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The Divine Magician: The Disappearance of Religion and the Discovery of Faith by Peter Rollins
mstine's review against another edition
5.0
This one really resonated with me. Especially the end where we explored the relationship of the core metaphor (the magic trick) with the contrast of fundamentalist, liberal, and radical theology. Highly recommended if you want to challenge your preexisting conception of the core events of Christian tradition.
mrincredible's review against another edition
4.0
An interesting - if uneven - book. With his writing, I can be amazed with his profound insights, and then immediately after that get lost in prose that makes no sense to me. Ultimately, the couple of really great chapters elevates the book.
If anything, his take on the institutional church makes me pause. It's not as much criticism as reflection, and his optimism comes through when talking about the larger picture of faith. I'm not sure if I'd recommend, but will be quoting some pages in my own conversations.
If anything, his take on the institutional church makes me pause. It's not as much criticism as reflection, and his optimism comes through when talking about the larger picture of faith. I'm not sure if I'd recommend, but will be quoting some pages in my own conversations.
carlijnvdhart's review against another edition
3.0
Interessant om eens met een groep te lezen misschien
hkihm's review against another edition
5.0
Deceptively short; Rollins packs a lot into this book. I learned about Peter Rollins from his guest spots on Rob Bell's podcast, and later when I took his Atheism for Lent e-course. I really liked his pledge, turn and prestige model for understanding human behavior, particularly when it comes to faith. His theory of how unbelief under-girds belief is quite controversial and I'll be thinking about it for days.
drbobcornwall's review against another edition
2.0
The times are changing. We have moved into a post-Christendom/postmodern age in which the possibility of certainity in matters of religion have been abandoned. We live with a much greater amount of gray area than before. Yes, there are those who want to hold on to long-since discredited ideas, but there's is an illusion and not reality.
Is Christianity as we know it based on an illusion? Peter Rollins believes this to be true. In fact, in his latest book he uses the analogy of the magician (a divine magician) to unveil the idol -- the sacred object hiding behind the curtain, the sacred object that is created through religious prohibition, but which when the curtain is drawn we discover that there is nothing there. While he uses the image of the magician's trick of making an object disappear, the religious version of this is the Temple Holy of Holies. There is supposed to be something behind the curtain, but when you pull it back you realize that not only isn't God not there, nothing is there.
Rollins' work is rooted in deconstructionist postmodernist philosophy. His purpose, it would seem, is to deconstruct traditional forms of Christianity both conservative and liberal, which he believes seek to help us hold on to beliefs, that no longer make sense either through narrow creedalism or through liturgical practices. He proposes instead a radical form of Christianity that appears to go beyond atheism. We need to let go of the illusion that there's something there and gather as a community to share not answers, but to try to live well.
His vision of Christianity is a radical one, that might look a bit like the Occupy Movement, a movement without leadership and without ultimate goals. There is no need for clergy, just agents of decay as he calls them. Could this be Christianity after religion? Perhaps.
So, why did I give the book just two stars? While I realize that Rollins speaks to many persons, most of whom are younger than me, I find him to be unsatisfying. Could it be that I fail to understand his message? That's quite possible. I do find reading him to be laborious. In the end, it seems to me that I am not a radical. It is like with the Occupy Movement, which he lifted up. While I agreed with many of the critiques offered by the movement, I didn't see it as a viable movement of reform. That is me. Others might find this enlightening. And perhaps that's okay!
Is Christianity as we know it based on an illusion? Peter Rollins believes this to be true. In fact, in his latest book he uses the analogy of the magician (a divine magician) to unveil the idol -- the sacred object hiding behind the curtain, the sacred object that is created through religious prohibition, but which when the curtain is drawn we discover that there is nothing there. While he uses the image of the magician's trick of making an object disappear, the religious version of this is the Temple Holy of Holies. There is supposed to be something behind the curtain, but when you pull it back you realize that not only isn't God not there, nothing is there.
Rollins' work is rooted in deconstructionist postmodernist philosophy. His purpose, it would seem, is to deconstruct traditional forms of Christianity both conservative and liberal, which he believes seek to help us hold on to beliefs, that no longer make sense either through narrow creedalism or through liturgical practices. He proposes instead a radical form of Christianity that appears to go beyond atheism. We need to let go of the illusion that there's something there and gather as a community to share not answers, but to try to live well.
