The Orthodox Heretic: And Other Impossible Tales

by Peter Rollins

Overview

" Religious writing is usually designed to make the truth of faith clear, concise, and palatable. Parables subvert this appraoch. In the parable, truth is not expressed via some dutsy theological discourse that seeks to educate us, but rather ita arises as a lyrical dis-course that would inspire and transform us. In light of this, the enclosed parables do not seek to change our minds but rather to change our hearts."

- Peter Rollins

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781557257307
Publisher:	Paraclete Press
Publication date:	04/01/2009
Series:	US
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	184
File size:	2 MB
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Peter Rollins is the author of How (Not) to Speak of God and The Fidelity of Betrayal: Towards a Church Beyond Belief. He tours the U.S. on a regular basis, and will often be found lecturing in universities during the day and storytelling in pubs late into the night. He is a working philosopher, earned a PhD in postmodern theory, and is the founder of Ikon in Northern Ireland. Visit him at www.peterrollins.net.

Editorial Reviews

Don't be fooled by the slender spine of this unusual book. Rollins, the Irish philosopher/po-mo theologian who has previously published How (Not) to Speak of God and The Fidelity of Betrayal, upends some of Christians' most cherished platitudes about God in his newest outing. He cautions readers that the book is not to be read quickly, for acquiring information, but to be savored slowly for possible transformation. Mostly, the book lives up to this billing. Rollins recasts some of the most familiar parables of and stories about Jesus, sometimes subversively-as when he proposes a version of feeding the 5,000 that shows Jesus and his disciples pigging out on meager resources while the multitudes look on, starving. His point? That Christians are the body of Christ, and when we oppress the poor and hoard scarce resources, we are saying that represents the kind of God we serve. Although not all of the parables work equally well-some could use further illumination-Rollins is a tremendously talented writer and thinker whose challenges to Christianity-as-usual should be well-received by the emergent church crowd, if not beyond. (Apr. 1)

Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Publishers Weekly

Rollins has already established himself as a major voice and an astute, generative force within the emergence Christianity. The Orthodox Heretic is his most accessible and engaging work to date.” —Phyllis Tickle

“Pete Rollins writes with clarity and compelling conviction.” —Frank Schaeffer

“I remember driving around Belfast with Pete, sitting in the front seat listening to him tell these parables that he'd written—thinking, ‘Everybody needs to hear these.’ And now you can.” —Rob Bell, author of Jesus Wants to Save Christians

“As Peter Rollins, a barroom philosopher from Northern Ireland with a Ph.D. in postmodern theory, re-imagines the feeding of the 5,000, Jesus and His disciples collect food from the crowd, bless it and eat like kings in front of the starving multitudes. In another ‘impossible tale,’ a man dragged before a court on charges of being a Christian is enraged when there is not enough evidence to convict him. Difficult, challenging and transformative, these 33 subversive parables get under your skin and become impossible to ignore, until they start to change not just the mind but the heart.” —Relevant Magazine

From the Publisher