A 13-digit ISBN, 978-3-16-148410-0, as represented by an EAN-13 bar code.

The International Standard Book Number (ISBN) is a unique^[1][2] numeric commercial book identifier based upon the 9-digit Standard Book Numbering (SBN) code created by Gordon Foster, Emeritus Professor of Statistics at Trinity College, Dublin,^[3] for the booksellers and stationers W. H. Smith and others in 1966.^[4]

The 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO 2108.^[4] (However, the 9-digit SBN code was used in the United Kingdom until 1974.) An SBN may be converted to an ISBN by prepending the digit '0'. Currently, the ISO's TC 46/SC 9 is responsible for the ISBN. The ISO on-line facility only refers back to 1978.^[5]

Since 1 January 2007, ISBNs have contained 13 digits, a format that is compatible with Bookland EAN-13s.^[6]

Occasionally, a book may appear without a printed ISBN if it is printed privately or the author does not follow the usual ISBN procedure; however, this can be rectified later.^[7]

A similar numeric identifier, the International Standard Serial Number (ISSN), identifies periodical publications such as magazines.

Overview[link]

An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation (except reprintings) of a book.^[8] The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned after January 1, 2007, and 10 digits long if assigned before 2007. An International Standard Book Number consists of 4 or 5 parts:

The parts of a 10-digit ISBN and the corresponding EAN‑13 and barcode. Note the different check digits in each. The part of the EAN‑13 labeled "EAN" is the Bookland country code.

1. for a 13-digit ISBN, a GS1 prefix: 978 or 979 (indicating the industry; in this case, 978 denotes book publishing)^[9]
2. the group identifier, (language-sharing country group)^[10]
3. the publisher code,^[11]
4. the item number (title of the book),^[11] and
5. a checksum character or check digit.^[11]

The ISBN separates its parts (group, publisher, title and check digit) with either a hyphen or a space. Other than the check digit, no part of the ISBN will have a fixed number of digits.^[12]

ISBN issuance[link]

International Standard Book Numbers issuance is country specific, and is tailored for each country's national goals. In Canada the stated purpose of issuing International Standard Book Numbers for no cost was to encourage Canadian culture. In the United Kingdom and United States apparently the issuing of International Standard Book Numbers has become a profit center for the companies involved. Whether or not any of the profits accrue to the taxpayers is not known.

Australia: In Australia ISBNs are issued by the commercial library services agency Thorpe-Bowker, and prices range from $A40 for a single ISBN (plus a $A55 registration fee for new publishers) through to $2,750 for a block of 1,000 ISBNs.^[13]

Canada: In Canada Library and Archives Canada, a government agency, is the responsible entity, and there is no cost.

United Kingdom and Ireland: In the United Kingdom and Ireland the privately held company, Nielsen Book Services, part of Nielsen Holdings N.V., is the responsible entity, and there is a charge. ISBNs are sold in lots of ten or more.

United States: In the United States the privately held company R. R. Bowker is the responsible entity, and there is a charge, which varies depending upon the number of ISBNs purchased, with prices ranging from $125.00 for a single number.^[14]

Publishers and authors in other countries need to obtain ISBNs from their local ISBN Agency. A directory of ISBN Agencies is available on the International ISBN Agency website.

Group identifier[link]

The group identifier is a 1 to 5 digit number. The single digit group identifiers are: 0 or 1 for English-speaking countries; 2 for French-speaking countries; 3 for German-speaking countries; 4 for Japan; 5 for Russian-speaking countries, 7 for People's Republic of China. An example 5 digit group identifier is 99936, for Bhutan. The allocated group IDs are: 0–5, 600–617, 7, 80–94, 950–989, 9927–9989, and 99901–99967.^[15] Some catalogs include books that were published with no ISBN but add a non-standard number with an as-yet unallocated 5-digit group such as 99985; this practice is not part of the standard. Books published in rare languages typically have longer group identifiers.^[9]

The original standard book number (SBN) had no group identifier, but affixing a zero (0) as prefix to a 9-digit SBN creates a valid 10-digit ISBN. Group identifiers form a prefix code; compare with country calling codes.

