Peter Rollins - The Archive

Power and Resistance are often thought of as antagonistic opposites that confront each other. However Power often covers the entire field of Power and Resistance. Here I explore how.

Often we attempt to minimize our discontent rather than mobilize it. In this short reflection, I outline the difference and talk about some events that I run which aim at the latter.

What is ideology? Here I look at five features that can help us understand this term

In this reflection I explore the how we might come to glimpse what we believe through our symptoms rather than our conscious beliefs and actions.

In this reflection I look at Jordan Peterson's genealogy of marxism and explore his view of post-structuralism as advocating a multiplicity that undermines authoritative readings of a text.

In 2017 Peter was a guest on Moshe Kasher's Hound Tall, along with Nick Thune, Sara Schafer and Kurt Metzger. It's a pretty crazy interview with some magical moments sprinkled through the comedy chaos.

One of the greatest comedic characters to come out of the UK in recent years is undoubtably David Brent. Created and performed by Ricky Gervas, Brent is a pitiful character; constantly hiding from his self-loathing by unsuccessfully trying to play the part of a successful, funny, attractive and popular Renaissance Man. In the figure of Brent, Gervas has been able to create a character who manifestly wrestles with repression, neurotic symptoms, and eruptions of the unconscious. However, while the character is largely comic, there is a tragic element to him that is fleshed out at the end of The Office and at the conclusion of the movie David Brent: Life on the Road. In this Pyro-seminar, I’ll be using Brent as an example of the universal struggle that is human existence. Not only that, but I’ll be showing how Brent can show us how to bear the weight of that struggle and find a depth of meaning. With the help of Brent, I'll attempt to delineate the type of freedom that a pyrotheological community offers.

In this short reflection I look at the pleasure we can get from self-sabotage, and how we might sabotage our self-sabotage.

In this seminar from 2014, Peter explores how the categories of Idiot, Imbecile and Moron can give us insight into different ways of engaging with the social order, and touches on the theological significance of this in relation to the theme of conversion

This is an interview from December 2014 that Peter did with Pete Holmes. The cover ghosts, suffering, loss and love.