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Fidelity Of Betrayal, The - Towards a Church Beyond Belief

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Ever since reading Peter Rollins' first book, "How (Not) to Speak of God," I have been looking forward to his next book. In fact, I can't remember a book I have anticipated more highly. So when "The Fidelity of Betrayal" arrived on Tuesday I quickly devoured it. I couldn't read it fast enough. It was wonderful. Sometimes I find it helpful to start engaging a book by reading through it quickly, in order to gain the overall big picture, and then to go through it slowly, savoring every word. I am really looking forward to reading it again, slowly.

Here are a few initial comments related to the new book (not a review, just a few comments).

First, I think this book successfully builds upon the concepts in Rollins' first book and takes them to the next level. So if you're interested in Rollins' work, I recommend buying both books but starting with "How (Not) to Speak of God." Basically, "The Fidelity of Betrayal" builds on an idea Rollins started working with in the first book. In fact, he builds on the idea that most intrigued me in his first book - the notion of giving up Christianity in order to truly fulfill it. In his first book Rollins relates a powerful story from the movie "Amen" in which a priest in Nazi Germany gives up his Christian faith and becomes a Jew in order to identify with the persecuted, a move the priest believes is necessary in order to truly live his Christian faith. "The Fidelity of Betrayal" takes this concept and examines it through three lenses, the Word of God, the Being of God, and the Event of God, which forms the structure for the book.

Second, I'm convinced that Phyllis Tickle is right in her assessment of Rollins' work. She writes, "Here in pregnant bud is the rose, the emerging new configuration, of a Christianity that is neither Roman nor Protestant, neither Eastern nor monastic; but rather is the re-formation of all of them. Here, in pregnant bud, is third-millennium Christianity." I really believe it. What Rollins (and others) is writing about and doing may not be THE future of Christianity but it is certainly A future of Christianity. And the possibility of this future gives me much hope. I believe the core concepts of this book are going to, and already are starting to re-form Christianity in our world. I'm not talking about a simple shift in the core beliefs of Christianity, but rather a revolution of how Christianity is experienced and expressed in the world.

Third, Rollins ends his new book with some discussion about starting communities that are forged in the midst of these ideas. He quite literally proposes "a church beyond belief" (the subtitle of the book). In short, Rollins is looking at the implications of moving from the church as a bastion of beliefs, towards communities of transformation. Just as Rollins argues for a "religion without religion" I think he is imagining a sort of church that is not a church, which is exactly what I am most interested in.

So buy this book. Read it. Think about it. Argue with it. Soak in it. And in the process, allow God to transform you.

Going on my trip to Montana I thought I picked up Peter Rollins' first book, How (Not) to Speak of God so I could read his books through in order. This is a review of The Fidelity of Betrayal. I grabbed the wrong one.

The summation of Rollins' argument in this book is the profound and provocative statement: "In Christianity as a religion without religion one cannot make this distinction between one's actions and one's beliefs." (165) The Fidelity of Betrayal is a book that uses the catalysts of postmodern philosophy, narrative, and wonder to form a mystical framework for a Christianity beyond belief.

Though Christianity beyond belief may sound nebulous, Rollins does a fantastic job laying out his philosophically nuanced arguments in a captivating and easy to understand way.

The heart of Rollins argument is that the idea of Christian religious belief has been co-opted by academics, a way of fixing the problem of Christian theology not by adding additional research and discovery. Far from being an anti-intellectual stance, Rollins paves a third way by requiring that the truth of Christianity rests not in orthodoxy but in orthopraxy, the right living of Christian belief. One's actions cannot be separated from one's beliefs.

This reasoning brings up the dilemma of doubt, and how that figures into a system that rests beyond the regular definition of belief as right doctrine. Rollins argues that doubt is an after-effect of an event, and that belief and doubt are formed after an initial event (142). Far more important than belief or doubt, Rollins argues, is "a happening, an event, that we affirm and respond to, regardless of the ebbs and flows of our abstract theological reflections concerning the source and nature of this happening." This argument flips the Cartesian understanding of self-reasoning on its head, as the event that is outside of us is the determining factor, not ourselves, in our lives. The story of Jesus healing the blind man is used as an example of this. When questioned by the Pharisees if Jesus is a sinner, the blind man replies: "I don't know. One thing I do know, I was blind but now I see" (141). There will be doubts and triumphant surges of belief during our lives, but the one thing we cannot doubt is what has happened to us.

Key also to this argument is the deconstruction of the walls that people build to differentiate their faith and how it is put into action within the world. For Rollins, the source of our faith cannot become abstracted, because once it is abstracted (believed or doubted) then we can begin to act in ways that are contrary to our belief. He writes:

"One of the results of thinking about the truth affirmed by Christianity as comprised of facts that can be externalized and reflected upon (i.e., as made up of substantive claims concerning God, the world, the ministry and person of Christ, and the status of the Bible) is that it introduces a distance between a person and that person's faith....In this way a distinction is set up between the subject (the one who thinks) and the object (that which is being thought). (90)

The goal of a Christianity beyond belief is one that ties the subject and object together: the thinker and the thought become unified in life. Rollins explains this deconstruction of the Cartesian mode of viewing religion in a short philosophical journey through the thinking of Descartes, Hobbes, Pascal, and Nietzsche, culmunating in his claim that

"the truth affirmed by Christianity is not merely similar to the notion of life, in the sense that it is undergone rather than experienced, but rather it is that which claims to bring us life. Just as God is presented as speaking life into the formless void in Genesis, so the truth affirmed by Christianity is that which breathes life into the darkness and desolation of our own lives" (116).