Publisher code[link]

The national ISBN agency assigns the publisher number (cf. the category:ISBN agencies); the publisher selects the item number. Generally, a book publisher is not required to assign an ISBN, nor is it necessary for a book to display its number (except in China; see below). However, most book stores only handle ISBN-bearing merchandise.

A listing of all the 628,000 assigned publisher codes is published, and can be ordered in book form (€558, US$915.46). The web site of the ISBN agency does not offer any free method of looking up publisher codes.^[16] Partial lists have been compiled (from library catalogs) for the English-language groups: identifier 0 and identifier 1.

Publishers receive blocks of ISBNs, with larger blocks allotted to publishers expecting to need them; a small publisher may receive ISBNs of one or more digits for the group identifier code, several digits for the publisher, and a single digit for the individual items. Once that block of ISBNs is used, the publisher may receive another block of ISBNs, with a different publisher number. Consequently, a publisher may have different allotted publisher numbers. There also may be more than one group identifier used in a country. This might occur if a popular identifier has used up all of its numbers. The cited list of identifiers shows this has happened in China and in more than a dozen other countries.

By using variable block lengths, a large publisher will have few digits allocated for the publisher number and many digits allocated for titles; likewise countries publishing much will have few allocated digits for the group identifier, and many for the publishers and titles.^[17] Here are some sample ISBN-10 codes, illustrating block length variations.

ISBN	Country or area	Publisher
99921-58-10-7	Qatar	NCCAH, Doha
9971-5-0210-0	Singapore	World Scientific
960-425-059-0	Greece	Sigma Publications
80-902734-1-6	Czech Republic; Slovakia	Taita Publishers
85-359-0277-5	Brazil	Companhia das Letras
1-84356-028-3	English-speaking area	Simon Wallenberg Press
0-684-84328-5	English-speaking area	Scribner
0-8044-2957-X	English-speaking area	Frederick Ungar
0-85131-041-9	English-speaking area	J. A. Allen & Co.
0-943396-04-2	English-speaking area	Willmann–Bell
0-9752298-0-X	English-speaking area	KT Publishing

Pattern[link]

English-language publisher codes follow a systematic pattern, which allows their length to be easily determined, as follows:^[18]

Check digits[link]

A check digit is a form of redundancy check used for error detection, the decimal equivalent of a binary checksum. It consists of a single digit computed from the other digits in the message.

ISBN-10[link]

The 2001 edition of the official manual of the International ISBN Agency says that the ISBN-10 check digit^[19] – which is the last digit of the ten-digit ISBN – must range from 0 to 10 (the symbol X is used instead of 10) and must be such that the sum of all the ten digits, each multiplied by the integer weight, descending from 10 to 1, is a multiple of the number 11. Modular arithmetic is convenient for calculating the check digit using modulus 11. Each of the first nine digits of the ten-digit ISBN – excluding the check digit, itself – is multiplied by a number in a sequence from 10 to 2, and the remainder of the sum, with respect to 11, is computed. The resulting remainder, plus the check digit, must equal 11; therefore, the check digit is 11 minus the remainder of the sum of the products.

For example, the check digit for an ISBN-10 of 0-306-40615-? is calculated as follows:

Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): \begin{align} s &= (0\times 10) + (3\times 9) + (0\times 8) + (6\times 7) + (4\times 6) + (0\times 5) + (6\times 4) + (1\times 3) + (5\times 2) \\ &= 0 + 27 + 0 + 42 + 24 + 0 + 24 + 3 + 10 \\ &= 130 = 11\times 11 + 9 \end{align}

Thus the remainder is 9, the check digit is 2, and the complete sequence is ISBN 0-306-40615-2.

Formally, the check digit calculation is:

Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): (10x_1 + 9x_2 + 8x_3 + 7x_4 + 6x_5 + 5x_6 + 4x_7 + 3x_8 + 2x_9 + x_{10})\mod{11} \equiv 0.

The value Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): x_{10}

required to satisfy this condition might be 10; if so, an 'X' should be used.

