Insurrection: To Believe Is Human To Doubt, Divine

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Insurrection: To Believe Is Human To Doubt, Divine

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In this incendiary new work, the controversial author and speaker Peter Rollins proclaims that the Christian faith is not primarily concerned with questions regarding life after death but with the possibility of life before death.

In order to unearth this truth, Rollins prescribes a radical and wholesale critique of contemporary Christianity that he calls pyro-theology. It

...more
In this incendiary new work, the controversial author and speaker Peter Rollins proclaims that the Christian faith is not primarily concerned with questions regarding life after death but with the possibility of life before death.

In order to unearth this truth, Rollins prescribes a radical and wholesale critique of contemporary Christianity that he calls pyro-theology. It is only as we submit our spiritual practices, religious rituals, and dogmatic affirmations to the flames of fearless interrogation that we come into contact with the reality that Christianity is in the business of transforming our world rather than offering a way of interpreting or escaping it. Belief in the Resurrection means but one thing: Participation in an Insurrection.

"What Pete does in this book is take you to the edge of a cliff where you can see how high you are and how far you would fall if you lost your footing. And just when most writers would kindly pull you back from edge, he pushes you off, and you find yourself without any solid footing, disoriented, and in a bit of a panic…until you realize that your fall is in fact, a form of flying. And it's thrilling."

--Rob Bell, author of Love Wins and Velvet Elvis

"While others labor to save the Church as they know it, Peter Rollins takes an ax to the roots of the tree. Those who have enjoyed its shade will want to stop him, but his strokes are so clean and true that his motive soon becomes clear: this man trusts the way of death and resurrection so much that he has become fearless of religion."

--Barbara Brown Taylor, author of Leaving Church and An Altar in the World

“Rollins writes and thinks like a new Bonhoeffer, crucifying the trappings of religion in order to lay bare a radical, religionless and insurrectional Christianity. A brilliant new voice—an activist, a storyteller and a theologian all in one—and not a moment too soon.”

--John D. Caputo, Thomas J. Watson Professor of Religion Emeritus, Syracuse University

“What does it mean when the Son of God cries out, ‘My God, My God, why have you forsaken me’? Brilliantly, candidly, and faithfully, Rollins wrestles here with that question. You may not agree with his answers and conclusions, but you owe it to yourself and to the Church at large to read what he says.” --Phyllis Tickle, author, The Great Emergence

"Excellent thinking and excellent writing! I hope this fine book receives the broad reading it deserves. It will change lives, and our understanding of what religion is all about!"

-- Rohr,O.F.M., Center for Action and Contemplation; Albuquerque, New Mexico

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Paperback, 185 pages

Published October 4th 2011 by Howard Books (first published January 1st 2011)

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Apr 13, 2012 David rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: philosophy-theology-spirituality, nonfiction

I haven't finished this book. I may. But every time I pick it up I feel like the author is talking to an established audience, not to me. I'm new to Rollins and he seems to me to be using his own vocabulary in much the same way that American Evangelicalism uses it's own particular vocabulary. There are in-words and in-phrases to which in-group members never give a second thought. It's easy to forget that the uninitiated may not necessarily know what precisely is meant by "following the Spirit",...more I haven't finished this book. I may. But every time I pick it up I feel like the author is talking to an established audience, not to me. I'm new to Rollins and he seems to me to be using his own vocabulary in much the same way that American Evangelicalism uses it's own particular vocabulary. There are in-words and in-phrases to which in-group members never give a second thought. It's easy to forget that the uninitiated may not necessarily know what precisely is meant by "following the Spirit", "spiritual warfare", "under a covering", "coming to the altar", or "the body of Christ".

This may be an exercise in giving Rollings the benefit of the doubt. If I am in fact understanding him correctly, he constantly disappoints and frustrates me.

