Peter Rollins's Blog, page 37

First Special Guest Announced…

I’m excited to announce our first special guest for the Idolatry of God event taking place in Belfast over four days in April. He has been a close personal friend to me for many years and is someone I respect deeply. This is also the first time he has done anything in Europe, so this makes his appearance in Belfast even more significant. The picture will have already given the game away, so without further ado it is none other than the writer, speaker, equality activist and general troublemaker Jay Bakker.

Jay stands in the civil rights tradition of Martin Luther King Jr with his commitment to social justice, especially in his outspoken critique of sexual prejudice. Indeed he was recently the first person of faith to win a PFLAG award. Jay initially gained the spotlight because he was the son of TV evangelists Jim and Tammy-Faye Bakker, but has now come into his own as a writer and speaker committed to the themes of grace, justice and love for all.

Over the years he has stared in the six-part documentary One Punk Under God been a guest on shows such as Larry King Live and The Joy Behar Show and featured in Rolling Stone, The New York Times, Time, The Economist, FHM and New York Magazine.

His highly anticipated new book – Faith, Doubt and Other Lines I’ve Crossed – is due to be released shortly before the event (February)

Full itinerary and other guests will be announced soon…

 

 

 

To book your place click here
(tickets are anticipated to sell out soon)

 

 

 Jay in action

 

 

Oh, the places you’ll go

It all started innocently enough with Phil Snider posting a photo of my book with a few very unlikely bedfellows,

 

Then Mark Adams let me know that it had moved on to chat up some ladies, some pretty crazy ladies at that,

And then… then Jay Bakker got involved. Strange how he “found” it in such weird and interesting places,

After that lots of photos started popping up on my twitter feed from people having “found” my book in bizarre places. Thankfully Robert Shell made me feel a little better by sending me this picture from a book shop that was closing down. It seems that everything sold out, well almost everything,

Idolatry of God Event, Belfast

This exclusive event offers an unpresidented oppurtunity for people to delve into Peter Rollins’ groundbreaking work and explore its wider implications. By offering a cocktail of in-depth talks, discussions and interactive workshops this event will flesh out a vibrant and counter-cultural expression of faith that cuts across the usual divisions between theist and atheist, believer and unbeliever, religious and spiritual.

 

Whether you are inside or outside the current religious structure this event has been crafted for those who are interested in seriously exploring the radical kernel of Christianity. The whole event is designed to empower and encourage people to fully embrace difficulties, face up to unknowing, and reconnect with the depth of our lives.

 

Taking place in the bar where ikon offered many of its most innovative gatherings (nestled in the midst of Belfast’s cultural heart), this event and will not simply involve talks and discussions, but will include a rich tapestry of fringe events such as workshops, live music, pub nights and debate. This event is committed to creating a once-in-a-lifetime experience that shows the context out of which pyrotheology arose, offer ways of putting the ideas into practice and providing space for people to enjoy N.Ireland in all of its mystery, beauty and cultural depth.

 

A few things you can expect,

 

- A detailed exploration of Peter’s latest work

- Access to not yet published material

- In-depth discussion dealing with individual and group development

- Creative workshops designed to put the theory into practice

- Special guests (speakers, musicians, magicians and more)

- Great Guinness in great local pubs

- A chance to make new friends, listen to great music and see the beauty of N.Ireland

Full itinerary and special guests to be announced.

 For more information click here

IkonNYC, NY

For more information click here

West End Collegiate Church, NY

For more information click here

Trailer for The Idolatry of God

Here is a little taster of the content from my new book The Idolatry of God which has just be released in the UK and US

The Idolatry of God Four Day Event

April 23rd – 26th
Black Box, Belfast, N. Ireland

This exclusive event offers an unpresidented oppurtunity for people to delve into my most recent work and explore its wider implications. By offering a cocktail of in-depth talks, discussions and interactive workshops this event will flesh out a vibrant and counter-cultural expression of faith that cuts across the usual divisions between theist and atheist, believer and unbeliever, religious and spiritual.

Whether you are inside or outside the current religious structure this event has been crafted for those who are interested in seriously exploring the radical kernel of Christianity. The whole event is designed to empower and encourage people to fully embrace difficulties, face up to unknowing, and reconnect with the depth of our lives.

Taking place in the bar where ikon offered many of its most innovative gatherings (nestled in the midst of Belfast’s cultural heart), this event and will not simply involve talks and discussions, but will include a rich tapestry of fringe events such as workshops, live music, pub nights and debate. This event is committed to creating a once-in-a-lifetime experience that shows the context out of which pyrotheology arose, offer ways of putting the ideas into practice and providing space for people to enjoy N.Ireland in all of its mystery, beauty and cultural depth.