The two most common errors in handling an ISBN (e.g., typing or writing it) are an altered digit or the transposition of adjacent digits. The ISBN check digit method ensures that these two errors will always be detected. However, if the error occurs in the publishing house and goes undetected, the book will be issued with an invalid ISBN.^[20]

Alternative calculation[link]

The simplest way to verify an ISBN is to compute a sum of the digits of the ISBN: <source lang="cpp"> // C++ bool is_isbn_valid(char digits[10]) {

   int i, a = 0, b = 0;
   for (i = 0; i < 10; i++) {
       a += digits[i];  // Assumed already converted from ASCII to 0..9
       b += a;
   }
   return b % 11 == 0;

} </source>

The ISBN-10 check-digit can also be calculated in a slightly easier way:

Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): x_{10} = ( 1x_1 + 2x_2 + 3x_3 + 4x_4 + 5x_5 + 6x_6 + 7x_7 +8x_8 + 9x_9 )\, \bmod\;11.

This is simply replacing 11 with 0, and each subtraction with its complement: Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): -10 \equiv 1 \mod 11,

etc.

For example, the check digit for an ISBN-10 of 0-306-40615-? is calculated as follows:

Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): (1 \times 0 + 2 \times 3 + 3 \times 0 + 4 \times 6 + 5 \times 4 + 6 \times 0 + 7 \times 6 + 8 \times 1 + 9 \times 5) \, \bmod\; 11 = 145 \, \bmod\; 11 = 2

ISBN-13[link]

The 2005 edition of the International ISBN Agency's official manual^[21] covering some ISBNs issued from January 2007, describes how the 13-digit ISBN check digit is calculated.

The calculation of an ISBN-13 check digit begins with the first 12 digits of the thirteen-digit ISBN (thus excluding the check digit itself). Each digit, from left to right, is alternately multiplied by 1 or 3, then those products are summed modulo 10 to give a value ranging from 0 to 9. Subtracted from 10, that leaves a result from 1 to 10. A zero (0) replaces a ten (10), so, in all cases, a single check digit results.

For example, the ISBN-13 check digit of 978-0-306-40615-? is calculated as follows:

s = 9×1 + 7×3 + 8×1 + 0×3 + 3×1 + 0×3 + 6×1 + 4×3 + 0×1 + 6×3 + 1×1 + 5×3
  =   9 +  21 +   8 +   0 +   3 +   0 +   6 +  12 +   0 +  18 +   1 +  15
  = 93
93 / 10 = 9 remainder 3
10 –  3 = 7

Thus, the check digit is 7, and the complete sequence is ISBN 978-0-306-40615-7.

Formally, the ISBN-13 check digit calculation is:

Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): x_{13} = \big(10 - \big(x_1 + 3x_2 + x_3 + 3x_4 + \cdots + x_{11} + 3x_{12}\big) \,\bmod\, 10\big) \,\bmod\, 10.

This check system – similar to the UPC check digit formula – does not catch all errors of adjacent digit transposition. Specifically, if the difference between two adjacent digits is 5, the check digit will not catch their transposition. For instance, the above example allows this situation with the 6 followed by a 1. The correct order contributes 3×6+1×1 = 19 to the sum; while, if the digits are transposed (1 followed by a 6), the contribution of those two digits will be 3×1+1×6 = 9. However, 19 and 9 are congruent modulo 10, and so produce the same, final result: both ISBNs will have a check digit of 7. The ISBN-10 formula uses the prime modulus 11 which avoids this blind spot, but requires more than the digits 0-9 to express the check digit.

Additionally, If you triple the sum of the 2nd, 4th, 6th, 8th, 10th, and 12th digits and then add them to the remaining digits (1st, 3rd, 5th, 7th, 9th, 11th, and 13th), the total will always be divisible by 10 (i.e., end in 0).

