18 Facts About Peter Rollins

Peter Rollins was born on 31 March 1973 and is a Northern Irish writer, public speaker, philosopher, producer and theologian.

Peter Rollins argues that the event which gave rise to the Christian tradition cannot itself be reduced to a tradition, but is rather a way of challenging traditions.

Peter Rollins grew up in East Belfast during the Troubles, a period of intense and violent sectarian conflict that erupted in Northern Ireland in the late 1960s and resulted in the deaths of more than 3,600 people before the signing of the Good Friday Agreement on 10 April 1998, which is generally regarded as the end of the conflict, though pockets of violence persist today.

Peter Rollins attended Orangefield Boys High School and left at the age of sixteen without the qualifications required for further study.

Peter Rollins was unemployed for several years before taking a job as a youth worker in Carrickfergus and working in a homeless shelter run by the Simon Community on the Falls Road, Belfast.

Peter Rollins then went on to study an access course on the Castlereagh Campus of the Belfast Metropolitan College.

Peter Rollins has a Bachelor of Arts degree with honours in scholastic philosophy, a Master of Arts degree in political theory and social criticism, and a Doctor of Philosophy degree dealing with post-structural theory from Queen's University, Belfast.

Academics such as Cathy Higgins have explored how an understanding of Peter Rollins activism requires an appreciation of The Troubles.

Peter Rollins has been a research associate with the Irish School of Ecumenics and is currently on faculty at the Global Center for Advanced Studies.

In 2009 Peter Rollins published The Orthodox Heretic, a book of 33 short, parable-like stories.

Peter Rollins has written fairytales and a play that became the basis of a short film he produced, called Making Love.

Peter Rollins is interested in showing how the central scandal of Christianity offers us a critique of religion and tribal identity, both of which have been lost in the actually existing church; an institution that he argues represents a fundamental betrayal of the insurrectionary power of faith.

Peter Rollins's work is an attempt to show that Christianity does not rest on theistic belief, some commitment to supernaturalism or the affirmation of some set of dogmas.

Peter Rollins' work operates at the intersection of where Post-Structuralism, Psychoanalysis, Phenomenology, and Existentialism meet and inform each other.

Peter Rollins's project involves attempting to encourage a constant rupturing of ideological forms of Christianity through the development of non-dogmatic collectives that embrace doubt, complexity and ambiguity, open themselves up to critique, and face up to the human experience of lack.

Peter Rollins has stated that these communities have a structural similarity to twelve step programs insofar as they involve facing up to one's issues and working them through in communities where grace and acceptance are fundamental principles.

Peter Rollins has developed a number of "contemplative practices" that are designed to help in this process.

For many years, Peter Rollins has co-hosted a podcast with the comedian Elliott Morgan called The Fundamentalists.