His vision of Christianity is a radical one, that might look a bit like the Occupy Movement, a movement without leadership and without ultimate goals. There is no need for clergy, just agents of decay as he calls them. Could this be Christianity after religion? Perhaps.
So, why did I give the book just two stars? While I realize that Rollins speaks to many persons, most of whom are younger than me, I find him to be unsatisfying. Could it be that I fail to understand his message? That's quite possible. I do find reading him to be laborious. In the end, it seems to me that I am not a radical. It is like with the Occupy Movement, which he lifted up. While I agreed with many of the critiques offered by the movement, I didn't see it as a viable movement of reform. That is me. Others might find this enlightening. And perhaps that's okay!
raoul_g's review against another edition
4.0
This was a rather easy but enjoyable read. Rollins again draws from what seem to generally be his main influences (Hegel, Lacan, Žižek and Caputo), in order to present his perspective on the disrupting and life-giving 'event' harbored in Christianity. This event he likens to a magic trick which gives this title its general theme.
Throughout the book Rollins touches upon different interesting topics. He offers a good critique of the belief-oriented understanding of faith and explains how the way in which we hold our believes is much more interesting and important. He talks about how the theological notion of an everlasting life can never be reduced to the mere continuation, but requires a different quality of life. When he speaks about desire and scapegoating he is clearly strongly influenced by René Girard's mimetic theory, although he does not mentions him here. And when he talks about ideology, the social laws holding a group together and even more than that, the acceptable ways of transgressing this law, I seem to hear some of Žižek's ideas. Towards the end of the book there is an insightful discussion of Derrida's undeconstructable and the way that faith can be seen as undeconstructable.
The major topic of the book is lack and the sacred-object (Lacan's 'objet petit a' ), which we believe can fill the lack, but which doesn't exist other than in our imagination. Rollins also talks about how the sacred-object is created in fact by prohibition and offers insightful readings of Bible passages to make his point: the fruit in Eden taking on excessive value because of the prohibition and the inaccessibility of the holy of holies in the temple creating the illusion of the sacred being present there.
Regarding the origin of the lack he draws from Freud, assessing that "our entry into the world involves a traumatic experience of lack" and that "this original gap occurs the moment we experience ourselves as individuals, for at that moment we feel separation from our caregivers".
The following quote illustrates how he ties this topic together with the theme of the magic trick:
"Just as the dramatic pulling back of a curtain by the magician reveals an empty space, so in Christianity the temple curtain was ripped in half to reveal an empty room. In the same way that the audience watching the magic trick falsely believed that the Pledge was behind the magician’s curtain, so we believe that the answer to all our problems lies behind the prohibition. The one who experiences the event operating within Christianity is then the one who confronts the falsity of this idea. Not, however, as some kind of intellectual insight but rather through a type of earth-shattering, existential revelation. For this is not about understanding something, but about undergoing a transformation in how we live."
The prestige of this magic trick is then explained in the third section of the book:
"In the Prestige, we receive back the sacred, but no longer as an object that seems to dwell just beyond our reach. It returns as a type of ghostly presence that haunts our reality, as an experience of indefinable depth and density in some part of our world... This is not about some belief in the inherent meaning of things; rather it is living as though everything has meaning—a life that cannot help but relate to the world as rich, regardless of what we think. The sacred thus is not some positive thing, but the experience of depth and density operating in things."
Experiencing the sacredness and the depth of our world is what then leads us to have hope for the world. He even uses the expression 'hope against hope' which is a nod to John D. Caputo, from which he heavily borrows in this section:
"It is a hope that tells us we can make the world a better place, that we can transform society and enact justice, but only if we put our effort into it... To hope is to heed a call—a call to act."
As I hope can be seen from this review Rollins manages once again to tie together the ideas of many brilliant thinkers into a compelling book about the radical nature of the insight Christianity might offer us and the way that this 'event' might change our way of 'being in the world'.
Throughout the book Rollins touches upon different interesting topics. He offers a good critique of the belief-oriented understanding of faith and explains how the way in which we hold our believes is much more interesting and important. He talks about how the theological notion of an everlasting life can never be reduced to the mere continuation, but requires a different quality of life. When he speaks about desire and scapegoating he is clearly strongly influenced by René Girard's mimetic theory, although he does not mentions him here. And when he talks about ideology, the social laws holding a group together and even more than that, the acceptable ways of transgressing this law, I seem to hear some of Žižek's ideas. Towards the end of the book there is an insightful discussion of Derrida's undeconstructable and the way that faith can be seen as undeconstructable.
