Standing On My Head ... With My Fly Open, by Duke Robinson
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Standing On My Head ... With My Fly Open, by Duke Robinson
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When the author was in the fourth grade, a Philadelphia Inquirer photographer caught his grammar school tumbling team's premier performance at a PTA meeting. As a result, Duke Robinson claims to be (trumpets!) the only Presbyterian minister in the history of Western civilization to have had his picture in a major metropolitan newspaper standing on his head with his fly open. The fact his fly was open, he says, reflects the innocence typical of an eight-year old boy reared in a very religious family in the first half of the Twentieth Century. That's who he says he was. That's what he did, and he says, "I wanted never to do it again."Robinson's intimate memoir takes you through a life marked by complex coincidences, surprise twists and turns, and life-or-death close calls that impacted him dramatically. His curious mind kept him asking and trying to answer, with some measure of intellectual integrity, why life works the way it does. How come the smallest incident or choice, either by yourself or someone else, can turn your life in a direction you never dreamed of? The mythology on which Robinson was reared gave him an answer to this question. It emerged, however, from an ancient people who thought the world had recently been created for them, believed demons caused illnesses and didn't know where the sun went at night. He says that he came to see that he could not be whole living in both that world and in the scientific cause-and-effect world we all know today. The author's story of his personal change has to do with discarding a lot of superstition, sentimentality and wishful thinking in religion, in order to be grounded in, integrated with, and liberated by relating honestly to the real world. Looking back, he says, "I began my adult life vowing never to be caught standing on my theological head with my fly open." This book gets you inside the head of a Presbyterian minister who also found that he could not go through the motions or play so many of the games that the Church generally asks of its clergy today. He has wrestled with traditional religion for well over a half-century. Robinson's four other books also bear witness to his changed and changing worldview. Here, in more personal terms, he weaves together stories about his Christian fundamentalist upbringing, reflections on sexual repression, his wonderful families, hilarious adventures on stage, his reputation for humor, parenting four strong children, some hilarious, embarrassing professional mistakes as a pastor, and fascinating projects he adopted in retirement. Robinson served the once very traditional now progressive Montclair Presbyterian Church of Oakland,CA, from 1968 to 1996. He began by asking its membership to lighten up and to get real. And they did. And he tells some remarkable stories about them. He also talks about being a fervent fan of the Philadelphia, Kansas City and now Oakland A's baseball teams for almost eighty years. He asks, "How much more theological stature can you get than that?"
Standing On My Head ... With My Fly Open, by Duke Robinson - Amazon Sales Rank: #1543076 in Books
- Published on: 2015-11-17
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 9.00" h x .71" w x 6.00" l, .92 pounds
- Binding: Paperback
- 312 pages
Standing On My Head ... With My Fly Open, by Duke Robinson From the Back Cover "The title of this book caught your eye, didn't it? This book is better than the title." Dr. John Hadsell, Professor-Emeritus, San Francisco Theological Seminary, author"Duke Robinson - scholar, humorist, teacher, leader, author, family man - led a public life of achievement and honor. Despite his rational, straightforward, practical outlook, in all his books he beats the drum for agape, the powerful love so beautifully demonstrated in the ancient prophets and Jesus. To read Robinson's memoir is to take part in his lifetime spiritual quest in facing life's mysteries." Douglas Hergert, author, Nothing in Paris, a novel"Sure, everyone has a story to tell, but only a few can tell it well. Robinson succeeds admirably. As a child he picked up his nickname from DuPont company (DUCO) paint accidentally spilled on him. Here, he brushes his life experiences in bold, clear, colorful strokes, each of which is almost a story in itself. This clear-thinking retired pastor takes us through dramatic "what ifs" and "how comes" of his life and breaks through expected norms. Finally, he forms some surprising, head-standing conclusions that are at variance with his family, traditional religion, and even the predictable portrait of himself." Robert W. Bone, author, Fire Bone, a Maverick Guide to a Life in Journalism"Duke Robinson has never been afraid to question what has been set before him and find the good in it, albeit, not always in conventional ways. Reading this memoir, at times I laughed out loud, at other times, shed tears. Here is a guy who is not afraid to bare his soul, warts and all. He also serves delicious food for thought." Julie Blade, Living History, Memoir Consultant "There is a great life to be had without gods and Duke Robinson has lived it and writes about it eloquently. The path away from sentimental nonsense to intellectual integrity, compassion and concern for peace and justice has never been better described!" Eric Maisel, Ph.D., author, The Atheist's Way and Life Purpose Boot Camp
About the Author In 2000, Time Warner published the paperback version of Duke Robinson's award-winning hardcover book GOOD INTENTIONS, under the title TOO NICE FOR YOUR OWN GOOD: How to Stop Making 9 Self-Sabotaging Mistakes. It appeared in thirteen languages and as an early Kindle book. It still sells briskly. His second non-fiction book, CREATE YOUR BEST LIFE: How to Live Fully Knowing One Day You Will Die, appeared in December 2011, published through CreateSpace. In September 2012, he published his first novel, SAVIOR: An Old Notion in a New Novel of Unthinkable Absurdity, also through CreateSpace. Robinson was reared in the Philadelphia area, graduating in 1950 from Haverford High School. He holds a BA degree in philosophy (1954) from Wheaton College, near Chicago, and a Masters of Divinity degree (1958), from Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary. He has lived since 1960, in the East Bay of Northern California. For 28 years before retiring to writing, Robinson led the dynamic, progressive Montclair Presbyterian Church in Oakland. For several years during that ministry he served part-time as an adjunct professor at San Francisco Theological Seminary, from which he holds an earned doctorate (1979). Prior to retiring in 1996, he was known widely as a speaker and appeared frequently on Northern California television. Since 2000, he has lived in Rossmoor, an adult community in Walnut Creek, CA, 30 miles east of San Francisco. Barbara, his beloved wife of 54 years died in 2008 (He writes of her dying, and of his almost dying in 2009, in CREATE YOUR BEST LIFE). He has four mature children, nine wonderful grandchildren and two great-grandsons, who are absolute geniuses. In April 2014, Robinson published this award-winning A MIDDLE WAY: The Secular/Spiritual Road to Wholeness, his 3rd nonfiction work. This book, his memoir, STANDING ON MY HEAD ... WITH MY FLY OPEN, became available in November 2015. Robinson was eight when he stood on his head ... In January 2015, he turned 82.
