had expected such response. He said the question of heaven and hell is nothing new, and that he’s not saying anything that “hasn’t been said by people rooted firmly in orthodox Christian tradition.”

Bell noted that the discussion on the afterlife is bigger than just a single pastor from Grand Rapids. His Mars Hill Bible Church draws about 7,000 to Sunday services.

Amazon rankings as of March 28 had Love Wins at no. 1 in the faith category, number 2 in general religion and spirituality titles, and number 4 in books overall. It was number 4 on the Publishers Weekly hardcover nonfiction bestseller list for the week of March 28 and number 2 on the New York Times Hardcover Advice & Miscellaneous list on March 28.