I am myself quite willing to challenge the traditional understanding of faith in God. I personally believe that Christianity, by its virtues of humility and honesty, requires a Christian eventually to come to a crisis of personal atheism wherein she must admit that she, being human, and her predecessors, being human also, could be wrong about it all: in interpretation, in application, in heart. This authenticity requires her to lay aside her assumptions, logical arguments however intellectually sound they may seem, and exegetical rejoinders -- to cease the empiricism. She must ultimately have simple, pure faith that God is, without relying on reason or proof -- Biblical or otherwise. This is the quintessential trial of personal faith and personal atheism. It requires an ordeal of doubt. Without the struggle of doubt, there is only assumption or ignorance, and neither is faith. It is as to step voluntarily into the opaque black mystery of death with full conviction of the inadequacy of all one's resources, simply in trust. It is to confront mortality, not defying it by reaching for symbolic immortality, but to walk headlong into death trusting, scary as it is, for resurrection on the other side. It is to answer the question "Do you have faith in me?", not by an overused tongue, but by following with the feet, or else become a rogue or hypocrite.

Allowing, even encouraging, Christians to doubt, I can get behind that. But what underlies my passion in this is a faith in the existence and character of a personal God. Rollins, if I am not misunderstanding him (which is a distinct possibility, as I have said), seems to be requiring us to admit that there is no personal God to trust. He sounds like a spiritual atheist, or perhaps agnostic, desiring to keep the psychological and philosophical framework of Christianity, without the conscious Life behind it. Having come through my own personal atheism, I can empathize with that, but I don't think I would want to write a book trying convince others of it.

These are very preliminary reflections, seeing as I have neither finished the book, nor become familiar with Peter Rollins from other works.(less)

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Aug 21, 2012 Alastair Mccollum rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Enjoyed, if enjoying is the right word, it's a disturbing and challenging effort to get Christians to enter into the pain, desolation and absolute separation from God that is at the heart of the crucifixion. Rollins strips away the props that sustain an ultimately shallow spiritual life in order to confront us with the wonder, the disturbing, frighting, beyond-comprehension wonder of God's engagement with humanity, and humanity's engagement with God... A book that for many will involve some stru...more

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Apr 14, 2013 Sean rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: christianity, emergent, philosophy, theology

In this book Rollins wants to look at how a radical expression of faith beyond religion would look like. By exploring how the crucifixion and resurrection can open up into a different reality Rollins is seeing whether or not this different look at reality can give birth to a renewal of the Church.

I think that this definitely is a different reality than what most Christians (especially in the West) experience. So much of what he writes about concerns with the undergirding structures of our own b...more

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Jul 24, 2012 Leroy Seat rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is a challenging book, and one reading is probably not enough. As in his previous books, Rollins presents ideas that need to be thought about, and then thought about some more.

Here are some of the key statements I gleaned from the book:

“The truly revolutionary move is not to chart a return to the early Church but to the event that gave birth to the early Church" (p. xiii).

“Getting people to believe is easy precisely because it is so natural for us. Any persuasive human can do it—and even ma...more This is a challenging book, and one reading is probably not enough. As in his previous books, Rollins presents ideas that need to be thought about, and then thought about some more.

Here are some of the key statements I gleaned from the book:

“The truly revolutionary move is not to chart a return to the early Church but to the event that gave birth to the early Church" (p. xiii).

“Getting people to believe is easy precisely because it is so natural for us. Any persuasive human can do it—and even make some money in the process. But to truly unplug from the God of religion, with all the anxieties and distress this involves, takes courage” (p. 17). This is the idea behind the book's subtitle.

Rollins says that Meister Eckhart “condemned the way we treat God like a farmer treats a cow, needing it only for the milk that it produces” (p. 43).

In a very important statement Rollins asserts, “All the energy that is exerted in attempting to close the gap between what we think and how we act fails to acknowledge that our practices do not fall short of our beliefs, but are the concrete, material expressions of them. In other words, our outer world is not something that needs to be brought into line with our inner world but is an expression of it” (p. 103).