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Most helpful customer reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful. Living into Integrity By Bill LeMosy I just finished a book I heartily recommend for all folks daring to move beyond the religious programming of their childhood. Duke Robinson, the author, was the youth pastor of my church when I was a highschooler. This is the story of his journey toward living the questions with integrity and into affirming what helps human beings thrive.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful. "Goodbye," Childhood Theology By Ed Frierson This is an honest personal reflection from a career protestant minister (Presbyterian). The story (after all, each of our lives is, indeed, simply our own story) is delightful and a thoughtful read for all of us who have been occasionally out-of-step in one way or another among our family, friends, colleagues, and in Duke’s case, congregations. Duke’s Robinson’s thinking changed along the way from that of a boy embarrassed to be photographed with his pants unzipped to that of a man often embarrassed by having a seemingly “unzipped” mind in the presence of those with carefully zipped minds (i.e., closed and carefully guarded against exposure to any updated religious ideas). I was reminded of the Bible author who said, “When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me.” (I Corinthians 13:11)? What I enjoyed most about Duke’s memoir is that he carefully and practically shared his own “growing up” with details that highlight the joy without obscuring the pain of “putting the ways of childhood (thinking) behind me.” For me, finding Duke Robinson’s book with his carefully explained thinking, his very heartfelt decision-making, his risky practicing what he preached, and his overwhelming obedience to “agapé,” the spiritual foundation for his life, gave me a 50 year flashback. I was a young secular university professor living in the very belt buckle of the Bible Belt, Nashville, TN attending a Southern Baptist Sunday School class with very intelligent self proclaimed “believers.” Oh my, such a struggle the leader had in squeezing the answer to every exploratory Bible question from a narrow, literalist, unyielding, evangelical, seminary predetermined script that the leader described as “truth.” Like Duke, I was patient and empathetic, yet vaguely aware that if not a fish-out-of-water, I was certainly not content to swim only in that tiny theological pool. A fellow class member gave me a book to read. He had noticed my near universal reluctance to speak in class, and suspected the reason was an unwillingness to muddy the water with my personal speculations about scripture. The friend was a cancer survivor who attributed his good health not so much to prayer as to the changes he had made in his lifestyle. To the dismay of some church members, it was rumored that he taught a YOGA class at the YMCA, a certain sign of the devil’s influence on his thinking. The book he gave me, The Christian Agnostic, by the distinguished theologian, Leslie Weatherhead, was mind opening and mind freeing with regard to Jesus, the Church, the Bible, and so on. As Duke Robinson’s memoir also reveals, the assurance of a joy filled life rests not on clinging to childish and institutionalized pat answers, but on exploring radical doctrines such as becoming a peacemaker (and marching in parades that declare it!). I think for some folks who have struggled with “party line theology,” Duke Robinson offers fresh air, sound thinking, realistic life experiences, hopeful reconciliation with those who disparage, and, perhaps more than all, A FUN READ. It is always a delight when the other guy is embarrassed. I must say, however, that I do now check my zipper TWICE every time I put on my pants.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful. God Broke the Mold on This Pastor By Ray H. Smith My college classmate pens a sprightly, irreverent memoir which could offend (some) Christians by this Presbyterian minister's frank distain for the Evangelical theology of his own youth and alma mater. But the author's lifetime of humorous, poignant, sometime sobering experiences told superbly in first-person makes this a highly-entertaining read for anyone who can say: "Ok, I know where Duke's coming from--the Left Coast. So what, I'm goin to love his story-telling."
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