You seem to suggest that Christians need to be open in their understanding of the virgin birth or even praying before meals. What’s behind this?

I affirm orthodox Christian faith. I don’t think I’m doing anything terribly new. Historic Christian faith has been searching and struggling and doubting... the people who are considered the heroes of the Bible have deep, kind of ache-of-the-soul questions before God.

And then talking about things like the virgin birth and prayer but these are discussions we have all the time with each other over theology and faith. When friends are together generally late at night you get to talking about what you are wrestling with. I don’t think I’m saying anything that people aren’t talking about or discussing. You talk in the book about the “big Jesus.” Tell me about the big Jesus that you know and how that differs from “smaller Jesus”.

For many the message of Jesus was presented as an individual message of salvation for their own individual sin: “Jesus died for you.” I affirm that wholeheartedly, but in the scriptures, its sco pe goes in the opposite direction. It begins with the Jesus who dies on the cross and rises from the dead. But as the New Testament progresses, you have writers saying “by his shed blood he is reconciling everything in heaven and on earth.” Peter says in Acts, “He will return to restore everything.” So it’s a giant thing that God is doing here and not just the forgiveness of individuals. — Beliefnet.com (As told by Rob Bell)