Rollins’ seventh chapter is “I Believe in the Insurrection.” One section is “Changing the System by Ignoring It,” and he contends that the “act of living the not-yet state of equality as if it already existed in the now is the truly political act, an act that directly confronts unjust systems by ignoring them and living into a different reality” (p. 150).

The eighth, and final, chapter in Insurrection is “Neither Christian nor Non-Christian.” Rollins claims that “Paul saw the Cross as the event that opened up a way of living that was an alternative to the dominant principles of the world. It was then, as it is now, a scandal and a stumbling block because it ruptured the various divisions of the day, exposing them as contingent rather than divinely ordained” (pp. 167-8). (less)

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Jan 08, 2012 Vegantrav rated it 5 of 5 stars

Insurrection asks the reader to accept the challenge given by Bonhoeffer: to embrace a religionless Christianity, a Christianity without dogma, a Christianity wherein the philosophical question of God's existence is really not, existentially speaking, important at all, a Christianity which requires us to give up God in order to find God, a Christianity which offers no easy answers but forces us to ask hard questions and requires us to embrace the pain and the anxiety of our uncertain, strange ex...more Insurrection asks the reader to accept the challenge given by Bonhoeffer: to embrace a religionless Christianity, a Christianity without dogma, a Christianity wherein the philosophical question of God's existence is really not, existentially speaking, important at all, a Christianity which requires us to give up God in order to find God, a Christianity which offers no easy answers but forces us to ask hard questions and requires us to embrace the pain and the anxiety of our uncertain, strange existence.

Insurrection is a child of Nietzsche, Sartre, Camus, Bonhoeffer, and Tillich. Rollins envisions Christianity not as a religion but as an existential engagement with a world that presents us with death and meaninglessness. Christianity does not, for Rollins, function mythologically: it does not tell us from whence we came; it does not tell us where we are going; it does not show us how to find salvation in a world to come or even in this world; it does not comfort us as we face death and our own finitude.

Rather, Christianity requires us to give up religion (for Rollins, this is Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane), to give up God (on the Cross), and to find God (in the Resurrection) not as an individual being or something but rather as an act: the act of love, loving the world and embracing it in the face of despair and meaninglessness.

The insurrection that Rollins proclaims is rebellion against the power structures of the world: political, social, religious, etc. These structures hide reality from us and allow us to deceive ourselves into living lives that, while they may be comfortable, are not authentic, are not true to ourselves and our place in the world. And so if we want to live in truth, then we must give up our identities as defined by the cultural constructs which define our world: we are, following Paul, no longer male nor female, rich nor poor, Christian nor Muslim nor Hindu, American nor Ethiopian nor Arabic; instead, we are all one in Christ: we are all one in our anxiety and our uncertainty and our sadness but also in our joy and our happiness.

Christianity in destroying our pseudo-identities allows to live authentically by loving our precarious situation in the world and working continually to be honest with ourselves about the nature of the world and trying to change the world, to rebel against all the structures that support and empower the evils of the world: poverty, racism, sexism, homophobia, political oppression, social discrimination, etc. In Christianity, we do not retreat from this world nor see ourselves as separate from it; rather, we recognize fully our position in this world yet engage it to change it through the power of God--that is, the power of love.

Christianity helps us to see the world as it is and encourages to us change it. Christianity works to bring eternal life into the here and now. It is not concerned with what happens after death but is fervently interested in what happens before death. Christianity, for Rollins, ceases to be a religion. It is not a relationship with God. It is, instead, the place where God acts--that is, the place where love abounds.

Insurrection sees Christianity as asking us to completely die to the self, to die to all the socially and culturally constructed identities that we have, to empty ourselves in the experience of the kenosis, to know the reality of a life without God that Christ knew when he cried out, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" Once we have seen what we are not and recognized that we have lost God on the Cross, then we can all see what are together and can work together and love one another. And it is here that the Insurrection becomes the Resurrection: we have destroyed the lie that comforts us, the lie that tells us who we are, the lie that promises that everything will end well, the lie that promises us answers; once these lies, these idols of the mind are destroyed, we can begin to live the life of Resurrection, the life of love--that is, the life of God--that transforms our world and destroys the powers of oppression and deception.

