Filed under: books, conference, emerging church, friends, Seattle, theology
Yesterday was a fun, thought-filled (thought-full?) day with friends. Church of the Apostles hosted a couple of theology pub dialogues with Peter Rollins from Belfast, Ireland. I got a shout this past weekend from Ryan Sharp, who was interested in coming up from Portland for it – he jumped on a train, and I picked him up from the station. We grabbed a quick bite, went to the Fremont Abbey for the talk, then went out afterwards to the Greenlake Zoka with Eliacin for some de-brief chat. So there you have it – an Irishman (Rollins), a Puerto Rican (Eliacin), a Texan (Ryan – though he’s not a proud Texan in the way most are), a Californian (moi), and a pub (well, sort of – they didn’t have any actual “pub fare” for the afternoon thing we went to).
Pete Rollins is the author of How (Not) To Speak of God and The Fidelity of Betrayal. He’s also one of the founders of the Ikon community in Belfast. He’s also PhD Postmodern Philosopher. He’s also quite funny. He also has the ability to speak at blazing speeds with that Irish accent of his. The last three of those things often left my head spinning . . . and yet wanting more. Oh, he also keeps himself on time by continuously referring to his cool pocket watch.
I’ve not gotten a chance to read The Fidelity of Betrayal yet, so I don’t know exactly how redundant his talk was to that book, but there were so many good sentences – things I’ll be chewing on for a while. Here are a few gems to start. I’ll probably come back sporadically and pop a few more on here.
– “It’s not about convincing your mind to believe given truth, it’s about convincing your ‘social self,’ where the real belief resides.” In other words, the belief resides in the actions of the body, not in the head.
– “The real question is not whether or not God exists, but ‘What is God saying to me?'”
– “Your beloved doesn’t meet your needs. Your beloved creates your need. ‘I never needed you until you arrived, and then I realized that I’ve always needed you.'”
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