<source lang="java"> // Java public static boolean isISBN13Valid(String isbn) {

   int check = 0;
   for (int i = 0; i < 12; i += 2) {
       check += Integer.valueOf(isbn.substring(i, i + 1));
   }
   for (int i = 1; i < 12; i += 2) {
       check += Integer.valueOf(isbn.substring(i, i + 1)) * 3;
   }
   check += Integer.valueOf(isbn.substring(12));
   return check % 10 == 0;

} </source>

<source lang="php"> //PHP function is_isbn_13_valid($n){

   $check = 0;
   for ($i = 0; $i < 13; $i+=2) $check += substr($n, $i, 1);
   for ($i = 1; $i < 12; $i+=2) $check += 3 * substr($n, $i, 1);
   return $check % 10 == 0;

}</source> <source lang="ruby">

1. Ruby

def is_valid_isbn13?(isbn13)

 sum = 0
 13.times { |i| sum += i.modulo(2)==0 ? isbn13[i].to_i : isbn13[i].to_i*3 }
 0 == sum.modulo(10)

end

def isbn13_checksum(isbn12)

 sum = 0
 12.times { |i| sum += i.modulo(2)==0 ? isbn12[i].to_i : isbn12[i].to_i*3 }
 10 - sum.modulo(10)

end</source>

<source lang="python">

1. Python

def is_valid_isbn13(isbn13):

   total = sum([int(num)*weight for num, weight in zip(isbn13, (1,3)*6)])
   ck = 10-(total%10)
   return ck == int(isbn13[-1])

</source>

<source lang="cpp">

1. C/C++

bool is_valid_isbn13(char digits[13]) { int i, check=0; for (i=0; i<13; i+=2) check += digits[i]; for (i=1; i<12; i+=2) check += 3*digits[i]; return check%10==0; } </source>

Errors in usage[link]

Publishers and libraries have varied policies about the use of the ISBN check digit. Publishers sometimes fail to check the correspondence of a book title and its ISBN before publishing it; that failure causes book identification problems for libraries, booksellers, and readers.^[22]

Most libraries and booksellers display the book record for an invalid ISBN issued by the publisher. The Library of Congress catalogue contains books published with invalid ISBNs, which it usually tags with the phrase "Cancelled ISBN".^[23] However, book-ordering systems such as Amazon.com will not search for a book if an invalid ISBN is entered to its search engine.^{[citation needed]}

EAN format used in barcodes, and upgrading[link]

Currently the barcodes on a book's back cover (or inside a mass-market paperback book's front cover) are EAN-13; they may have a separate barcode encoding five digits for the currency and the recommended retail price.^[24] The number "978", the Bookland "country code", is prefixed to the ISBN in the barcode data, and the check digit is recalculated according to the EAN13 formula (modulo 10, 1x and 3x weighting on alternate digits).

Partly because of an expected shortage in certain ISBN categories, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) decided to migrate to a thirteen-digit ISBN (ISBN-13). The process began January 1, 2005 and was planned to conclude January 1, 2007.^[25] As of 2011, all the 13-digit ISBNs begin with 978. As the 978 ISBN supply is exhausted, the 979 prefix will be introduced. This is expected to occur more rapidly outside the United States. Originally, 979 was the Musicland code for musical scores with an ISMN. However, ISMN codes will differ visually as they begin with an "M" letter; the bar code represents the "M" as a zero (0), and for checksum purposes it will count as a 3.

Publisher identification code numbers are unlikely to be the same in the 978 and 979 ISBNs, likewise, there is no guarantee that language area code numbers will be the same. Moreover, the ten-digit ISBN check digit generally is not the same as the thirteen-digit ISBN check digit. Because the EAN/UCC-13 is part of the Global Trade Item Number (GTIN) system (that includes the EAN/UCC-14, the UPC-12, and the EAN-8), it is expected that ISBN-generating software should accommodate fourteen-digit ISBNs.^[26]