The life of Resurrection, though, may not comfort us in the face of death and meaninglessness, but it does allow us to look honestly upon our finitude and embrace our sisters and brothers in love as we share our common world and work, even in the face of meaninglessness and death, to make a world of love.

I'll end this review with one of my favorite passages from the book:

"In the Incarnation, then, we find a fundamental transformation in the way that we are to approach God, a shift that takes us away from the religious understanding, which treats God as an object worthy of love, to a religionless understanding in which God is found in the very act of love itself . . . in the Incarnation, Crucifixion, and Resurrection we discover that God is not something we encounter directly and thus is not something that we experience. Rather, God is that which transforms how we experience everything, i.e., love. God is the name we give to the way of living in which we experience the world as worthy of living for, fighting for, and dying for.”(less)

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Dec 23, 2011 Marty Solomon rated it 5 of 5 stars

In chapter five, Rollins shares a story about a man who is rumored to be smuggling items across the border. The authorities monitor the man's activity, searching through the items of the wheelbarrow each time, unable to identify what the man is smuggling. When the man is asked later what it was we was smuggling across the border, he informs the questioner that he was quite naturally smuggling wheelbarrows.

This story accuarately depicts my experience of reading this book by Rollins. I feel as tho...more In chapter five, Rollins shares a story about a man who is rumored to be smuggling items across the border. The authorities monitor the man's activity, searching through the items of the wheelbarrow each time, unable to identify what the man is smuggling. When the man is asked later what it was we was smuggling across the border, he informs the questioner that he was quite naturally smuggling wheelbarrows.

This story accuarately depicts my experience of reading this book by Rollins. I feel as though he walks me through the philosophical lens of how I view the world and begins to point out things that I have been looking for -- which happen to be right under my nose.

As someone who orients his life from a philosophical/theological reference point, I have always found Rollins' writing to be refreshing. There are so many books written about the "what" and the "how to" and not too many on the "WHY". Even when one finds such a book, it seems to succomb to the pressure to make the thoughts applicable and practical. This is not so in Insurrection. And while this may be one of my frustrations -- wanting to be told what to DO with all of the thoughts and new lenses I've been handed -- it also may be the very strength of the book.

One thing is for certain, I have definitely had my worldview questioned and have realized in how many places my reality is illogical, unreasonable and needing a refreshing overhaul.

The first half of Rollin's book begins to deconstruct the way that we deal with the narrative and reality of the crucifixion. I felt as though those few chapters jostled me awake, exposed the part I've played in the systems that I've critiqued, called me to die and reassured me that such a death was to be embraced and accepted all at the same time.

The second half of the book begins to paints large pictures with broad strokes of what a resurrected reality begins to look like. While I'm still not sure how this will manifest itself in my daily life, I am quite sure that I am now holding my lenses in my hand, wondering if I've been using the right perscription this whole time.(less)

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Jan 31, 2012 Ben rated it 2 of 5 stars

First off the top, why this book is described as "Christian" is total mystery given the actual content of the book. It uses Christian terms but in reality it's just Nietzsche with a Jesus mask on. It's probably better reclassified as an atheist attempt at explaining why we should still love people when life is in actuality devoid of meaning. That being said, I did actually find some really good nuggets in the book to help me become a better follower of Jesus.

1. His call for the Jesus follower to...more First off the top, why this book is described as "Christian" is total mystery given the actual content of the book. It uses Christian terms but in reality it's just Nietzsche with a Jesus mask on. It's probably better reclassified as an atheist attempt at explaining why we should still love people when life is in actuality devoid of meaning. That being said, I did actually find some really good nuggets in the book to help me become a better follower of Jesus.

