Peter Rollins's Blog, page 5
June 8, 2016
The Scandal of Grace
http://peterrollins.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Grace.mp3
This is a talk I gave at Mars Hill in Grand Rapids on the subject of grace. During the talk we explore the notion of transformation, symptoms and accepting that you’re accepted.
Building on Fire, Sydney, AU
At the beginning of September I’ll be in Sydney for a few events. More information to follow shortly.
The Fidelity of Betrayal ($15)
What if one of the core demands of a radical Christianity lay in a call for its betrayal, while the ultimate act of affirming God required the forsaking of God? And what if fidelity to the Judeo-Christian Scriptures demanded their renunciation? In short, what would it mean if the only way of finding real faith involved betraying it with a kiss?
Employing the insights of mysticism and deconstructive theory, The Fidelity of Betrayal delves into the subversive and revolutionary nature of a Christianity demands us to betray all institutions that claim to arise from it. This is not some argument against structures but rather for a type of church against church. A church that stands opposed to all religious dogmas, that calls into question its own orthodoxies and that invites all people to find meaning in the work of love.
The book is signed and comes with a free, limited edition JTC style Rapture tract written by Peter Rollins with artwork by Laryn Kragt Bakker
Building on Fire, Southbend, IN
I’ve been invited to join South Bend City Church to explore the relationship between doubt and faith. I’ll be joined by Chad Meister, Professor of Philosophy and Theology at Bethel College. The evening will include an opportunity for anyone to jump into the conversation with an open Q&A.
It will be happening at The Brick (1145 Northside Blvd, South Bend, IN 46615)
Also, The Brick opens their bar and patio most weeknights, and it’ll be open when our event ends. Feel free to hang afterward.
It Spooks
This is an incredible coffee table book of visual, poetic, and written responses to a paper by John D. Caputo. It’s a unique creative collaboration which lends itself to the ongoing conversation of radical theology, spectral religion, and faith. John D. Caputo writes with deep insight, clarity and humor as he dethrones the dry bones of religious academia and deconstructs our Western understanding of God. In this volume Peter Rollins, Catherine Keller, Brian McLaren, Michael Gungor and a host of other academics, artists, writers, photographers, and painters offer a broad perspective of responses to Caputo’s contention of a spectral, weak god who has no agent but you (and me) to enact that which is holy.
June 7, 2016
How (Not) To Speak of God ($15)
With sensitivity to the Christian tradition and a rich understanding of postmodern thought, Rollins argues for a radically new form of church that offers a singular, unprecedented message of transformation with the potential to revolutionize the theological and moral architecture of Western Christianity.
How (Not) to Speak of God takes its stand on the claim that Christian faith is not simply able to make room for doubt, mystery and unknowing, but rather fundamentally embraces them. In this book the reader is confronted with a type of theory and practice that ruptures the binary oppositions between theist and atheist, sacred and secular, belief and unbelief to provide a truly new vision of future church.
The book is signed and comes with a free, limited edition JTC style Rapture tract written by Peter Rollins with artwork by Laryn Kragt Bakker
May 22, 2016
Building on Fire, LA, CA
A common concern for people first encountering my work is how to rebuild after the fires of doubt, self-critique and complexity have burned bright. In short, what happens after we’ve begun burning away some of the negative parts of our religious past?
In this all-day event I want to show that the real challenge actually lies in keeping that white-hot fire lit; building community around it, within it, and on top of it. During the sessions we’ll explore a truly liberating form of life that keeps this purifying fire alive. A form of life that canpositively impact our individual lives, our relationships, our communities and even our nations.
Whether you’re interested in exploring my work for personal reasons, because you’re trying to build healthy communities, or want to learn how to better impact your community; these sessions will offer some guidance.
And, if nothing else, you’ll get one of my limited edition “Happy Reaper” pins and JTC style “Rapture” tracts.
May 21, 2016
The Omega Course: Gin Pairings
Starting in June I’ll be running an online series of seminars called The Omega Course with hundreds of people from all over the world. To help the material go down I’m recommending a few gins to go along with the material. Instead of recommending a different gin for each week (which can start to get expensive) I’m just going to recommend some of my personal favorites. If you would like to have a drink with me and a small live audience during the course, then do track one or more of these down (depending on where you live some of them will be hard to get).
Nordés Atlantic Galician Gin
I was in Madrid recently and discovered that the Spanish love their gin. While I was there I got to try this one and loved it. Made with an Albariño-grape-based spirit and including botanicals such as lemon peels, hibiscus, liquorice and eucalyptus the result is a bold, floral flavour taste perfect for a summers day.
Monkey 47
I have to say that this heavy, woody gin from the German Black Forest his is one of my personal favorites. The 47 refers to both the number of botanicals and with the fact that it’s bottled at 47%. This plethora of ingredients has paid off, and in 2011 Monkey 47 won the World Spirits Award Gold in the Gin category and Gold for best in class for the Gin Worldwide at the International Wine and Spirits Competition London.
