I finished Peter Rollins' recent collection of tales the other day. He hesitates to call them parables but he is hoping that is what they will be to the reader. "Parables subvert [the] desire to make faith simple and understandable. They do not offer the reader clarity, for they refuse to be captured in the net of a single interpretation and instead demand our eternal return to their words, our wrestling with them, and our puzzling over them...A parable does not primarily provide information about our world...the parable transforms the way we hold reality, and thus changes reality itself." Some of the stories are adapted from Scriptural stories and parables, others are completely original. It's a small book and the stories are very short -- sometimes less than two pages. Each is followed by a short commentary describing what prompted him to write the story or giving some of the philosophical background that went into it. (He notes in the introduction that these commentaries are not meant as explanations but rather as "place[s] of entry for the uninitiated.") The book is separated into three parts, titled "Beyond Belief", "G-O-D-I-S-N-O-W-H-E-R-E", and "Transfigurations."

I left the book on the table beside my bed and read a parable a night for a while, which is probably a better way to go then simply plowing through the entire collection at once. Take a listen to "The Orthodox Heretic" in the YouTube clip to the side and see some other resources linked below to see if you'd be interested in the book.

More Peter Rollins resources

• The Rapture - A tract that I helped Peter prepare (in the style of Jack T. Chick). Although this story is not in the book, it will give you a good idea of what to expect.
• Translating the Word - in which Peter shares another of the stories and spoils the plot of The Book of Eli
• The Third Mile - Peter reading another story from the book.
• No Conviction - Peter reading another story from the book.
• Other Peter Rollins video - A collection of other videos (not all related to this book)

Find the book at Paraclete Press | AbeBooks | Amazon

*Note: Peter has just updated his website with this info: "To aid in this time of reflection I have chosen seven parables to supplement the thirty-three already found in The Orthodox Heretic. If you purchase a copy of the book from Paraclete Press (up until the beginning of Lent – 17th February) you will receive these additional parables. This means that you will have one to reflect upon for each day of Lent."