Barcode format compatibility is maintained, because (aside from the group breaks) the ISBN-13 barcode format is identical to the EAN barcode format of existing ISBN-10s. So, migration to an EAN-based system allows booksellers the use of a single numbering system for both books and non-book products that is compatible with existing ISBN-based data, with only minimal changes to information technology systems. Hence, many booksellers (e.g., Barnes & Noble) migrated to EAN barcodes as early as March 2005. Although many American and Canadian booksellers were able to read EAN-13 barcodes before 2005, most general retailers could not read them. The upgrading of the UPC barcode system to full EAN-13, in 2005, eased migration to the ISBN-13 in North America. Moreover, by January 2007, most large book publishers added ISBN-13 barcodes alongside the ten-digit ISBN barcodes of books published before January 2007.^[27]

See also[link]

• ASIN (Amazon Standard Identification Number)
• CODEN (serial publication identifier currently used by libraries; replaced by the ISSN for new works)
• DOI (Digital Object Identifier)
• ESTC (English Short Title Catalogue)
• ETTN (Electronic Textbook Track Number)
• ISAN (International Standard Audiovisual Number)
• ISMN (International Standard Music Number)
• ISWC (International Standard Musical Work Code)
• ISRC (International Standard Recording Code)
• ISSN (International Standard Serial Number)
• ISWN (International Standard Wine Number)
• LCCN (Library of Congress Control Number)
• List of group-0 ISBN publisher codes
• List of group-1 ISBN publisher codes
• OCLC number (Online Computer Library Center number [1])
• Registration authority
• SICI (Serial Item and Contribution Identifier)
• Special:Booksources, Wikipedia's ISBN search page
• VD 16 (Verzeichnis der im deutschen Sprachbereich erschienenen Drucke des 16. Jahrhunderts)(in English: Bibliography of Books Printed in the German Speaking Countries of the Sixteenth Century)
• VD 17 (Verzeichnis der im deutschen Sprachraum erschienenen Drucke des 17. Jahrhunderts)(in English: Bibliography of Books Printed in the German Speaking Countries of the Seventeenth Century)

Notes[link]

External links[link]

• ISO 2108:2005 at www.iso.org
• ISBN to EAN EAS^{[disambiguation needed ]} EBS^{[disambiguation needed ]} transition at isbn.org
• Description of the ISBN to EAN upgrade process at bookweb.org
• International ISBN Agency—coordinates and supervises the worldwide use of the ISBN system.
• Numerical List of Group Identifiers List of language/region prefixes
• Free conversion tool: ISBN-10 to ISBN-13 & ISBN-13 to ISBN-10 from the ISBN agency. Also shows correct hyphenation & verifies if ISBNs are valid or not.
• RFC 3187 Using International Standard Book Numbers as Uniform Resource Names (URN)
• Implementation guidelinesPDF (51.0 KB) for the 13-digit ISBN code.

Tom Bissell (born 1974) is a journalist, critic, and fiction writer, originally from Escanaba, Michigan and currently based in Portland, Oregon.^[1]

Life[link]

He studied English at Michigan State University in East Lansing. In 1996, the 22-year-old went to Uzbekistan as a volunteer for the Peace Corps.^[2] He was there for seven months before returning home. He then worked as a book editor in New York City and published, among other books, The Collected Stories of Richard Yates and Paula Fox's memoir Borrowed Finery..^[3]

He writes for Harper's Magazine, Slate, The New Republic,^[4] and The Virginia Quarterly Review, where he is a contributing editor. While much of Bissell's magazine writing could be considered travel writing, his articles are more concerned with politics, history, and autobiography than tourism.^[5] As a journalist he traveled to Iraq^[6] and Afghanistan during wartime. While Bissell has been critical of neo-conservatism, the Bush administration, and American unilateralism, his politics often do not fit within established categories of American liberalism and conservatism. Much of his work is concerned with the legacy of the Soviet Union and Communism.

His book in collaboration with Jeff Alexander, "Speak, Commentary," is a collection of fake DVD commentaries for popular films by political figures and pundits such as Noam Chomsky, Dinesh D'Souza and Ann Coulter. His other books have won several prizes, including the Rome Prize, the Anna Akhmatova Prize, and the Best Travel Writing Award from Peace Corps Writers. His short stories and journalism have also been anthologized in The Best American Short Stories, The Best American Travel Writing, and The Best American Science Writing.^[7] He is a frequent reviewer for The New York Times Book Review.