Monkey 47 Distiller’s 2015
As if it couldn’t get any better, each year the distillers bring out a special bottle. I was lucky enough to find a 2015 bottle when I was in Ireland, and loved it. The 2015 edition features their extensive selection of botanicals as well as the extra ingredient – spignel seeds. Spignel is a rare plant with aromatic leaves and white flowers which grows in mountainous regions. When its foliage is cut, it gives of a sweet scent said to be similar to fennel. The German distillers allowed the Distiller’s Cut 2015 to rest for three months in earthenware containers before being combined with soft spring water from the Black Forest.
G’Vine floraison
This is the drink responsible for me appreciating how amazing gin can be and is still one of my favorites. G’Vine breaks away from the traditional juniper based “London dry” going for something that employs the subtle and rare green grape flower. Based on neutral spirits distilled from grapes, G’Vine has a delicate and floral flavor that is light and smooth. The aromatic vine flower, together with the grape spirit, softens the juniper taste inherent in most gins. Best served with grapes.
Warner Edwards Rhubarb
I recently discovered this rather unusual gin when in Ireland over Christmas. It uses a variety of rhubarb originally grown in Queen Victoria’s garden, hence the name, as well as their Harrington Dry Gin. They also add just enough sugar to balance out the acidity from the rhubarb, producing a spirit with plenty of sweetness and some subtle sour notes from the rhubarb.
Shortcross
I had to add a gin from my homeland. But it definitly deserves to be on the list. Shortcross Gin is made by Northern Irish craft gin distillery, Rademon Estate. This small batch gin is made using their custom made still, which features a 450 litre copper pot still and two enrichment columns. Using botanicals like fresh apple, elderberry and wild clover, as well as juniper, coriander, orange peel, lemon peel and cassia, they produce a vibrant, floral style of gin that befits savouring it neat, as well as enjoying with tonic. Cut a slice of orange into the mix.
Four Pillars Rare Dry
Australia has a number of great gins, but this one stood out when I was last there. Made in a small distillery in Yarra Valley, Australia, they use a copper-pot called Wilma, water from Yarra Valley that is triple filtered and some great botanicals such as Tasmanian pepperberry, lemon myrtle. They also have some exotic botanicals such as cinnamon, cardamom, coriander seeds and star anise and the classics like juniper, lavender, and angelica root. Best served with a slice of orange.
May 20, 2016
With Friends Like This: On the Love of Judas
As I’ve outlined in the last two posts, the first two-week of The Omega Course will look at,
A religionless understanding of faith
A religionless understanding of Crucifixion
Today I want to outline the content of week three, which can be described as exploring a religionless understanding of love. Particularly in regard to what Kierkegaard called “the work of love”, i.e. the political dimension of love.
To do this, I’ll be introducing some of Katharine Sarah Moody’s work and examining one of her critiques of pyrotheology from her excellent book Radical Theology and Emerging Christianity. This week will introduce us to a religionless reading of Christian sacrifice. The star of this weeks show will be Judas, and we’ll be touching on my reading of his betrayal from The Fidelity of Betrayal.
In the gospels there are three different interpretations concerning why Judas betrayed Jesus. The first relates to selfish desire (wanting money), the second to a form of demonic madness (possession), while the last revolves around the idea that Jesus demanded he do it as an act of love.
This last reading is the richest and most interesting when it comes to understanding the fundamental difference between a religious and religionless understanding of what it means to act.
If this was an act of love, then what was the purpose of this faithful betrayal? Did Jesus as an individual have to be sacrificed to birth a universal religio-ethical regime? This would then make the death of Jesus Christ similar to that of Julius Caesar, who had to die as an individual (Julius) for a universal order to arise (the age of Caesar).
This is the religious reading that Žižek calls perverse (for reasons that we will outline in the course), and the one that Katharine Sarah Moody believes I replicate in some of my work.
But she provides a clear description of an alternative, non-perverse, understanding of Judas’ betrayal. One that sees it as an act aimed precisely at destabilising all attempts to create universal regimes of meaning.
This week will build particularly on the previous one and will bring us firmly into a very rich and contemporary discussion of Christianity.
May 18, 2016
Happy Reaper Jacket Button
I’ve collaborated with the amazing designer Clark Orr to make a very special memento mori. A memento mori is an object designed to help the owner reflect upon their mortality. It’s part of the ancient tradition of ars moriendi – the art of dying – and is designed to help free the individual from the oppression that comes from the frenetic denial of death.
Traditionally a memento mori defines death as that which marks the end of our life, and has been connected with a philosophy that advocates a type of detachment from the world. However philosophers as powerful as Heidegger, psychoanalysts as great as Lacan and theologians as brilliant as Tillich remind us of the ancient insight that death is not something that simply marks the end of life… but is an essential element of it.
What they mean is that a sense of lack, or non-being, is part of what it means to be – that we are human (non)beings. More than this, they guide us into the insight that the lack which clings to us, if it is faced, is a gift. A gift that helps us muster up the courage to truly affirm existence and shout out an amen to life.
With this in mind I we created this “Happy Reaper” jacket pin that people can wear, an object that not only reminds us that death walks with us, but that this death is a possible friend to embrace rather than a somber specter to flee from.
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