The Fidelity of Betrayal: Towards a Church Beyond Belief

By Peter Rollins

"About 30 years in the past, I came upon the evocative word 'religionless Christianity' in Dietrich Bonhoeffer's later writings, and it has stayed with me ever due to the fact that. In his new e-book The constancy of Betrayal, Peter Rollins has teased out - as Bonhoeffer by no means had the opportunity to do - profound chances hidden within the word. As a tremendous fan of Peter's first ebook, i locate his moment no much less considerate, stimulating, and now and then unsettling - consistently in a such a lot (de)constructive means. His subversive parables, his smart turns of word, and his beguiling readability all conspire to tempt the reader into that almost all fertile and terrifying of actions - to imagine to the very rim of one's realizing, after which to faithfully think the fact that lies a ways beyond."

- Brian McLaren, author/activist (www.brianmclaren.net)

What if one of many middle calls for of an intensive Christianity lay in a choice for its betrayal, whereas the last word act of maintaining God required the abandoning of God? And what if constancy to the Judeo-Christian Scriptures demanded their renunciation? briefly, what wouldn't it suggest if the one method of discovering genuine religion concerned betraying it with a kiss?

Employing the insights of mysticism and deconstructive thought, The constancy of Betrayal delves into the subversive and progressive nature of a Christianity that dwells in the church whereas at the same time undermining it.

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Through attempting to own her he set in movement a sequence of disastrous occasions that may finish together with his wasting her. almost immediately after this clash Lilith hatched a plan that might permit her to flee the confines of Adam and Eden perpetually. Early one night, because the solar used to be environment excessive within the sky, she came upon her author jogging on my own within the gardens. Lilith rigorously approached and instigated a talk. After a bit time had handed she leaned in shut and whispered, “Please inform me your identify, your mystery identify that continues to be hidden within the depths of your center. ” God paused momentarily after which, in a second of weak spot, disclosed the identify. Upon listening to it Lilith grew to become away and spoke it aloud. At that very speedy she sprouted monstrous, powerful wings and flew excessive into the evening sky, escaping the oppression of Adam’s wish endlessly. in response to a few legends she lower back, in an altogether diverse, extra serpentine guise, to aim and loose Eve. And so, in keeping with this little-known legend, it was once now not Eve who introduced discord into the tranquil backyard of Eden yet particularly Adam. The identify of God seventy three Naming God T he key to realizing this haunting Jewish legend lies within the historical trust that God possessed a mystery identify, a reputation that, if came upon, may permit the possessor to harness divine energy. This identify was once now not an insignificant note that pointed towards an item, as a signpost directs us towards a urban, nor was once it just like the names which are given to us arbitrarily at beginning, names that convey a person to brain yet that experience no descriptive strength. really it was once a observe that used to be believed to in some way position the very essence of God into human language. this concept can nonetheless be perceived in the Kabbalistic culture of Judaism during which we discover reflections at the Monogrammata (the one-letter names of God), the Diagrammata (the two-letter names of God), the recognized Tetragrammaton (the four-letter identify of God), the Octagrammaton (an eight-letter identify of God), and the Decagrammaton (a ten-letter identify of God). as well as this we discover in the Kabbalistic culture reflections at the twelve, fourteen, twenty-two, thirty-three, forty-two, and 200 and sixteen-letter names of God; all of which light into insignificance compared to the big 300 and 4 thousand, 8 hundred and five-letter identify. forty the tale of Ra and Isis S uch a mythology of the identify isn't constrained to the early Jewish mystical culture yet should be visible working 74 T h e F i d e l i t y o f B e t r aya l inside of quite a few cultures. a tremendous instance of this is often present in Egyptian mythology. One such fantasy revolves round the tale of Isis and the sunlight god, Ra. In historic Egyptian suggestion, the writer governed all deities and mortals within the guise of Ra. This god was once identified by way of many names, yet none of those used to be his real identify; his actual identify was once hid deep in his abdominal to make sure that no sorcerer might ever notice it and wield it opposed to him. there has been, besides the fact that, person who dared to problem the authority of Ra: his daughter Isis, who used to be defined as extra rebellious than one million males, extra appealing than one million gods and extra to reckon with than one million spirits.

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