InForm: Peter Rollins on Psychoanalysis, Theology, Community, and the Work He Does


In this episode of the InForm:Podcast, I speak with Peter Rollins, the man behind pyro-theology, the Wake festival, the Spark retreat, Atheism for Lent, and many more things that can provoke all sorts of interesting experiences and elaborations. I first became aware of Pete's work many years back as I was attempting to build up my own understanding of Lacan. I don't remember exactly how it happened, but I found a video of him talking about Lacanian ideas, where he explained them in ways I found intelligible and useful. This led to me watching more of his videos, listening to his podcast, and then reading his books. 

Today, what interests me about Pete's work is the way that he goes about building engaged communities that work and struggle together to acknowledge, experience, and communicate about the lacks and antagonisms that are at the center of human subjectivity (or the human condition if you prefer that language), which is the main thing I speak with him about in this informal but hopefully informative conversation.

We do, of course, go in other directions as well; we even tell a few jokes, which I hope you all find ammusing.

One last thing: near the end of the interview.


REFERENCED:


1. Pete's Patreon & his Website
2. Todd McGowan's YouTube
3. Analysis Laid Bear
3. The Aims of Analysis