Lessons in Evandalism tour
It hasn’t been that long since I got home, but I am starting to get ready for my next speaking tour: Lessons in Evandalism. The basic description of the tour is as follows,
The current religious landscape is cluttered with various expressions of faith that claim to rethink Christianity at the dawn of a new cultural epoch. However such groups often accomplish little more than the repackaging and redistribution of faith as we currently understand it. A repackaging that involves flashing lights, video projectors and ‘culturally sensitive’ leaders who can talk about the latest mediocre pop sensation.
Throughout his Spring 09 tour Peter will be arguing that, in the midst of this arid landscape, there exist small but fertile sites of resistance. Groups who offer a way of thinking that not only challenges the way we express faith but fundamentally ruptures the way we understand it. He will argue that these pockets of resistance represent a growing, organic movement that are proclaiming the death of God, church and religion as we know them in preparation for their resurrection in a radically different form.
Through a mix of parables, philosophy and discussion Peter will be exploring the theoretical kernel of this emerging movement and addressing its dangerous, revolutionary and transformative potential.
This tour will take me from Grand Rapids to Columbus, Dallas to Birmingham, Richmond to Washington, and Hollywood up to Edmonton. You can find out more details on the ‘Speaking Schedule‘. However here is what I will be doing in Edmonton,
Hope you can join me
Tags: Christianity, Church, Evandalism, God, Peter Rollins, speaking, tour
January 19th, 2009 at 6:27 am
Good stuff
Hope it goes really well.
That’s a lovely photo of you, by the way.
January 19th, 2009 at 6:51 am
Awesome that you’re coming to Canada, now pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease come to Toronto!
January 19th, 2009 at 6:59 am
This sounds so exciting and right where i am in my thought processes. Looking forward to our time together! Glad you are coming to Richmond, my friend! Blog about you here:
http://www.existentialpunk.com/existential_punk/2009/01/lessons-in-evandalism-tour.html
January 19th, 2009 at 8:50 am
I don’t want to take sole credit for this picture being used rather than a certain other picture… but I’m breathing a sigh of relief. :^)
January 19th, 2009 at 9:04 am
[...] I wish I could go to one of these events, but there aren’t any near body. Anybody with a big budget wanna book one just for me? [...]
January 19th, 2009 at 11:15 am
Peter, I would drive 100 miles to hear you, but your itinerary brings you no closer than about 400.
I was surprised that your books are not available in the libraries of the large consortium of theological schools in the SF Bay area (the Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley). Your first book is now in the mail, but can we fix this? Who is your theological point-man in northern California?
At my local state University I did find 4 good Caputo titles (unfortunately not WWJD, but have started “On Religion”). I have you to thank for the send to Caputo. Love the way some of your writing lately on this site is illuminative of chapter one of his little treatise. It’s all good. I am grateful to finally be reading something other than the great dead theologians of last century.
January 19th, 2009 at 11:38 am
Peter – we are looking forward to having you with us, Reader, if you do manage to find the energy to go the 400 miles, you can stay at my place for a few days.
January 19th, 2009 at 12:16 pm
Still no plans to make a stop at San Francisco? I am surprised!
January 19th, 2009 at 1:02 pm
[...] Rollins just detailed his next North America speaking tour here. The current religious landscape is cluttered with various expressions of faith that claim to [...]
January 19th, 2009 at 4:24 pm
Joseph, that’s a wonderful offer of hospitality, and does solve half the difficulty, thank you very much.
There’s almost a sense, from your words, that Peter might be staying with you too! Pardon my fantasy – I mention it only to add that, at my current level of understanding, the chance for that kind of candid conversation would be more daunting than the 400-mile drive! I am too unread and unready to be anything but a day-tripper at this time. In person I would resemble a clueless journalist, or an adoring acolyte.
I’m changing fast, so by the time Peter gets around to northern Cal, the wait should mean much greater appreciation of the whole project, and a higher inspiration. Thanks again,
John.
January 20th, 2009 at 1:33 am
Hey Pete – kudos to Dave Von Bieker, the graphic artist who did the poster. You will get to meet him – he is on the lead team at Urban Bridge Church, one of your sponsors.
So for anyone that wants to attend in Edmonton – it is something of an (un)conference centered around Pete. No registration. No fees. No overwhelming schedule, with lots of time for other stuff between the six events. Pick what you want from 3 lectures, TheoloJazz (alternating sets of Pete and a jazz trio in a pub), a full on alt. worship service, and a Sunday morning emergent service. Feb. 5 – 8.
More details on our event blog – http://itsbeyondbelief.wordpress.com/
Or write Beyond.Belief.in.Edmonton(at)gmail.com
’twill be good. We’re eager and anticipating.
January 20th, 2009 at 2:54 am
Looking forward to you coming to Hollywood! Is it just for one night or will you be presenting for a few days?
January 20th, 2009 at 3:21 pm
[...] gearing up for his Lessons in Evandalism tour Rollins reveals we aren’t exactly talking about a new way to understand the Christian [...]