Bissell's father served in the Marines during the Vietnam War, alongside author and journalist Philip Caputo. The two remained friends during Bissell's childhood and Caputo read and encouraged him in his early writing efforts.^[8] He has cited Caputo as a major influence, along with Michigan writers Jim Harrison and Thomas McGuane^{[citation needed]}.

While much of Bissell's writing is concerned with issues of international relations and literary criticism, he frequently mentions Star Wars, J.R.R. Tolkien, and video games as well. The video game Gears of War 2, the first version of which Bissell wrote about for The New Yorker, contains a character named Hank Bissell, an apparent nod to him. In a March 2010 Observer article, he wrote about the appeal of games like Grand Theft Auto IV and his own simultaneous struggles with addiction to video games and cocaine.^[9]

In May 2011, Bissell signed on to co-write (with actor Greg Sestero) about the cult film The Room. Bissell previously wrote about the film in a piece published in Harper's Magazine. The book will be published by Simon and Schuster and released in January 2013. ^[10]

Awards[link]

• 2010 Guggenheim Fellow
• Rome Prize

Selected publications[link]

• Chasing the Sea: Lost Among the Ghosts of Empire in Central Asia (2003) ISBN 978-0-375-42130-3
• Speak, Commentary: The Big Little Book of Fake Dvd Commentaries (2003) (with Jeff Alexander) ISBN 978-1-932416-07-7
• God Lives in St. Petersburg: and Other Stories (2005) ISBN 978-0-375-42264-5
• The Father of All Things: A Marine, His Son, and the Legacy of Vietnam (2007) ISBN 978-0-375-42265-2
• Extra Lives: Why Video Games Matter (2010), ISBN 978-0-307-37870-5
• Magic Hours: Essays On Creators and Creation (2012), ISBN 978-1-936365-76-0
• Search for contributions to The New Yorker
• "The Grammar of Fun: CliffyB and the world of the video game", The New Yorker, "Annals of Technology", 2008-11-03

Interviews[link]

• The Bat Segundo Show (2012 radio interview): Part One (30 minutes), Part Two (1 hour).

References[link]

Bell at the 2011 Time 100 gala

Robert Holmes "Rob" Bell Jr. (born August 23, 1970 in Ingham County, Michigan) is an American author and pastor. He is the founder of Mars Hill Bible Church located in Grandville, Michigan and is also the featured speaker in a series of spiritual short films called NOOMA. In 2011 Time magazine named Bell one of the 100 most influential people in the world. He is the author of the New York Times bestsellers Love Wins and Velvet Elvis. Under his leadership Mars Hill Bible Church was one of the fastest-growing churches in America.

Biography[link]

Education and ministry[link]

Bell is the son of Judge Robert Holmes Bell, who was nominated by Ronald Reagan to the federal judiciary and publicly confirmed by the United States Senate.^[1][2] Bell grew up in a traditional Christian environment. In 2011, Bell was recognized as a member of the 2011 Time 100 list.

Bell attended Wheaton College. While at Wheaton, he roomed with Ian Eskelin of All Star United. With friends Dave Houk, Brian Erickson, Steve Huber and Chris Fall, he formed the indie rock band, "_ton bundle", which was reminiscent of bands such as R.E.M. and Talking Heads. This is when _ton bundle wrote the song "Velvet Elvis", based upon the same Velvet Elvis painting that he used in his first book Velvet Elvis: Repainting the Christian Faith. Wheaton College was also where Bell met his wife, Kristen. The band _ton bundle started to gain some local fame and was even asked to perform at large events, but when Bell was struck with viral meningitis^[3] these plans fell through.^[4]

Bell received his bachelor's degree in 1992 from Wheaton and taught water skiing in the summers at Wheaton College's Honey Rock Camp, making about thirty dollars a week. During this time, Bell offered to teach a Christian message to the camp counselors after no pastor could be found. He taught a message about rest. Bell was later approached by several people, each of them telling him that he should pursue teaching as a career.

