Pyrotheology: From Unraveling to Raveling

Peter's lifelong project is the development of a dynamic theory and technology of life that has been called Pyrotheology. Pyrotheology is designed to help us embrace the difficulties of existence and face the challenges of being human. It involves a deep critique of any religious/ideological system that promises an escape from doubt and anxiety. Exposing the true tyranny that the pursuit of certainty and satisfaction creates (by feeding the very problems the pursuit promises to fix).

Instead, Pyrotheology helps to transform the doubts and difficulties of daily life into a fuel that ignites a journey into the depth and density of life. Pyrotheology offers an incendiary understanding of faith that has nothing to do with the tired debates between theists and atheists. It uncovers how faith helps us resolutely confront our brokenness, joyfully embrace unknowing, and courageously face the difficulties of life. While this journey into the dark might seem unappealing compared with those who sell the "Good News" of certainty and satisfaction, Pyrotheology exposes how this "Good News" is actually very bad news. Instead revealing that we must tarry with the antagonisms of existence if we wish to see transformation in the personal and political world.

Rather than fearing we might unravel if we start to question our cultural, religious and political frameworks, Pyrotheology teaches the art of raveling. Both "Unraveling" and "Raveling" mean "to become divided into separate threads". But without the "un", the negative connotation of the first term is negated and the process is turned into something affirmative. Nothing changes, yet nothing remains the same. Instead of fearing the horror of unraveling, we learn to revel in it.