A few things you can expect,

- A detailed exploration of Peter’s latest work

- Access to not yet published material

- In-depth discussion dealing with individual and group development

- Creative workshops designed to put the theory into practice

- Special guests (speakers, musicians, magicians and more)

- Great Guinness in great local pubs

- A chance to make new friends, listen to great music and see the beauty of N.Ireland

Full itinerary and special guests to be announced.

For more information and to book tickets, click here

The New Book Is Out Now

Here is a little taster of the content from my new book The Idolatry of God which has just be released in the UK and US

If you’d like to delve a little deeper you can buy at local bookstores or online,

Amazon US

Amazon UK

Barnes and Noble

The Lake of Truth: A Fairy Tale about Desire

There was once a tragic little field mouse who was out of work and down on his luck. After almost a year on welfare he decided to look further afield for work and discovered that there was a factory located in an enchanted forest just a few miles from his nest. It was expanding its production and was looking for animals to work on the floor putting acorns into shells and checking for defects. He went for the interview and, a few days later, was offered a job.

Pretty soon he got tired of the commute and moved nests. Eventually setting up in a cheap but up and coming part of the forest. Everything ran smoothly as he got to know his job and made new friends. Then one day, quite by chance he was out gathering food for winter and met a beautiful guinea pig. He quickly became infatuated with her and asked her on a little date.

Things went well and pretty soon they were going steady, however this was an insecure little mouse and so he became worried that she didn’t really love him.

He would ask her all the time if she loved him and each she would answer in the same way, “Yes, of course I love you, I loved you from the first day I set eyes on you, I love you this very day and I will love you all the days of my life.”

But this answer never satisfied him because he knew that she could be lying and so his insecurity kept growing until he was so preoccupied he couldn’t concentrate on the job. Then one day while on a smoke break one of his companions, a large slimy frog, asked what was wrong. With a little coaxing from the frog, the hesitant little mouse confided in his companion, telling him how deeply in love he was and how insecure he felt about whether she felt the same way. The slimy frog listened patiently as his friend fretted about what to do.

Eventually, when the field mouse had finished, the frog told him about a small lake nestled in the very heart of the enchanted forest, a lake that had a strange, magical power. The frog told him that, if you drank from it, you’d be able to hear the thoughts of the person you were with. “Perhaps,” said the frog, “you could use this water to discover whether or not your friend is lying.”

So the little field mouse took his friends advice and tracked down the magical lake. Then, one hot summers day, he convinced his silky smooth friend to take a long walk through the forest, a walk that would take them past this body of water.

As they were passing by the little mouse pretended to be thirsty, scurried down to the waters edge and took a long drink.

Once he had gulped down as much as he could he turned to his friend and asked, “do you really love me.”

Once again he got the response he always got.

“Yes, of course I love you, I loved you from the first day I set eyes on you, I love you this very day and I will love you all the days of my life.”

A few moments passed and then, sure enough, he heard what was going in her mind as clearly as he had heard her words.

“Yes, of course I love you, I loved you from the first day I set eyes on you, I love you this very day and I will love you all the days of my life.”

Well he was over the moon because of what he heard and they went on to have a wonderful day of adventures. The next day he told his slimy friend what had happened over their 11 o’clock smoke break and that night they went out to celebrate the good news. However a few days later the little mouse took time off work without any explanation. He didn’t come back for weeks. And when he finally did return he was downcast and distraught. Seeing this his slimy friend asked what was wrong.

“My beloved was having an affair with a hamster,” squeaked the field mouse in tears, “turns out it’s been going on for months. You know, he had brighter fur, a shinier nose and a nicer nest. A couple of days after our trip to the lake she just upped and left”.

“So was it really a lying lake” said the frog in surprise

“No”

“OK, a broken lake?”

“No.”

“A cursed lake?”

“You don’t get it do you,” said the tiny field mouse, “the lake worked perfectly. She just didn’t love me. She only thought that she did.”

 ——–

Recently I wrote a small book of fairy tales of which this is one. I’m not sure if or when the book will discover the light of day, however I might be including this story in a Play that I have written and hope to put into production in the next couple of years.

I am a Universalist

Here is another quote from my forthcoming book The Idolatry of God. In the chapter from which this quote is lifted I contrast the conservative and liberal versions of universalism (both of which affirm a content laden view of truth) with the universalism opened up by Paul in his description of Christians as the ‘trash of the world’ who dwell in the ‘neither/nor.’ Just as pirates were known as ‘villains of all nations’ (and thus welcomed all to join), my book explores how those who are caught up in the event testified to in Christ are not slaves to any actually existing cultural, political or religious tribe. For more on the connection between pirates and Christianity check out Kester Brewin’s book Mutiny.

To buy my book click here (US) or here (UK)