1. His call for the Jesus follower to be willing to embrace fully feel the impact of mystery, pain, and loss as expressed through Jesus experience of divine abandonment on the cross. I and the church need to be better at embracing these as experiences of God and not a lack of his presence.

2. His assertion that we really only believe something in so far as we act it. Intellectual assent is a meaningless exercise. It is not real belief but just an illusion that allows you to continue on in status quo without really believing and changing.

3. God is love, quite literally, and we need to stop always hoping for contact from a divine being to experience God but rather find we experience him as we love and are loved by those around us.

I found these things really helpful and challenging for me to embrace as a follower of Jesus and a leader in the church.

However he lost me when he went to so far as to say the Jesus experience on the cross shows there is no actual divine being in existence, that God only exists as the love between people not as a person himself, that the teachings of Jesus themselves are not original and as such not important, and that we should look to Paul to find out all ideas and beliefs and categories are relative and unimportant except for love. This isn't Christianity. This is humanistic atheism explained using Christian vernacular. I'm glad that I read the book as it challenged me in some areas and gave me language to explain some things I had been struggling through but was unable to verbalize. However, this is no answer for Christianity in a new generation, it's just rejection of God using Jesus as the excuse to do it. I think if Bonhoeffer, Mother Theresa, CS Lewis and even the apostle Paul knew their words and thoughts would be used to embrace the rejection of the person of God they'd probably be horrified, but that is in fact what happens here.(less)

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Oct 27, 2011 Joalby Phoenix rated it 5 of 5 stars

I've been constantly told by former pastors and leaders it's ok to question faith - but this idea of doubting in order to step into true faith was very new to me.
The idea of tearing down the foundation and getting back to what really matters, thus experiencing and being part of our own spiritual walk and dedication is something that intrigued me.
Being born and raised in Southern California where everyone can say they are Christian but noone really is a Christ follower, makes me realize how rel...more

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Nov 06, 2011 John H.D. Lucy rated it 2 of 5 stars

Really, this should have been two separate books. It was recommended to me by a friend who thought that I'd like much of what Rollins has to say. I did agree with much of Part I and found it very intriguing, although I've never been a fan of putting the Crucifixion at the heart of our faith. I'm much more of a Creation and Resurrection type guy, though of course I see that neither of those things would have relevance without the cross. Rollins, though, sets up Part I with the crucifixion as the...more Really, this should have been two separate books. It was recommended to me by a friend who thought that I'd like much of what Rollins has to say. I did agree with much of Part I and found it very intriguing, although I've never been a fan of putting the Crucifixion at the heart of our faith. I'm much more of a Creation and Resurrection type guy, though of course I see that neither of those things would have relevance without the cross. Rollins, though, sets up Part I with the crucifixion as the heart of all his theology. Questionable.

Rollins also argues that living in doubt, as if there were no God, is the ultimate way of life. Now I am radical myself in thinking that humans are divine and thus could live as if God doesn't exist, but I don't think that is the ultimate or even the intended way of life. The problem lies, I think, in that Rollins seems to believe that God doesn't really exist at all, that God is in love when we love other people. God is not a thing so much as a presence in love. That leads to some serious questions: how was the world created then? How is grace given or received, particularly prevenient grace? How does God (love) love us? Rollins doesn't have an answer. Rollins doesn't seem to notice the issues. If he did, I'm not sure he'd have an acceptable answer for anyone.

Part of the problem with Rollins' propositions is that I think he tries too hard in answering objections to religion, mainly that people who believe have a blind faith. Rollins' answer, to swing the pendulum completely the other way to praise constant and never-ceasing doubt, is reactionary at best. He clearly does not take into account any objections or issues with his argument.

Rollins also sometimes misuses quotations from authors such as Bonhoeffer and Kierkegaard. Anyone who knows those authors well would sometimes thank Rollins for creative insights into certain writings but oftentimes roll their eyes in disgusted fascination.