The major topic of the book is lack and the sacred-object (Lacan's 'objet petit a' ), which we believe can fill the lack, but which doesn't exist other than in our imagination. Rollins also talks about how the sacred-object is created in fact by prohibition and offers insightful readings of Bible passages to make his point: the fruit in Eden taking on excessive value because of the prohibition and the inaccessibility of the holy of holies in the temple creating the illusion of the sacred being present there.
Regarding the origin of the lack he draws from Freud, assessing that "our entry into the world involves a traumatic experience of lack" and that "this original gap occurs the moment we experience ourselves as individuals, for at that moment we feel separation from our caregivers".
The following quote illustrates how he ties this topic together with the theme of the magic trick:
"Just as the dramatic pulling back of a curtain by the magician reveals an empty space, so in Christianity the temple curtain was ripped in half to reveal an empty room. In the same way that the audience watching the magic trick falsely believed that the Pledge was behind the magician’s curtain, so we believe that the answer to all our problems lies behind the prohibition. The one who experiences the event operating within Christianity is then the one who confronts the falsity of this idea. Not, however, as some kind of intellectual insight but rather through a type of earth-shattering, existential revelation. For this is not about understanding something, but about undergoing a transformation in how we live."
The prestige of this magic trick is then explained in the third section of the book:
"In the Prestige, we receive back the sacred, but no longer as an object that seems to dwell just beyond our reach. It returns as a type of ghostly presence that haunts our reality, as an experience of indefinable depth and density in some part of our world... This is not about some belief in the inherent meaning of things; rather it is living as though everything has meaning—a life that cannot help but relate to the world as rich, regardless of what we think. The sacred thus is not some positive thing, but the experience of depth and density operating in things."
Experiencing the sacredness and the depth of our world is what then leads us to have hope for the world. He even uses the expression 'hope against hope' which is a nod to John D. Caputo, from which he heavily borrows in this section:
"It is a hope that tells us we can make the world a better place, that we can transform society and enact justice, but only if we put our effort into it... To hope is to heed a call—a call to act."
As I hope can be seen from this review Rollins manages once again to tie together the ideas of many brilliant thinkers into a compelling book about the radical nature of the insight Christianity might offer us and the way that this 'event' might change our way of 'being in the world'.
thenschultz's review against another edition
5.0
A wonderful theological critique of faith. While I'm not entirely on board with his way of thinking the book has given me much to think about and in that regards I was well challenged.
mattgroot1980's review against another edition
4.0
I gave this book 4 stars less because I think the book works as a whole and more because of the quality ideas it contains. There are many great things about this book. Among them are an intriguing (and unintentional, according to brief Twitter interaction with the author) Buddhist reading of Genesis, and several very solid critiques of the way belief systems can function in people and communities. Yet, I was often confused by the tone and tactics Rollins employs: at times, he thinks he's being very extreme and radical when what he's saying would be assented to by the vast majority of my Christian friends, while at other times, he takes a legitimately radical position without supporting why such a radical approach is necessary or justified.
All told, the great benefit of this book is, in its own words, as an "agent of decay," that which demonstrates a system is dead.
Any person of faith (whether religious, political, or other) would do well to engage this text honestly and take the critique to heart.
All told, the great benefit of this book is, in its own words, as an "agent of decay," that which demonstrates a system is dead.
Any person of faith (whether religious, political, or other) would do well to engage this text honestly and take the critique to heart.
jananne's review
3.0
Rollins kind of book. Religious practice without God, but wholeness is found in loving the other (this is a very simplistic version he probably would disagree with). Great idea for a book (although clearly stolen from Kester Brewin), but I think the execution was not too great. There seemed to be some depth missing. I must admit that I have heard him speak around these kind of ideas a few times, so I guess there is too much repetition for me. Although I do think this book would have deserved another year of research and thinking. At the same time it is an interesting read for getting started with ideas around Radical Theology / Church.
There were also some great parts that challenged me and I thought were well done, so an average book, although I do love Rollins.
There were also some great parts that challenged me and I thought were well done, so an average book, although I do love Rollins.