A Belfast-born writer who has excited many Jesus followers in the emergent church movement and disquieted many others will be sharing his provocative thoughts at four 91短视频 venues tomorrow (Sept. 24).
The titles of Peter Rollins鈥� books offer clues to his stream of thought:
鈥� The Idolatry of God: Breaking Our Addiction to Certainty and Satisfaction (2013)
鈥� Insurrection: To Believe is Human; to Doubt, Divine (2011)
鈥� The Orthodox Heretic: And Other Impossible Tales (2009)
鈥� How (Not) to Speak of God (2006)
鈥� The Fidelity of Betrayal: Towards a Church Beyond Belief (2008)
In his , Rollins is characterized as 鈥渁 provocative writer, lecturer, storyteller and public speaker who has gained an international reputation for overturning traditional notions of religion and forming 鈥榗hurches鈥� that preach the Good News that we can’t be satisfied, that life is difficult, and that we don’t know the secret.鈥�
In an interview posted at last April, Peter Rollins said: 鈥淪ome of my critics say I鈥檓 telling them to doubt, but that鈥檚 not it. I鈥檓 saying you鈥檙e already full of doubts. It acts the same way as alcohol abuse 鈥� the alcohol makes you feel better about yourself, but then you have this hangover where you realize you鈥檙e just covering over some sort of brokenness.
鈥淚鈥檓 saying when you鈥檙e in church around people who believe the same thing and you鈥檙e reading all those books, it feels great, but then, at night over a drink with a friend in a bar, you feel like that there must be a better way. It [i.e., the usual form of church attendance] prevents us from encountering our own brokenness and working through it.鈥�
This interview sparked 50 online comments, with the readers strongly debating each other.
Rollins will be the chapel speaker at 10 a.m. in Lehman Auditorium, followed by a 鈥渢alk back鈥� at 10:45 a.m. in the student-run coffee house, in University Commons. At 4 p.m. Rollins is speaking at the on “the idolatry of God.” He wraps up the day with a 7:30 p.m. conversation with members of 91短视频鈥檚 Free-Thought Coalition in Strite Conference room of the Campus Center. All of these events are free and open to the public.
In his religiondispatches.org interview, Rollins called for people to 鈥渃reate a place where there is no Jew or Gentile, no male or female, atheists or theists, gay or straight.鈥�
He added: 鈥淭hat鈥檚 the good news of Christianity for me. It鈥檚 not that you can be happy and whole, but rather that life is crap and you don鈥檛 know the answers. It鈥檚 good news to be freed from the oppression that there鈥檚 something that鈥檚 going to make it all better. When you鈥檙e free from that and begin to work through your brokenness and suffering with a set of rituals, practices and sacraments that help us encounter our humanity, I think we become more loving, more beautiful, more grace-filled people.鈥�
Educated at Queens University in Belfast, Rollins holds degrees in scholastic philosophy (BA Hons), political theory (MA) and post-structural thought (PhD). His 91短视频 visit is sponsored by the .
I am so excited about this. Maybe Peter can help us break through the salve of “idolatry” and maybe then we can start having some “real” religion at 91短视频!