Bell moved to Pasadena, California to pursue this calling for teaching and received a M.Div. from Fuller Theological Seminary. According to Bell, he never received good grades in preaching class because he always tried innovative ways to communicate his ideas. During his time at Fuller he was a youth intern at Lake Avenue Church. He did, however, occasionally attend Christian Assembly in Eagle Rock, California, which led to him and his wife asking questions in the direction of how a new style of church would appear.

Between 1995 and 1997, Bell formed a band called Big Fil which released two CDs; the first was a self-titled disk and the second was titled Via De La Shekel. When asked what style of music they played, Bell would respond with "Northern Gospel!", which later became the name of a song on the second album. Even after Big Fil stopped performing, Bell continued with two more projects by the name of Uno Dos Tres Communications volume 1 and 2, both of which had a similar musical sound to Big Fil.

Mars Hill Bible Church[link]

Bell and his wife moved from California to Grand Rapids to be close to family and on invitation to study under pastor Ed Dobson. He handled many of the preaching duties for the Saturday Night service at Calvary Church. Bell announced that he would be branching out on his own to start a new kind of community and he would call it "Mars Hill" after the Greek site where the apostle Paul told a group, "For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. Now what you worship as something unknown I am going to proclaim to you."^[5]

In February 1999, Bell founded Mars Hill Bible Church, with the church originally meeting in a school gym in Wyoming, Michigan. Within a year the church was given a shopping mall in Grandville, Michigan, and purchased the surrounding land. In July 2000 the 3,500 "grey chair" facility opened its doors. As of 2005, an estimated 11,000 people attend the two "gatherings" on Sundays at 9 and 11 AM.^[6] As of March 2011, Sunday attendance numbers between 8,000 and 10,000.^[7] His teachings at Mars Hill inspired the popular "Love Wins" bumper sticker, and the congregation freely distributes these stickers after services.^[8]

In order to maintain balance in his life, Bell maintains his Fridays as a personal sabbath, where he does not allow contact by electronic means, and has all pastoral duties transferred to other Mars Hill pastors.^[9]

In the January 2007 issue of the magazine TheChurchReport.com, Bell was named No. 10 in their list of "The 50 Most Influential Christians in America" as chosen by their readers and online visitors.^{[10][broken citation]}

In June 2011, Bell was named by Time Magazine as one of the "2011 Time 100", the magazine's annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world.^[11]

On September 22, 2011 it was announced that Rob Bell is stepping down from the church he founded to pursue other areas to reach a broader audience. "Feeling the call from God to pursue a growing number of strategic opportunities, our founding pastor Rob Bell, has decided to leave Mars Hill in order to devote his full energy to sharing the message of God’s love with a broader audience." ^[12][13]

Other projects[link]

Bell is the featured speaker in NOOMA – a series of short films created by a West Michigan-based non-profit film company called Flannel. The title of the video series, "NOOMA", is an English variation of the Greek word pneuma which means breath or spirit. All the videos feature the teachings of Bell accompanied by music written and sung by local independent artists with the exception of The Album Leaf's music being licensed for the Nooma DVD Lump.

In August 2005, Zondervan Publishing published Bell's first book, Velvet Elvis: Repainting the Christian Faith. Velvet Elvis is for people who are, in Bell's words, "fascinated with Jesus, but can't do the standard Christian package".^{[citation needed]}

Bell's Everything is Spiritual national speaking tour launched on June 30, 2006, in Chicago, drawing sold-out crowds in cities across North America. The proceeds from ticket sales were used to support WaterAid, an international non-profit organization dedicated to helping people escape the poverty and disease caused by living without safe water and sanitation.

Bell's second book, titled Sex God: Exploring the Endless Connections between Sexuality and Spirituality, was released in March 2007. In February and March 2007 Bell hosted a "Sex God" tour on six university campuses to promote his book. The tour functioned more as a time for engaging questions and conversation. Questions ranged from Old Testament codes to homosexuality to what should Christians do with the word "evangelical". Each night ended with the showing of NOOMA number 15 entitled "YOU".^{[citation needed]}

In June 2007 Bell toured the United Kingdom and Ireland, calling all peacemakers.^[14]

Bell launched another speaking tour on November 5, 2007, in Chicago, ""The Gods Aren't Angry"" again drew sold-out crowds in cities across North America. The subject matter of this presentation was a narrative defense of justification through faith and not works (sacrifice). Proceeds from this tour were used to support the Turame Microfinance program supporting the poor in Burundi, a mission supported by Bell's church.

