Peter Rollins: The Idolatry of God - a review

I finished the book three days ago and having let it "sink in" I now am ready to write a review. 
This is the first Peter Rollins book that I have read. I ordered it as soon as it came out on the basis of an interview I read about Rollins work last year in "Reform" magazine.
The book is subtitled "Breaking the addiction to certainty and satisfaction". It is this addiction or longing that is a serious problem for humans, religious and otherwise. He argues for this diagnosis of the human condition using some theories of psychology which I have not previously encountered. He says that the basic human condition involves an aspiration or longing for an unattainable perfection that will bring complete sense of well being and peace. This aspiration is objectified into various idols that are longed for and yet when attained prove illusory in terms of the satisfaction they give. This feeling of longing for an unattainable idol can be called original sin. The model works with many different idols, both religious and secular. In traditional evangelical Christianity Jesus is seen as the "idol" that you have to accept into your life to make all things well and find the certainty and satisfaction that you are seeking. (He has several astute critical comments on the practices of churches.) However the crux of the argument in the book is that the Christian hope is not about conforming to this model but about destroying it. Thus Christ's message is to show the emptiness and futility of our desire for satisfaction and certainty. He says that central to Christianity is the experience of the absence of God as experienced by Christ in his cry of dereliction from the cross. Doubt and uncertainty become the central tenets of faith. God isn't an object to fill our needs. Salvation comes from accepting our brokenness and using it to help heal a broken world.
I wonder how much Peter Rollins has been influenced by the Buddha in this analysis? Buddha practised yoga until he reached the highest levels of enlightenment but after the ecstasy he found that he was again plagued by greed, lust, envy and hatred as he was before the religious experience.  He began a new practice to enhance the natural impulses of empathy and compassion. In this way he broke the longing for fulfilment. Buddha saw that to live morally was to live for others so after enlightenment he said that a person must return to the world and practise compassion. 
Peter Rollins also talks about the need for true encounter with those of faith viewpoints very different to our own in a spirit of vulnerability and unknowing. This is something we have been trying in our eclectic "Soul Space" meeting made up of Protestant, Catholic, Quaker, Baha'i, and Unification church participants. (see my blog post about Soul Space here) 
The final section of the book outlines some of the imaginative and creative sessions where the author has worked with others to challenge and stimulate an experience of God's presence and absence. 
This book has put into an ordered and systematic form a coherent radical Christian faith. The book is easy to read and doesn't use complicated theological or philosophical language. You may not agree with all of it but it is a stimulating read. 

To buy this book click here

Life of Pi - a film review

The book "Life of Pi" won Yann Martel a Booker prize in 2002. I remember the book well as it was the first book to be studied by our newly formed church based book group. It proved to be a good choice as it provided a source for rich discussion about the nature of belief, the exclusivity of religious claims and the use of story to explain events, amongst other themes. 
Now, over ten years later, the film adaptation has come out and I was absolutely captivated by it. It is a brilliant piece of cinematography and it also sticks firmly to the plot as it recreates the atmosphere of the original novel.
The film is supposedly a marvel in 3D - I only saw it in an ordinary cinema but the appearances of Richard Parker frequently had me jumping out of my seat. I can't imagine how much more jump inducing the 3D version is!
The story is a tale of adventure and endurance as the teenage Pi survives a shipwreck in the company of a hungry Bengal tiger. The tiger was a creation of CGI magic animation as was the sea and in some places Pi too! It must be the most successful use of these animation technologies I have yet seen. 
In the story the divinity Pi sought in childhood appears to him in thunderous tempests, galaxies of bioluminescent plankton, and mysterious islands with strange secrets at their core.  Pi also encounters himself in a deep and meaningful way in the constant struggle for survival of a young man who is forced to share a lifeboat with a full size hungry tiger.
The novel’s grimly repellent coda, the alternate story, remains intact and leaves you puzzling about which story you want to believe was true. It’s a tale that makes the most of an unfettered imagination and the possibilities of storytelling, as well as avoiding an over-reliance on the facts that make up actual life.
It is an adventure story that has a deep spirituality embedded in it, born out of a deeply moving and life changing experience of survival. I highly recommend the film.

Image courtesy of  anankkml / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

You can buy the DVD by clicking here

Sharing - an ecumenical vision

Whilst I was on holiday recently in Cyprus I came across an example of ecumenical co-operation that I am sure is mirrored across the world. In Pafos the Ayia Kyriaki Chrysopolitissa Church, which was built around 1500, is used by a variety of congregations. The building is Greek Orthodox and complete with an impressive iconostasis. Bishop Chrysostomos, Metropolitan of Paphos, who is now the Archbishop of the Holy Orthodox Church in Cyprus, gave permission for the building to be used by the Roman Catholics, the Anglicans and the Lutherans. (Not all at the same time of course!)

