Enduring Love is a graphic novel exploring the exquisite sufferings of love. Set in the Lonely Forest, these tales follow the lives of various creatures who are navigating the difficult terrain of desire, drive and death. On this journey through the forest, you’ll meet a young cub who would rather lose his life than his passion, a wolf who conjures up a masterpiece from nothing, a guinea pig who doesn’t know what she knows, a beautiful bright white dove who remains flightless out of a love for the sky, great gods who wish to die, a royal elk who must sacrifice his true love out of true love and some hapless elephants who learn about hope in the midst of hopelessness. Written by a philosopher, this menagerie of fairytales has been carefully designed to offer you a unique perspective on your own heart and heartache. The central question throughout is a simple how do we endure love?
Peter Rollins is a Northern Irish writer, public speaker, philosopher and theologian who is a prominent figure in Postmodern Christianity.
Drawing largely from various strands of Continental Philosophy, Rollins' early work operated broadly from within the tradition of Apophatic Theology, while his more recent books have signaled a move toward the theory and practice of Radical Theology. In these books Rollins develops a "religionless" interpretation of Christianity called Pyrotheology, an interpretation that views faith as a particular way of engaging with the world rather than a way of believing things about the world.
In contrast to the dominant reading of Christianity, this more existential approach argues that faith has nothing to do with upholding a religious identity, affirming a particular set of beliefs or gaining wholeness through conversion. Instead he has developed an approach that sees Christianity as a critique of these very things. This anti-religious reading stands against the actual existing church and lays the groundwork for an understanding of faith as a type of life in which one is able to celebrate doubt, ambiguity and complexity while deepening ones care and concern for the world. As an outspoken critic of “worldview Christianity” he argues that the event which gave rise to the Christian tradition cannot itself be reduced to a tradition, but is rather a way of challenging traditions, rendering them fluid and opening them up to the new. This event cannot then be understood as a religious, cultural or political system, but is a way of life that operates within such systems.
In order to explore and promote these themes Rollins has founded a number of experimental communities such as ikon and ikonNYC. These groups describe themselves as iconic, apocalyptic, heretical, emerging and failing and engage in the performance of what they call 'transformance art' and the creation of "suspended space." Because of their rejection of "worldview Christianity" and embrace of suspended space these groups purposelessly attempt to attract people with different political perspectives and opposing views concerning the existence of God and the nature of the world.
Although Rollins does not directly identify with the emerging church movement,he has been a significant influence on the movement's development. As a freelance speaker and popular writer, Rollins operates broadly outside the walls of an academic institution, and currently lives in Greenwich, Connecticut. His most influential book to date is How (Not) To Speak Of God (2006).
These stories lack convention, conformity, and complacence -- and therefore, I love them. They turn expectations upside down and inside out as Rollins refuses to give the reader the HEA we usually anticipate from titles implying that love conquers all. No, love does not endure; instead, we endure love. And sometimes, the most romantic thing we can do is hang a lampshade on how awful/aweful love can be -- and then destroy it.
If you want a non-standard but easy-to-read look into the human psyche, these stories are for you.
I'm not sure if it is the time of year (Autumn) or time in life, but love songs have been on my mind and these love stories. What makes the stories so great is their realness. I have found many to be moving, and able to put myself in a multiple different animals' perspective. The graphic novel drives home how powerful love can be and at what lengths it can drive us.