The Orthodox Heretic And Other Impossible Tales Quotes

“What if Jesus was not offering his followers an ethical system to follow, but rather was inviting them to enter into a life of love that transcends ethics, a life of liberty that dwells beyond religious laws? The difference between following an ethical system and being consumed by love can be seen in the way that ethical systems seek to provide a way to work out what needs to be done so that it can be carried out. In contrast, love is never constrained, it never sits back, it always seeks to do more than what is demanded of it.”
― Peter Rollins, The Orthodox Heretic And Other Impossible Tales

“The problem with so much religious communication is that it aims at changing our minds. The result is that we can hear the message of the preacher without necessarily heeding the message; we can listen to the “truth” and agree with it, yet not change in response to it.”
― Peter Rollins, The Orthodox Heretic And Other Impossible Tales

“Here we are confronted with the idea that God is not encountered as the highest being in the chain of beings but rather in the lowest and most humble of things. This powerlessness and weakness constitute the otherworldly power of the kingdom, a powerlessness that can bring the most powerful rulers in the world to their knees. For, as Paul writes, “the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength” (1 Corinthians 1:25).”
― Peter Rollins, The Orthodox Heretic And Other Impossible Tales

“Here is the power of my God: it is to be found in my rotting flesh, in my weakness, in the dirt and disease of this world. You have not seen this power because it is in the people you have refused to heed; it resides in those you have tortured and put to death, those who have suffered under your hand. The power of God is to be found in the face of the widow and the orphan, in the illegal alien, and in the outstretched hand of the starving man. This weakness and fragility is the power of God, a power that can overturn the most evil of tyrants.”
― Peter Rollins, The Orthodox Heretic And Other Impossible Tales

“The fact that you have never betrayed my teachings, and the fact that you swear never to betray them: this is to betray them already.”
― Peter Rollins, The Orthodox Heretic And Other Impossible Tales

“Love pushes us beyond duty, rather than stopping there, and acts when we don’t know for sure what the ethical thing to do is. If the ethical question is, “What must be done?” love adds, “I will do more.” If our ethical compass is not able to give us a clear direction to travel, love sets out anyway. The way of love provides a way when ethical demands have had their say or do not know what to say. Is this not what Jesus was calling us to?—to live beyond the law so as to fulfill it.”
― Peter Rollins, The Orthodox Heretic And Other Impossible Tales

“What if Jesus was not offering his followers an ethical system to follow, but rather was inviting them to enter into a life of love that transcends ethics, a life of liberty that dwells beyond religious laws?”
― Peter Rollins, The Orthodox Heretic And Other Impossible Tales

“Well,” replied Jesus, “the pearl has no value if all you seek is its value. But if you renounce the value of the pearl and give up everything simply because you are captivated by its beauty, then, and only then, will you discover its true value.”
― Peter Rollins, The Orthodox Heretic And Other Impossible Tales

“The incoming of God as expressed in the incarnation represents a beautiful expression of this simultaneous revealing and withdrawal, for in the Incarnation the mystery of God is not dissipated but rather deepened. The mystery is not unmasked, but rather dwells with us, in our midst. The mystery is thus not overcome in the Incarnation but rather encountered there.”
― Peter Rollins, The Orthodox Heretic And Other Impossible Tales

“Judas is here a symbol of all our failures, and Christ’s actions demonstrate his unconditional acceptance. Judas helps to remind us of Christ’s message that he came for the sick rather than the healthy, and that he loves and accepts us as we are.”
― Peter Rollins, The Orthodox Heretic And Other Impossible Tales

“Take this wine, my dear friend, and drink it up, for it is my very blood, and it is shed for you.” All this makes you feel painfully uncomfortable, and so you shift in your chair and fumble in your pocket, all the time distracted by the silver that weighs heavy in your pouch.”
― Peter Rollins, The Orthodox Heretic And Other Impossible Tales

“If we dream of faith leading to the accumulation of profit—as so many Christian preachers are quick to say on television, in great cathedrals, and in overflowing stadiums—we betray our deep-seated desire for a treasure that exists over and above faith. Yet, compared with faith itself, all else is but straw.”
― Peter Rollins, The Orthodox Heretic And Other Impossible Tales

“Tucked away in a tiny corner of heaven, away from all the grand mansions and streets of gold, there is a cramped little stable. It doesn’t look like much inside or out, but on a clear night you can see the stars shine bright amidst the cracks, and you can feel the warm breeze caress your skin. In this kingdom, that is where I live, and you would be welcome to live there with me.”
― Peter Rollins, The Orthodox Heretic And Other Impossible Tales

“we witness the idea that faith is born from an event that is so luminous we are left dazzled by its incoming—an event so deep that we are saturated by it, so vast that we are dwarfed by it, and so bright that we are blinded by it.”
― Peter Rollins, The Orthodox Heretic And Other Impossible Tales

“The teacher here is the one who says, “You will do greater things than I.” This teacher stays only for a season so that the words, which act as bridge to truth, do not become a blockage to it, and so that their iconic presence does not morph into an idolatrous one. Thus, we can say that a total and complete fidelity to our teacher, an unthinking devotion to her words, will always end up being nothing but a betrayal.”
― Peter Rollins, The Orthodox Heretic And Other Impossible Tales