The book does have some saving graces. The questions that it raises are worth thinking about seriously. Do we believe in God simply to feel comfortable? Do we go to church simply to feel comfortable? Are we capable of living in life's tensions? Personally, having a great fondness for Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Marx, and others, I think those questions are too often ignored in Christian thought. This book can serve as an introduction to some of those questions but really should only serve as an introduction. Unfortunately Rollins' argument is logically unsound and poorly argued as well as completely unorthodox and, might I say, unChristian and unreligious.(less)

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Oct 04, 2011 Patrik Olterman rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2011

If you have been following Peter Rollins four a while you will find nothing new in this latest release, it is simply all those messages, thoughts, parables and stories woven together in a beautiful but very disruptive package. It is an incendiary bomb into established religion, it is a call to let go of belief and structure so that we can truly encounter the divine and live the resurrection life. It is a call to form prophetic Pirate islands within our world and within our established churches w...more

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Aug 09, 2012 Ryan rated it 5 of 5 stars

In this book, Rollins explores the nature of participating in the Crucifixion and Resurrection of Christ. In the Crucifixion, Rollins sees Christ cry, “My God, My God, Why hast thou forsaken me” to be the removal and destruction of the deus ex machina, the structures and systems of comfort we create to reassure ourselves that everything will be ok. In the Resurrection we learn to live in the absence of said comfort. Like Sisyphus, we learn to live our lives, tedious and mundane as it may be, in...more

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Dec 08, 2011 Tim Beck rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2011

it may take me a few days or weeks to wrap my head around Insurrection by Peter Rollins. There's a lot to digest in it or perhaps I'm just being stretched (which i will admit is a good thing).

I've read The Orthodox Heretic by Rollins and heard him speak a time or two and have always been fascinated with his art of storytelling and his fresh perspective so i found it no surprise that Insurrection drew me in from page one.

what i appreciated about this book was Rollins' ability to paint a picture...more

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Jan 20, 2013 S added it

I'm not sure how to rate this. From a writing standpoint, there could be improvement. From a "new theory" perspective, it's interesting to hear others ideas.
BUT, when you try to access the bonus video content at end of book and it indicates you need a code in order to view video, however, no code can be found in book, I come away a bit skeptical, especially about motives. If you come up with a new approach/theory, why not allow others to access the information? Just looking for an extra buck? Fe...more

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Feb 12, 2013 Susan Cox rated it 4 of 5 stars

I loved Rollins' "big ideas" in this book but felt sometimes that he split semantic hairs. I completely concur that Christians need to be more engaged in doubt, or at least willing to engage doubt and uncertainty. I likewise agree that many of us are far too comfortable and that faith becomes a way to justify the status quo rather than to challenge it. All in all, I really appreciate Rollins' goals is effort in describing how Christians need to shake off complacency and embrace the radical impli...more

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Nov 20, 2011 David rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-2011

Here's the thing: if you've read a bunch of Zizek already, and thought about how it applies to the American church, a lot of this will feel very familiar. A lot of this feels like "Zizek for Churchies" or something.

Here's the other thing: I'm glad such a thing exists. It draws the lines connecting Zizek's thought to important conclusions about how the church can leave behind some of its most embarrassing and damaging current tendencies, and it does so in a way that has at least a fighting chance...more

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Apr 30, 2012 Steve Hirby rated it 4 of 5 stars

Read this with the theology book group sponsored by First Congregational UCC, Appleton, WI. Provocative and infuriating. Redeemed by the author's sincerity and the ingeniousness he exhibits seeking to dislodge comfortable Christians from an unexamined relationship to their faith and communities of faith. Seems primarily to be directed at evangelical and fundamentalist believers. Inverts important ideas from those traditions in challenging adherents to live a more authentically human and more aut...more

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Aug 16, 2012 Jon Stephens rated it 5 of 5 stars

I recently finished reading the book Insurrection, by Irish author, philosopher, and storyteller Peter Rollins. Like the other book of his I have read, How (Not) to Speak of God, I thought it was outstanding.

