The Orthodox Heretic: And Other Impossible Tales
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Product Description
Product Description
Pete Rollins is inspired by the fact that all language fails when it comes to describing God. This, he says, is what nourishes poets and pilgrims alike as they try to capture, enact and incarnate truth. Such truth can only be lived - it cannot be reduced to mere words. From this starting point, he revisits the parables of Jesus - odd and unexpected stories that set hearers and readers spinning off course from what is safe and familiar towards some completely new kind of understanding. Parables are subversive; they never attempt to make faith simplistic. A parable does not primarily provide information about our world. Rather, if we allow it to do its work within us, it will change our world-breaking it - and us - open to wholly new possibilities. In the spirit of Jesus' parables, Peter offers some transformative stories of his own.
About the Author
Pete Rollins is the founder and co-ordinator of IKON, an emergent church community in Belfast, www.ikon.org.ouk He is the author of How (Not ) to Speak of God and a contributor to Evaluating Fresh Expressions
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
17 of 18 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Peter Rollins has some really helpful insights into life with God here, presented in a form which avoids laying out various rules and principles and stays honest and sensitive to the difficulties and complexities of life. I can't say how much I appreciate writers like this who are finding new ways to present something of the radical, incomprehensible and bewildering truth lived by Jesus. Rollins doesn't patronize, over simply or pretend to have some neat little answer, yet manages to provoke genuine thought and response on some important themes. Neither does he only address a post-evang / PoMo-oriented type audience, but speaks in a way which includes and reaches, I think, any person on an honest search for G-d. As someone who feels sadness at the fragmentation of denominations and exclusion and judging of the other that so often occurs, I really appreciated this open and humble style of writing.
Reading this book won't change your life. Neither are you likely to find direct answers. With much of the content of this book understanding the truth contained is only possible by living it, experiencing it, and finding it out yourself through the course of life, rather than through some form of intellectual musing. It is there where I think Rollins has got closest to the teaching of Jesus, and that's why I think it deserves 5 stars.
Reading this book won't change your life. Neither are you likely to find direct answers. With much of the content of this book understanding the truth contained is only possible by living it, experiencing it, and finding it out yourself through the course of life, rather than through some form of intellectual musing. It is there where I think Rollins has got closest to the teaching of Jesus, and that's why I think it deserves 5 stars.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Peter Rollins' book is a brave attempt to bring to our attention some of the inherent paradoxes of the Christian faith. Although the Introduction speaks of the tales as parables (short allegorical stories designed to illustrate or teach some truth, religious principle, or moral lesson) a majority are simple re-workings of stories from the Gospels in which the original endings have been turned on their heads as a philosophical device.
A few of the tales are genuinely thought provoking, but as I worked my way through the book I couldn't stop myself reflecting on how contrived they were in comparison to the original parables of Jesus.
The quality of the writing is fine, though somewhat dry and academic for my taste (especially in the Introduction). I would have liked the material to have been more imaginative, subversive and controversial, and less derivative. Overall, I didn't regret my purchase, but this is a book I couldn't recommend to friends with any great enthusiasm.
A few of the tales are genuinely thought provoking, but as I worked my way through the book I couldn't stop myself reflecting on how contrived they were in comparison to the original parables of Jesus.
The quality of the writing is fine, though somewhat dry and academic for my taste (especially in the Introduction). I would have liked the material to have been more imaginative, subversive and controversial, and less derivative. Overall, I didn't regret my purchase, but this is a book I couldn't recommend to friends with any great enthusiasm.
10 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
A genuinely lovely book. The parables seem so familiar and yet feel like they are unlocking some dusty old doors in your soul. Rollins doesn't provide a problem and solution rather he provokes you to stop and consider the implications of the story. In his explanations of each parable he introduces some simple philosophical ideas without getting bogged down by them and his language is instantly accessible. It's an easy read, quite short, but one that reveals more and more depth on repeated viewings - I've read it four or five times now! Although the title tries to scream controversy it's actually a gently subversive book, suitable for people from all christian persuasions because it doesn't attempt to bash you with a single point of view but rather it subtly undermines preconceptions and some of the safety zones we find so comfortable. It's a great gift for friends and one that will actually get read because as soon as you dip inside you know you'll have to read it all.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Ouch!
Beware this book will challege you and your faith. Told in parables this will challange you in your Christianity in just the way that Jesus parables challeneged people in their... Read more
Published 12 months ago by Christian and Hopeful
Fresh thinking at last!
This book is powerful! The imagery used in the parables is vivd and the analysis is succinct and thought-provoking. Definitely worth a read.
Published 19 months ago by Rev. D. J. Macbean
Powerful and intriguing parables for the 21st century
The good Samaritan. The workers in the vineyard. Lazarus and the rich man. We all love a good parable (when it's not pointed at us), and parables are at the heart of how Jesus... Read more
Published on 31 Oct 2009 by Jeremy Bevan
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