“The lover is the one whose heart proclaims, “I had no need of you until I met you, but now I know I always needed you.” Or alternatively, “I had no desire for you until I met you, and now I know that I have always desired you.”
― Peter Rollins, The Orthodox Heretic And Other Impossible Tales

“This story thus explores the controversial possibility that Christians are not called to believe in the Resurrection but rather are called to be the site where Resurrection takes place—the site where Christ’s presence is testified to in action.”
― Peter Rollins, The Orthodox Heretic And Other Impossible Tales

“So then we must be wary of spending all our time poring over the words, talking about them, and memorizing them, for it could well be that such activities could mask the very Word that they bear witness to. Our task is not simply to return to the Bible, but to return to the life-giving Word that gave birth to the Bible and that speaks through it—hearing the message by living it out rather than merely rejoicing in its eloquence.”
― Peter Rollins, The Orthodox Heretic And Other Impossible Tales

“Love pushes us beyond duty, rather than stopping there, and acts when we don’t know for sure what the ethical thing to do is. If the ethical question is, “What must be done?” love adds, “I will do more.” If our ethical compass is not able to give us a clear direction to travel, love sets out anyway. The way of love provides a way when ethical demands have had their say or do not know what to say. Is this not what Jesus was calling us to?—to live beyond the law so as to fulfill”
― Peter Rollins, The Orthodox Heretic And Other Impossible Tales

“The truth of faith is not articulated in offering reasons for suffering, but rather in drawing alongside those who suffer, standing with them, and standing up for them. This is pastoral care at its most luminous.”
― Peter Rollins, The Orthodox Heretic And Other Impossible Tales

“The paradox of the pearl lies in the idea that, in becoming the poorest of all, we simultaneously become the richest of all. The poverty is not then a first step toward the treasure; rather, the poverty is the very place where we find it. Hence, we can make the rather counterintuitive claim that, in the realm of faith, it is only in renouncing our desire for wealth that we discover it.”
― Peter Rollins, The Orthodox Heretic And Other Impossible Tales

“It is in this way that we should approach the story of the pearl of great price: understanding that if we were to sell everything that we possessed in order to own a priceless pearl, then we would become the poorest of all, having nothing of value except for the pearl itself. We would not be able to purchase food or pay for shelter. We would be destitute. The only thing we would be able to do would be to sell the pearl. But then we would no longer have the pearl.”
― Peter Rollins, The Orthodox Heretic And Other Impossible Tales

“In the logic of faith it is only by renouncing the wealth directly, saying, “I do not care about what I get from this sacrifice; all I want is you,” that we discover the wealth indirectly.”
― Peter Rollins, The Orthodox Heretic And Other Impossible Tales

“All I know,” said the young woman, “is that if this kingdom you speak of is like that priceless pearl, then the sacrifice needed in order to grasp it will not make one rich but rather will reduce the one who has sacrificed to absolute poverty. For you are saying that one must give up everything for the pearl, yet the pearl is itself worth nothing unless you find someone to buy it. And if you do find someone then you will no longer have the pearl. So although you may appear to be the richest person alive while you have the pearl, in reality you will have nothing to live on until you give it up.”
― Peter Rollins, The Orthodox Heretic And Other Impossible Tales

“Indeed the unpalatable truth may well be that we are the ones who oppress the type of people that Jesus spoke with—not directly with hatred in our hearts, but indirectly through the clothes we buy, the coffee we drink, the investments we make, and the cars that we drive. By reading these words in an affluent, Western setting we can so easily domesticate the words of Jesus to the extent that they become little more than advice on how to treat a shop assistant or a passerby.”
― Peter Rollins, The Orthodox Heretic And Other Impossible Tales

“A time is coming when those you now treat as enemies and slaves will show you nothing but love in return, when those who you curse with indifference will offer you blessing. When you slap these people on the right check, be prepared, for they will turn their left check toward you. When you steal their cloak, they will offer you their tunic. And when you demand that they carry your possessions for one mile, they will freely carry those possessions for two. They will give freely what you demand from them, and they will not seek to gain back what you have stolen from them. They will treat you as they would long to be treated. You will judge them but they will not judge you. You will condemn them but they will not condemn you.”
― Peter Rollins, The Orthodox Heretic And Other Impossible Tales

“The Word is formed only when it is performed; it exists in the world only when it is lived out by a subject who dwells fully in the world. Is this not the logic of incarnation?”
― Peter Rollins, The Orthodox Heretic And Other Impossible Tales

“Therefore, it is impossible to affirm God’s Word apart from becoming that Word, apart from being the place where that Word becomes a living, breathing act.”
― Peter Rollins, The Orthodox Heretic And Other Impossible Tales

“For instance, the words love your neighbor should not be thought of as sacred or divine. These words are no more than words. They take on a revelatory role only when they are lived, that is, when someone actually gets their hands dirty and loves their neighbor—in other words, when this phrase is incarnated in action. The idea of loving one’s neighbor is the Word of God, not when it is merely affirmed, but when it is lived.”
― Peter Rollins, The Orthodox Heretic And Other Impossible Tales

“God’s Word cannot be heard without being heeded; it cannot be received without being incarnated. Indeed, it is only in being incarnated that one can say that it has been received.”
― Peter Rollins, The Orthodox Heretic And Other Impossible Tales