Bell's 2009 project, Drops Like Stars, explores the links between creativity and suffering. Drops Like Stars was an international tour and a book, initially handwritten by Bell, with photographs. The title of the project comes from a young child's view of raindrops on a window at night. Rather than focusing on the conundrum of why an all-powerful God would allow suffering, Bell instead looks at the creativity, empathy, new connections, and growth that can spring from suffering. When asked in an interview how he had become interested in suffering, Bell replied that as a pastor he had been given a front row seat in the most poignant moment's of people's lives. At the same time he was doing lectures on creativity and realized, "There was a connection between these two halves of my life – all these connections between suffering and art-making."^[15]

Stronger[link]

ABC television has announced production of a new television drama, Stronger, co-written by Bell and Carlton Cuse, the Executive Producer of the television show, Lost.^[16] The show, based loosely on Bell's own life, will follow the life of Tom Stronger, a musician on a spiritual journey.^[17]

Beliefs[link]

In his writings, Bell says "I affirm the truth anywhere in any religious system, in any worldview. If it's true, it belongs to God."^[18] However, he acknowledges Scripture as the authoritative source of truth by which to compare all other truths in the Mars Hill Bible Church statement of narrative theology.^[19]

Bell says, "This is not just the same old message with new methods. We're rediscovering Christianity as an Eastern religion, as a way of life. Legal metaphors for faith don't deliver a way of life. We grew up in churches where people knew the nine verses why we don't speak in tongues, but had never experienced the overwhelming presence of God."^[8]

In his most recent book, Love Wins, Bell states that "It's been clearly communicated to many that this belief (in hell as conscious, eternal torment) is a central truth of the Christian faith and to reject it is, in essence, to reject Jesus. This is misguided and toxic and ultimately subverts the contagious spread of Jesus' message of love, peace, forgiveness and joy that our world desperately needs to hear." In this book, Bell outlines a number of views of hell, including universal reconciliation (UR), and though he does not choose any one view as his own, he states of the UR view, "Whatever objections a person may have of [the UR view], and there are many, one has to admit that it is fitting, proper, and Christian to long for it." At the time of the book's publication, some prominent reformed church figures like Dr. R. Albert Mohler Jr. said Bell's book was "theologically disastrous"^[20] for not rejecting the UR view. Bell denies that he is a universalist.^[21] He does not embrace any particular view but argues that he wants to leave room for uncertainty. Love Wins presents his "case for living with mystery rather than demanding certitude."^[22] Some evangelicals see this "uncertainty" as incompatible with scripture,^[23] while others say that the book is simply promoting overdue conversation about some traditional interpretations of scripture.^[24][25]

Publications[link]

• Velvet Elvis: Repainting the Christian Faith (Zondervan, 2005) ISBN 0-310-26345-X
• Sex God: Exploring the Endless Connections between Sexuality and Spirituality (Zondervan, 2007) ISBN 0-310-26346-8
• Everything is Spiritual (DVD) (Zondervan, 2007) ISBN 0-310-28556-9
• The Gods Aren't Angry (DVD) (Flannel, 2008) ISBN 0-310-29074-0
• Jesus Wants to Save Christians: A Manifesto for the Church in Exile (Zondervan, 2008) ISBN 0-310-27502-4
• Drops Like Stars: A Few Thoughts on Creativity and Suffering (Zondervan, 2009) ISBN 0-310-32704-0
• Love Wins (Harper One, 2011) ISBN 0-06-204964-3
• NOOMA Videos

References[link]

External links[link]

• Rob Bell official website
• Rob Bell debates "Love Wins" with Adrian Warnock on Premier.tv