Thus, the first faithful betrayal we are called to are the reach of both anti-intellectuals and academics who try to influence and manipulate the right understanding of the Bible and accept the fact that "in order to accept the Bible we need to reject any interpretation as final, being ready to engage in an ongoing, open-ended dialogue and discussion with it" (125). We have been taught to think that this is incorrect and intellectually dishonest, but in fact this betrayal is one of humility and openness to the foundation of theology since Christianity's inception (and what Rollins calls the second faithful betrayal): our God is greater than any theological interpretation or understanding, therefore "we must learn that in order to approach the God of faith and truth affirmed by Christianity, we must betray the God we grasp---for the God who brings us into a new life is never the God we grasp but always in excess of that God" (125).

In all frankness, what Rollins calls us into is a humbling of ourselves and an acceptance of the tangled web of belief and doubt in this world, while at the same time exhorting us to hold fast to the God who lives, and moves, and has being within our lives.

This book turns religion on it's head. It makes you think about the gospel in ways you always thought were heretical, but in which makes complete sense. Very challenging. Peter Rollins writes at a pretty high level, almost like reading philosophy which is one reason I love it!

This is definitely a provacative and much anticiapted release from Dr. Rollins. The Fidelity of Betrayal is a fascinating book, regardless of whether or not you tend to agree with writers like Rollins, who are part of the emergent movement. Rollins offer a lively, insightful, and controversial interaction with a variety of historical primary sources, ultimately providing a vantage point from which he is able to question the very theological and metaphysical foundations of western christendom.

I will say that I think he went a bit too far in his assertion that its impossible to make any ontological inferences about God, but his critiques of western metaphysics are important, and are definitely worth considering. His practical conclusions are also quite insightful, and I think Rollins has his hand on the pulse of church life as we forward.

The biggest strength of this book, in my opinion, is that Rollins seeks to develop a position reagrding the status of the biblical text. No other emergent writer I have seen up to this point has been willing to address the question of what the biblical text actually is in their view, and I think this is a key question for the continued development of the postmodern church. I only wish he would have taken the implications of his textual presuppositions to their conclusion. Unfortunately, I think his skeptical presuppositions about the text itself are not sufficiently grounded in adequate interaction with historical-criticism, even though negative assertions in this arena are what drive his metaphysical and ontological assertions about our ability to know anything about God.

Overall, this is one of the most important books for one to read in regard to the Emergent Movement at this point. Pick it up!

For those of you who want to look at some deeper interactions between myself and Dr. Peter Rollins personally, check out christiansincontext.org

Dr. Rollins was kind enough to respond to my chapter-by-chapter pre-release review of his book.

I just have one parable to illustrate from the book that pretty much gives you a taste of what this book is all about. I am paraphrasing here but here is the main gist of this parable. its about a monk dude that lives at the base of this mountain and the guy lives in a very secluded area and doesn't even have a door on his house. so this thief knows this and is like, bam I could rob this guy super easy so he makes the trek out while this monk is out walking and when he gets inside the door the house is empty. The monk returns and finds the startled burglar and says to him. wow brother man i feel bad you came all the way out here to rob me and have got nothing to show for it. so he gets naked and gives the thief his clothes and the blanket he sleeps on. the thief just takes the stuff and peaces out not knowing how to respond. as the monk builds a fire and looks up to the moon he says. man if that thief knew i was even ready to give him the moon. You see the treasure this monk had is not something that belonged to him but rather was given to him and the only way to respond is this- "all one can do when ones treasure is not of physical nature is to point toward it, recall it, and invite people to bask in it." BAM WHAM THANK YOU MAAAM. All I have to say is that the Good Lord is using Peter Rollins in marvelous ways (at least in my life) and I have to tell you. If you ain't read none of his books, ya better recognize and buy them up. Trust me it will be well worth your time and money! These books have been the single best investment i have made this year. Peter Rollins if you aint heard about him, HEAR about him! Word

This book is very good with some very catchy ideas from Peter. However, it did get slower and slower as the book progressed. Seemed a bit repetative, which I hate in a book. Overall it is good.

I've read Peter Rollins' How Not to Speak of God a few times, and that short discourse always leaves me wanting more. The Fidelity of Betrayal is that something more. Using popular Bible passages, the book examines the seemingly contradictory notion that perhaps the most religious thing we can do is to not be religious. This is Rollins at his best: academic, challenging, and unconventional.

Rollins presents a hearty look at how faith can, and likely should, go well beyond our traditional ideas, beliefs and practices. Bravo Peter!

A word of caution: if you are pleased with the current state of church or are content with remaining where you currently find yourself in the area of faith...this book is not for you.

this book speaks with a voice that is fresh,
invigorating and daring,
scandalous and wise;
in other words, just like jesus.

which is why it will be labeled
sacrilegious and heretical
by those who have allowed their faith
to decay into beliefs.

thus, if you're seeking to be challenged
by that voice that launches the christ-event,
read this book:
it will surely spark a fire
at the very place
where your longing for life-abundant awaits.