I Am (Not) as Smart as Peter Rollins

Sorry to be late to the party on this one, but let me echo the rest of the emergent blogosphere when I proclaim, Pete Rollins’s book, How (Not) to Speak of God is the best bloody book yet on the the emerging church!

I had skimmed it before, and I’d read blog posts about it, but I hadn’t really delved into it till this weekend. I read it thoroughly because I was tapped to respond to Pete when he spoke at Yale Divinity School on Monday. My response there was mostly fawning, for Pete has written a negative theology for the emerging conversation that is poignant, beautiful, and profound. My main questions were not, “Is this the right direction for us to go?” but, “How will this play at Walmart…and Yale?” Not well, I’m afraid.

It’s a short book, and only the first half is theory. The entire second half is liturgies from his community, Ikon, in Belfast. At first, I was skeptical of the liturgies, but I am now convinced that they make the book. I can’t describe it. You have to read it, and probably meet Peter, to really get it.

Indeed, I like the book so much that I am making a proclamation:

If you want to get the emerging church, read this book.