Insurrection is about faith and doubt and struggle. As Rollins says: "To Believe is Human, To Doubt is Divine". I appreciated the invitation to wrestle with and come to terms with our struggle rather than to try and give our struggles a silver lining and just explain them away. Sometimes we...more

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Feb 09, 2012 Ali M. rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: soul-food

UPDATE: One of my favorite theology bloggers, Richard Beck, wrote up a great critique of Insurrection here. Well worth the read. I agree that Bonhoeffer presents a more consummate vision of etsi deus non daretur (living as if there was no God) than Rollins, one that does not exclude the importance of worship and prayer in private, and loving God-as-object as much as God-as-action. However, I know Rollins is writing another book that he claims "deepens and develops" some of the themes brought up...more UPDATE: One of my favorite theology bloggers, Richard Beck, wrote up a great critique of Insurrection here. Well worth the read. I agree that Bonhoeffer presents a more consummate vision of etsi deus non daretur (living as if there was no God) than Rollins, one that does not exclude the importance of worship and prayer in private, and loving God-as-object as much as God-as-action. However, I know Rollins is writing another book that he claims "deepens and develops" some of the themes brought up in this one, so I'll have to see where he takes things. Regardless, this is all making me want to hit up Eric Metaxas' Bonhoeffer ASAP.

***

Wow. This may be the most thorough and relentless breakdown of Christian psychology I've ever read.

Rollins' central thesis is dead-on, for my money: the modern church has become a security blanket for people, a comfortable construct that shields us from the world and prevents us from facing the true nihilistic devastation that is at the heart of the Crucifixion: a loss of God, a loss of meaning, and a loss of hope.

"Eloi, eloi, lama sabachthani?" / "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" (Mark 15:34) – Rollins asserts that we have missed the profound implications of Christ's experience on the cross, of God being forsaken by God. Based on this assertion, he proceeds to systematically torch every lie Christians tell each other about God and about themselves: even the lies that feel so genuine when we're telling them. As he correctly points out, we are too often satisfied with the false God we've created for ourselves – an image that makes us feel better, a deus ex machina that is always there when we need our problems fixed. We essentially ignore Christ, no matter how much we profess him. We don't truly process the fact that he experienced the same dark night of the soul and loss of God that all of us do at some point. We miss the point that God himself embraced doubt as a human being, both in Gethsemane and on the Cross – and until we do the same, we have not truly participated in Crucifixion and Resurrection with him, and we can never really experience change.

Over and over again, the Scriptures tell us to die to ourselves in order to find ourselves, but most churches are structured to prevent us from doing this. They afford people no opportunity to face doubt – the divine catalyst – and therefore no opportunity to die to the comforts and masks that keep them afloat every day. Some communities do, of course, and those are the ones that contain world-changers. Because once you've faced your own fears and misgivings and wrestled with them, there's really nothing left to hide behind. And that's when we can love fearlessly, holding nothing back. And that's where God is.

Now, this has been my own takeaway. Did I agree with every word Rollins wrote? Certainly not. But I don't think he wants me to. As he points out toward the end, it's in the challenge and in the conflict itself that truth is unearthed and becomes visible – not in any pat answers or established systems. When the deus ex machina God of religion dies, Christ and the Resurrection remain, as confounding and unsafe as ever.