January 21st, 2009 at 9:36 am
Having just visited the church and pomo nsite I see you will be outnumbered 5 vs 1 at worship conference with the formidable James KA smith in the opposite corner!! Should you not take at least one tag team partner to this theological smackdown? Tony jones? joack Caputo?
Rodney
January 21st, 2009 at 10:55 am
how am i supposed to join you if you’re not coming to atlanta…
fail.
January 21st, 2009 at 12:41 pm
Very true Rodney! I might get a roasting
But the small guy often does ok, at least in the bible stories!
January 21st, 2009 at 10:36 pm
Having seen Pete in action with Caputo at AAR, I can testify that he can take him on. Also, the dudes at Calvin College are a bunch of reformed wussies (they make the Monty Python twits look like macho Mark Driscoll by comparison) – this is the same college that “banned” Tony Campolo after TC delivered a speech in which he said sh*t.
January 22nd, 2009 at 12:24 am
I can tell another funny story about Tony Campolo. He came to Campbell University in Eastern NC when my mom was a lit professor there back in the 1980’s. I was just a baby, but my mom told me this story. And you have to remember that Campbell is unashamedly a socially conservative, Southern Baptist school. So Tony goes there and decides to open his speech with a discussion of sexism in American society. And he says, “How often in today’s world do you see a woman walk by two men, and they stare at her chest, and then they give her chest a rating?” And everyone in the audience is already kind of uncomfortable, but they nod because everyone knows that’s a common thing that guys do. And then Tony continues and says, “How often in today’s world do we see a man walk by two women, and they stare at his crotch, and then give his crotch a rating?” And my mom said everyone was really quiet, and the administration was wondering if this was really a Baptist minister they had invited to speak, and I’m not sure if Tony was ever invited to speak at Campbell again.
January 23rd, 2009 at 3:19 pm
I’ve been to Ikon’s ‘Lessons in Evandelism’ at Greenbelt last year. Really cool stuff, even used one of your ideas for my blog header (hope that’s not a problem).
Peter, would you consider coming to Poland some day?
January 23rd, 2009 at 5:58 pm
Mr. Peter,
I wrote a response to your comment on Tony Jones’ blog site. It did not publish due to some strange email problem: here is my comment, if you don’t mind:
—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
I have followed some of the exchanges here. I was wondering what exactly Mr. Rollins is saying? If he would be so kind to “unpack” it a little for us. I am hearing him say (in a most complex fashion), that we should be apologizing for certainty, metaphysical or otherwise? Is that a correct comprehension of his statements?
If so…
While certainty certainly has fallen out of favor with those of the emergent/postmodern philosophical (inclusive of theological?) dialectic, we as Christians need never be apologetic for the certainty that God himself creates in us and reveals to us over time (via Scripture, fellowship, community, spiritual practices, life, etc.)
While many of the theologians of times past and current times seem to want to subjugate us all to the subjective, they seem to forget that we perceive God’s objective absolutes (Scriptural propositions, cosmos, sunlight, stars in constant order and general order in the creation, etc.). We have a foundation of various data, without which we would not even attempt to communicate with one another right now (a de facto linguistic foundation with a good measure of certainty within its stucture).
Hope I am not adding to the collective confusion in our midst (in many spheres). Hoping to bring a measure of relevance to these after-the-modern discussions.
Sincerely,
Matt Oskvarek
January 23rd, 2009 at 9:32 pm
(I have deleted this post as my tone was off)
January 23rd, 2009 at 11:59 pm
Dear Pete, thank you for your response. While I have never had the formal courses of philosophy (such must be exciting in some manner), I do appreciate hearing what folks think, and how they “explain it” to the masses. I confess an inherent suspicion of anything that moves in and out of the relationship of common statements and simple explanations and then recedes into obscure philosophical nuances. Not saying that you do this, but I guess I am always cringing that it is soon to happen along these areas where formal philosophy and theology merge. Be that as it may…
Thank you for your time,
Matt
January 26th, 2009 at 5:12 am
Hey Pete – are you having a bad day. your reply to Matt sounds a bit snotty and patronising!
January 26th, 2009 at 5:53 am
Hey Rodney, In terms of my post to Matt he no doubt did not deserve such a tough response (sorry Matt). The problem is that saying that we know God’s absolutes because of scripture, fellowship etc. is simply begging the question (the fallacy of petitio principii). It is thus not an argument but a circular discourse. If the way of defending this idea was by pointing out that we can perceive uniformity within nature then this connection needs to be argued rather than assumed as the connection is in no way obvious on the surface. However, I am sorry if my response seemed harsh.
January 26th, 2009 at 9:00 am
No, problem, Peter. I was not offended. I know in these discussions we all tend to “cut-to-the-chase” in what we are saying, often just to save time. I do it too. No biggie. I actually am conservative in my Christianity, and somewhat enjoy discussing things with those in the postmodern orb. Over the years I have more or less written off the postmodern voice (what we would sometimes call liberalism repackaged in my circles). However, there are some correctives that I think the postmodern critique (and related ideas) do offer. I sort of see it being to “orthodoxy” (yes, I actually used the word) what Neo-Orthodoxy (Barth and associates) brought to orthodoxy. Not an alternative, but offering some correctives and food for thought, lest we become too brittle and too propositional-oriented in our faith (though we do not abandon confidence in the kerygma nor in the statements of our faith). Hope that is not confusing.
