Peter Rollins and “Holy Ghosts”

In just a few hours I’ll be hopping on a plane for LONG flight from Hong Kong to London and then on to Belfast Northern Ireland.

The reason?

I’ll be attending Peter Rollin’s 4 day Holy Ghosts event or, as it is officially known by its much cooler sounding moniker, Holy Ghosts: A Boutique Arts and Theo-poetic event curated by Peter Rollins

Yes, Beyond the Pale is going on the road and I’m taking you along for the ride.  During the next few days as time (and wifi) is available I’ll be making some (brief) posts about the event and my experience during it.

If you follow Beyond the Pale at all you know Peter Rollin’s work and ministry has had a real impact on my Christian walk over the last couple years.  I feel very fortunate that I’ll be able to attend Holy Ghosts this week.  I’ve known about the event for a few months now but never really imagined I would be able to get to Belfast for it.  Through a series of fortunate events (and a very supportive wife) I found an open door.

So off to Belfast I go…

Peter is known for embracing doubt and “unknowing” as a necessary aspect of our walk with God.  He has an adept way of turning concepts about God on their head and making you examine whether your relationship with him has been constructed on something solid…or artificial.  The 4 day event be a mixture of talks, music, film, poetry, and story-telling.  As Peter notes in a recent update the guest list of speakers and performers will be both diverse and impactful:

I’m currently getting ready to leave for Belfast to put the finishing touches on my Holy Ghosts event before next weeks kick off. Over four days we have the following people joining us,

Screenwriter and director Phil Harrison (showing his award winning short Even Gods and his feature film The Good Man ahead of it’s cinematic release in May), academics Katharine Moody, John Caputo (via Skype) and Gladys Ganiel, poet Padraig O Tuama, artists Jonny McEwen and Micah Purnell, musicians Duke Special and John Hardt, politician John Kyle, and psychoanalyst Chris Fry.

It’s sounds kinda all over the place… which is just the way I like things!

For those of you unfamiliar with Peter Rollins here is a brief YouTube clip where he explains how he founded his faith community in a Belfast pub and some of the activities they use to help people think about their faith.

Anyhow, I’m looking at the clock. 2 hours till I leave and I’m not done packing yet.  Hong Kong to London via Singapore…talk to you again from the U.K.

Peace,

Steve