(A blog I wrote before coming to Europe – a bit late, but better than never)
I got the chance to go to a couple of lectures a couple of weeks ago by Peter Rollins. His latest book is entitle, Insurrection and has of late caught much of a certain stream of Christianity by storm.
I don’t want to pretend to do a book review. That is not what this is. I have read only half of it and it is interesting, but not paradigmal shifting. What I want to do is simply share a few observations from the lectures.
Before I do, let me say that I am by nature quite cynical and have to battle it everyday, so, I came to the lecture a bit skeptical. That being said, I was and am committed to listening and thinking through important issues as even-handedly as possible.
First Impression:
Pete Rollins is short. I don’t say that pejoratively (ok, maybe a wee bit), but just a general observation. You know, when you hear of someone and you create a mental picture of what they might look like. I guess I was just a wee surprised (notice that I will use “wee” in this post to relate to Peter a wee bit).
Second observation:
Pete Rollins is a master storyteller. He is VERY entertaining, scattered, but entertaining. I felt like s Ping-Pong ball, and laughing out loud several times (which is hard for me because it is like kryptonite for my cynicism). A couple of times I literally had to think about something else to keep from going into “outside laughing mode” – you know, the kind that makes everyone else in the room start looking around trying to spot the disturbance and saying under their breath, “What the hell!”
Third observation:
Pete Rollins is self admittedly not a theologian. All of his degrees are in theoretical disciplines. That being said, he travels into the theological often and, from my humble perspective misses a wee (Ok, I'll stop with the "wee" thing now) too much breadth of thinking. If I would have had more time, I would have wanted to ask him about his view of grace, more about participating in the cucifixtion of Christ (a part of his book – p. 23) and does he actually believe in the historic view of the Rez.
Fourth observation:
I got the feeling (although, this is conjecture) that his context was overly affecting much of his system. He is a philosopher/theoretician AND from Belfast. Much of what he is about is against false religion and if there is anywhere in the world that has unfortunate religious scaffoldings, it is the city he grew up in (Protestant v. Catholic). All of us are products of our background and environment to be sure, but Belfast is more different than anywhere else I’ve been in the west. No, seriously! There is much diversity in the west, but as someone who travels for a living, Belfast ranks as one of the most interesting and acute contexts I’ve had the privilege to visit. From my perspective, the “religion” that those of us in the PNW of the U.S. experience is only a shadow, a glint of what happens in the name of religion in Belfast. I felt like some of his profound reactive points could possibly be tracked back to this context.
Lastly:
I didn't feel like he was too weird. I would love to hang out with him. I came in quite guarded, but came away quite connected with his ideas, particularly his existential bit.
Ok, a 2nd and 3rd lastly (or some odds and ends):
Here is part of a short email interchange that I had with one of our church planters, Steve Hart of Vintage Faith. Steve is a good thinker and I think he captures some other important elements to consider.
Here's my 2 cents: I appreciate Rollins' desire to show how easily we use God as a means to an end, and that God is actually refusing to do that, and that there is a death that happens as we realize that… But the solution is not to then sit in our brokenness with others and extend grace (that we've not received!) to one another. Confessed brokenness does not bring about Redemption. The solution is to look to the God who is actually there, who is actually putting us to death for the sake of resurrection, so that God becomes not a means but an end in himself. Christianity begins not when we come to God to get stuff, but when he shows us the stuff is killing us and that the only thing God offers us is Himself – and that is all we need! God gives peace, joy, life, meaning, etc, but not as a product. He gives it when he gives us Himself.
You can check out a thoughtful/scholarly book review from Jason Clark here: http://theotherjournal.com/churchandpomo/2011/10/31/book-symposium-peter-rollinss-insurrection-2/
If you have read his book or heard Pete lecture, what are your thoughts?
Is he in "left field" (heretic) or is he offering a helpful corrective to many of the cultural co-opting’s that exist in the western church?