I am a layman in all these matters as far as formal coursework. I know enough to be dangerous, often merely to myself
Peter, as far as your works, I have merely read only some. A couple years back I sat in a Barnes and Noble bookstore in Tucson, Arizona (where I am originally from) and read some of your “How (not) to Speak of God.” It was thought-provoking.
My influences are Augustine, Luther, Calvin, J.I. Packer, C.S. Lewis, and always the Scripture (namely the Pauline epistles). I am currently very inspired by the gritty preaching of the Mark Driscoll in the Seattle area of Washington State.
Anyway, I may continue to visit your site if it proves mutually edifying and encouraging and challenging to all around. Peace to you all.
January 29th, 2009 at 5:56 am
Hey Matt
Thanks for the background, and for your understanding and generosity. I love Tucson Arizona and have some great friends there. You also have an interesting and strong set of influences (as an aside I grew up and live very close to where C.S. Lewis was born, I even went to his childhood church as a youth). Although I am very wary of Driscoll!
Thanks for visiting the site ans engaging, hope you will continue to do so and that it will be a mutually enriching experience. Thanks.
January 29th, 2009 at 7:36 am
“I might get a roasting
”
Mmmm….roasting makes things tastier.
January 29th, 2009 at 9:49 am
Ah…no need to be wary of Driscoll. He is a modern Spurgeon.
That is neat that you have been to Lewis’ childhood church.
I currently reside in Laurel, Maryland. Yes, it is removed from my beloved Arizona, but this is where my beloved wife is from. We go to Bethany Community Church here in Laurel, Maryland. However, we did a stint (about 2 or so years) at Cedar Ridge, when Brian McLaren was the pastor. We did press on from there, though, finding a church which brought more Scripture alive for us – less “visionary” and more into the scope and vision of Scripture. Anyway, God is over it all, and that is always good news.
Cheers.
Matt
January 29th, 2009 at 11:08 pm
Reader…I found Pete’s books at the Sisters of Mercy Motherhouse bookstore in Burlingame.
Cheers, Max
January 31st, 2009 at 12:53 am
Thanks Max. Would that be Mercy Center? I know the place.
Actually, I received “How [Not] to Speak of God” by mail order last Friday. I’m about to order “Fidelity/Betrayal.” This scarcity at the libraries helps book sales, at least.
I’ve been getting up early every morning this week to read a bit before going to work. Finished Part 1 this morning. And took a close look at the first Liturgy (Eloi).
Pretty exciting, guys. I’m doing a lot of thinking and some praying too. I haven’t been to church since September, and all along I’ve been feeling it like a fair sea change (to Godward). Now Peter and Jack (Caputo) are giving my restless heart a voice. I think Christ wants to shake Christianity.
February 1st, 2009 at 12:20 pm
Evandelism. That’s an absolutely gorgeous word… quite possibly the best word for so much of Protestant Christianity right now.
February 2nd, 2009 at 9:24 pm
Matt,
I sympathize with your struggle. I was raised in a liberal protestant church; and found my faith severely tapering off upon coming to the secular atmosphere of a liberal arts school several years ago. Did Jesus really exist, does he mean anything to our individual lives? If we say we’re not going to follow this particular passage of scripture, then by what justification should we follow other passages of scripture? Basically, I faced the crises of whether or not liberal theology, in its focus on the subjective and denial of any absolutes, completely undoes the idea of scriptural and divine truth.
What really brought me back to the Christian faith were two books; Don Miller’s ‘Blue Like Jazz’ and Brian McLaren’s ‘A Generous Orthodoxy.’ And recently, of course, I’ve been getting into Pete’s stuff. Now McLaren in particular has taken a great deal of heat for his supposed denial of scriptural truth. But if you read him closely you will see that he is not really doing that. What he essentially argues for is that there is a third way beyond the worn out disputes of liberal/conservative theology.
For instance, on environmental theology he follows Chesterton in asserting that “nature is not our mother/nature is our sister.” This both denies the liberal assertion of a pantheistic god as well as criticizes conservative theology for ignoring the environment and treating it like an object. If nature is our sister, Mclaren asks, then why would we degrade or exploit our sister? There are many more examples of this in the book relating to many other areas of theology.
For all of my frustrations with the liberal church, I have found fundamentalism and excessive doctrinal theology just isn’t for me. When I read the Gospels, I find them overwhelmingly on the side of love and inclusion. Yes, Jesus does speak in fiery absolutes, but he is always insistent upon giving the outcasts and the marginalized a seat at the table. I love the quote from Gary Wills, to the effect of, “Jesus is more a higher Nietzsche than a higher Socrates.” He was not just about ethical teaching, but about what the kingdom of God looks like. No strictly liberal or conservative theology can adequately speak to that; at least it seems so to me.