There is so much to digest and think about in this slim little volume that I couldn't possibly summarize it all in a review. Suffice to say, if you ever read it, I would LOVE to discuss it with you.(less)

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Nov 28, 2011 Jr Forasteros rated it 5 of 5 stars

Insurrection by Peter Rollins reads as a manifesto calling for a radical change to the Evangelical Church. It’s a call to have a “religionless Christianity” that will look very different from what has come before. Rollins states as much in his introduction:

Each epoch in the life of the Church arises from the white-hot fires of a fundamental question, a question that burns away the husk that was once thought to be essential in order to reveal once more the revolutionary event heralded… They offer...more

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Jr Forasteros Insurrection by Peter Rollins reads as a manifesto calling for a radical change to the Evangelical Church. It’s a call to have a “religionless Christi...more
Nov 28, 2011 06:27am

Jan 02, 2013 Caleb Kirsch rated it 2 of 5 stars

Peter Rollins’ shtick is starting to wear thin with me. I enjoyed How (Not) to Speak of God for his admittedly unique insights into the role of doubt in the Christian life, and that thread continues in this book. Rollins takes it to the next level in this book, however, with the implication that “my doubt is better than your faith”. The mental gymnastics that are required to live the “fulfilled” life that Rollins espouses are beyond me. Bashing fundamentalism only gets you so far. Where’s the me...more

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Dec 05, 2012 Susan Yang rated it 4 of 5 stars

"Radical doubt, suffering, and the sense of divine forsakenness are central aspects of Christ's experience and thus a central part of what it means to participate in Christ's death. The moment we feel the loss of all that once gave us meaning is not a time in which we are set free from Christ, nor is it a moment where we fall short of Christ: It is a time when we stand side by side with Christ."

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Mar 20, 2013 Brian rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: life-changing, worth-reading-again

This book was absolutely fantastic! Rollins does it again. This is no easy book to read and I plan on going through it again and again. However, it is more than worth it. Rollins helps us question our idealized live and shows us what it could look like to find your live by losing it, by losing your identities and your certainties. Rollins points us towards how Incarnation, Crucifixion, and Resurrection transform us.

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Mar 09, 2013 Chris Thompson rated it 4 of 5 stars

Great read on life before death! To often our view as Christians is on the life after death. The danger in that is we forget the here and now and the unfolding of Gods kingdom around us!

Peter asks us to hold everything that we know and love up to a flame and have it burn everything away that is not necessary for living resurrection! I thoroughly enjoyed this book!

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Nov 05, 2012 Danny Yang rated it 4 of 5 stars

"In this way Christianity can be described as theological materialism: It is that which transforms our material existence. If our faith does not throw us into the arms of the world, if it does not lead to our experience of responsibility, love, celebration, and our commitment to transformation, then, whatever we call it, we have nothing but an empty shell."

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Nov 16, 2011 John Hanscom rated it 3 of 5 stars

Disappointing. He has two points - that we should not let religiosity keep us from the authentic experience of our Faith, and our faith is shown more by our actions than by our words. However, he cloaks these concepts in existential gobbledygook, making the simple complex, rather than vice-versa. I think his mother may have been frightened by Sartre while pregnant.

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Oct 09, 2011 Naum rated it 4 of 5 stars

Nothing new here if you are already familiar with the work of Peter Rollins.

A short book that starts out with a mind/spiritual bending "parable", followed by expository text.

All stamped with a "pyro-theology" theme that I best leave to the author to detail for you.

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Aug 01, 2012 Brian rated it 2 of 5 stars

Still trying to digest Rollins' work here. It seemed to be under-developed. I think he is on the right track, but I found the beginning part lacking. Then the second part seemed somehow disconnected from the first.

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Apr 12, 2012 Nicole Anto rated it 3 of 5 stars

Great new parables to help draw out the point the author is making. Not a "point A to point B" type of book. There is no basic outline or bulletin points to fall back on. Worth reading more than once.

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Jan 18, 2012 Carol rated it 3 of 5 stars

There were some interesting points but at times I was confused and felt more lectured than inspired. It will be to see if I have a different perspective after discussing this book with my collective.

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Aug 21, 2012 Allie rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: philosophy, religion-and-spirituality

3 for Rollins' awkward writing and 5 stars for his compelling ideas!! Love the examples that he uses and his understanding of psychology as he applies it to religion.

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