Peter Rollins on God, Truth and Christianity
I am a Jesus of Nazareth fanboy.
I am also a Peter Rollins of Belfast fanboy.
ROLLINS: What I’m trying to get at there is that God, as presented in the Bible, escapes our attempts at capturing him in conceptual form. This happens in two major ways. Firstly, we cannot grasp God, not because there is a lack of names, but because there is such a surplus of them. These different ideas and names of God clash at various times—for instance, when God is named a warrior and then a peacemaker, or one who is unchanging and one who rethinks situations. The fact that there are so many ways of naming and describing God is a way of saying that no name or group of names can grasp God.
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ROLLINS: [T]o be orthodox is to bring praise to God through one’s life. While people these days are asking the question, “Is Christianity true?,” the more fundamental question must be, “What does Christ mean when he uses the word truth?” The reason I am asking that question is that when Jesus talks about the truth, He talk about life. The truth is what brings life. My axiom for today is that Christianity at its core doesn’t explain life but it brings life. We must thus ask whether our beliefs and actions bring life, healing and love to the people in the world.
You simply must read this interview with Pete done by Becky Garrison for the Wittenburg Door. Both of his books are blazing as well. I’m trying in my own context to search for the right questions in a way similar to how Pete thoughtfully takes us away from a Christianity based on belief of a certain set of absolute abstractions and in the direction of a Christianity thoughtfully lived. We regularly need to be reminded that Jesus was not a Christian in an abstract – know the right answers – sort of way. He moved so perfectly in love, beauty, grace, peace and justice that his spirit, actions and person were called way, truth and life. Truth is a person. Incredible. As Tony Jones puts it, “Truth had smelly armpits.”
DOOR: What then does it mean to be a Christian?
ROLLINS: It means entering into a journey of becoming one. It does not mean accepting a world view but rather entering into a healing journey of life. To be a Christian also means that one is committed to exploring this life through the Judeo-Christian tradition, wrestling with it, learning from it and being transformed by it. Being a Christian means learning how to be the opening of life into the world.
ht: Bob Carlton
Tags: jesus, peter rollins, philosophy, christianity, god, truth, becky garrison
