Peter Rollins - The Archive

Every month, for over two years, I offer seminars on my Patreon page. This is a recent one that explores a number of integrated themes that explore what the word salvation refers to. In it I present what it means to enter into a different type of desire/being in which we are able to experience true joy that is freed from a frantic pursuit of some object that will complete us. It's a mix of philosophy, theology and psychoanalysis that might help contribute to your personal well being. And, if nothing else, you'll learn about some interesting concepts!

If you'd like to get access to the rest of the seminars, visit pyrotheology.com

The Magic Trick of Christianity | Pledge, Turn and Prestige by Peter Rollins

Here I talk about some dangers within the new spirituality industry. I look at Splitting, the Beautiful Soul, Reaction Formation and new fundamentalisms. I touch on the popular move from Confessional Religion to New Age Spiritualities and the idea of The Last Guru. For more content, visit pyrotheology.com

This is a talk I gave at conference is Boise University that aimed at exploring the work and world of popular speaker Jordan Peterson. In contrast to the growing body of work that shows how Peterson misunderstands and misreads many of the theorists he references, I want to concentrate on one of the people he reads well: Carl Jung. I aim to show that Jungian theory lies at the very heart of Peterson's understanding of subjectivity, his views on religion and his political orientation.

In this seminar I'll be showing how Jung's fundamentally religious orientation differs from the central insights of psychoanalysis, and how it leads to Peterson's conservative understanding of Christianity and reactionary political vision. A vision that ultimately sustains the very progressive politics he fights against.

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.