Peter Rollins - The Archive

It could be argued that the central question throughout the history of Christianity has revolved around the best way to interpret the Crucifixion. Yet this discussion has by no means been restricted to the confessional church. Indeed many prominent philosophers have taken a deep interest in the Crucifixion and reflected on its significance. In contrast to religious interpretations - that connect the atonement with theism, meaning and reconciliation - this Seminar explores a pyrotheological approach that sees the Crucifixion as expressing a form of life marked by the end of religion, the loss of meaning and the embrace of the absurd.

To compliment the short film Making Love, we created a 40 minute commentary in which I explore the philosophical and theological themes that animate the movie (along with the relevant clips). This is the audio from that commentary. To see the video, visit my youtube page. While commentaries are often optional extras in movies, I see this as a vital, enmeshed, part of this project. Our aim is for the movie and the commentary to work together in enriching and deepening the insights of the viewer. It’s a model I’ve tried to use in my books, especially How (Not) to Speak of God - which played on the movement between the intellectual and existential dimensions of Pyrotheology.

In 2018 I joined Rob Bell on his Holy Shift tour. This is a recording from one of the stops. In my talk I explored the idea that the Holy can be approached as a wholly other dimension that cuts across our being. A dimension that we attempt to hide from and ignore. Yet the more we ignore it, the more this wholly other dimension creates unholy hell in our lives. In contrast, if we are able to turn our attention towards it, and orient ourselves to its tremor, it can bring new life to us. If you would like to support me and get more content, visit pyrotheology.com.

Once a month I give online seminars via Patreon. I occasionally put some up here. If you'd like the full set, visit pyrotheology.com. In this seminar I offer a framework that enables people to see how religious ideology functions, what a pyrotheological reading of Christianity entails, and how this is practiced in community. During the seminar I’ll be showing how religious ideology continues to function within secular spaces and offer a religionless reading of Christianity that aims squarely at eviscerating this way of operating in the world. In doing this I draw out the main difference between pyrotheology and things like Depth Psychology, the Enneagram, Humanism, Progressive Christianity and Liberal Christianity.

In April 2018 I was interviewed by the German theologian Peter Jost at my Wake Festival. For more content, jump over to https://www.patreon.com/peterrollins

This is part of a talk I gave at a live Fundamentalists event in LA. In it I explore the idea that we are strangers to ourselves, and often oblivious to our desires.

In this short reflection I use Tillich's idea of Ultimate Concern to introduce one of the basic aims of Pyrotheology. To learn more about Pyrotheology, check out the pyro-seminars on my Patreon. If you want to take a deep dive into Tillich's notion of Ultimate Concern, check out my course 'Find and You Will Seek' on my website. Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/peterrollins Find and You Will Seek: https://peterrollins.com/advent

In this podcast I explore the roots of modern notions of romance, the impossibility of relationships, and how to turn that impossibility into something truly beautiful. I even give a little relationship advice at the end!

Does thinking get us anywhere? Is relativism possible? What can we know? In this seminar I explore Speculative Philosophy through the lens of Paul Tillich's book My Search for Absolutes. To hear my full set of lectures on this book, visit peterrollins.com and get my Find and You Will Seek course.

Here I take a look at Capitalism. In particular, I reflect on whether Capitalism is rooted in our natural tendencies, whether it is the final system, and what, if anything, might lie beyond it.