This model of church building sharing should be used more often. I often see many church buildings on the same street, each with their own small faithful congregation who are having to devote a great deal of their time towards property maintenance such as keeping the roof watertight and the dry rot at bay. This could be a helpful model for several of the smaller Methodist and URC congregations in Scotland.
It requires a flexibility about timings - not everyone can have Sunday morning at 11am! And it requires an agreement about who will meet the bills. But with a spirit of co-operation rather then competition why doesn't it happen more often?  Perhaps a more basic question is why does the Christian church need buildings anyway - I don't remember much in the new testament about building up a property portfolio!

Source of photo - I took it myself when in Pafos...

American Gods - Religion as metaphor?

Neil Gaiman's novel "American Gods" is a popular fantasy that is based in small town America. The basic premise of the book is that gods exist alongside humans in the everyday world from every historical mythology. America, being an amalgam of cultures and peoples, is over run with gods brought by immigrants with them from all over the globe. The gods though immortal can be killed and are often powerless because they derive their power from the belief, worship and sacrifices of their human followers. In the novel the ancient gods are failing because their followers have forgotten them and in their place are emerging a new pantheon of contemporary gods such as road, computer, media, town, car etc. The clash between the two groups of gods spread across the most unlikely holy sites of small town USA gives the foundation of this massive book onto which is superimposed a human hero just released from prison and his dead wife who continues to appear throughout the narrative.  Though fantasy Gaiman captures perfectly the eccentricities of small town life in the US.
A clue to the philosophy behind the book can be found on page 551: 

"Religions are, by definition, metaphors, after all God is a dream, a hope a woman, an ironist (sic), a father, a city, a house of many rooms, a watchmaker who left his prize chronometer in the desert, someone who loves you -even, perhaps, against all evidence, a celestial being whose only interest it to make sure your football team, army, business or marriage thrives, prospers and triumphs over all the opposition.  Religions are places to stand and look and act, vantage points from which to view the world." 

Surprisingly Gaiman does not use any Christian imagery or references in the book given the deeply help and sometimes extreme versions of the Christian religion found across the continent. Perhaps this was a commercial decision made by the publishers to ensure wide sales!?
In his description of religion as metaphor Gaiman is perhaps echoing the philosophy of Nietzsche. Nietzsche argued that metaphor is at the basis of language, concepts, and perception, making it the vehicle by which humans interpret the world. As such, metaphor has profound consequences for the nature of religion and of philosophy. 
A metaphor is the concept of understanding one thing in terms of another. It is a "figure of speech" that constructs an analogy between two things or ideas. Saying that religion is a metaphor implies that it is the human attempt to understand something about life and its meaning that we do not really understand. It's a bit like using a clock as a metaphor for time. A clock is not time but rather it is a representation of the passage of time. Dana Jennings wrote in an article in the New York Times: 

"religions, if nothing else, are metaphors for how we choose to lead our lives, how we choose to defy the empty cultural whirlwind. Our lives begin in mystery ... and end in mystery. In between, we try to explain ourselves to ourselves, all 6.5 billion of us who are wedged onto this improbable planet — 6.5 billion potential paths toward the holy."

Saying religion is a metaphor is not in any way to say that it isn't true or meaningful. This was a fantasy novel and a real good holiday read so perhaps I shouldn't worry about the philosophy of metaphor!   

To buy this book click here

Image"Thai Art Murals" courtesy of pichart99thai / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Mindful - poem by Mary Oliver

Mindful by Mary Oliver

Every day
I see or hear
something
that more or less

kills me
with delight,
that leaves me
like a needle

in the haystack
of light.
It was what I was born for -
to look, to listen,

to lose myself
inside this soft world -
to instruct myself
over and over

in joy,
and acclamation.
Nor am I talking
about the exceptional,

the fearful, the dreadful,
the very extravagant -
but of the ordinary,
the common, the very drab,

the daily presentations.
Oh, good scholar,
I say to myself,
how can you help

but grow wise
with such teachings
as these -
the untrimmable light

of the world,
the ocean's shine,
the prayers that are made
out of grass?

 

Image "Light In The Forest"  courtesy of dan / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

The work of Christmas

When the song of the angel is still
When the star in the sky is gone,
When the kings and princes are home,
When the shepherds are back with their flock,
The work of Christmas begins:
To find the lost, to heal the broken,
To feed the hungry, to release the prisoner,
To rebuild the nations, to bring peace among peoples,
To make music in the heart.

~ Howard Thurman (1899-1981)

Image "Christmas Gift " courtesy of  Danilo Rizzuti/ FreeDigitalPhotos.net