Like many people, I first encountered Eugene Peterson through “The Message”; that tremendous effort to translate the entire Bible into the American vernacular. While I appreciated aspects of that translation (and I certainly appreciate the effort involved), I didn’t personally care much for the experience of reading it. But what I did appreciate reading were the other books that flowed from Eugene Peterson’s heart through his pen.
When I was a pastoral intern, one of my mentors shared with me a copy of “The Contemplative Pastor.” Many lines from it have shaped my ministry, but this one stands out:
“I can be active and pray; I can work and pray; but I cannot be busy and pray.”
Eugene Peterson
The truthfulness of that statement becomes more apparent to me with each passing year. An unbusy heart is fundamental for pastoral ministry. Later I was introduced to his book “Working the Angles.” The basic premise is to think of ministry as a triangle. The lines of the triangle represent the visible aspects of pastoral ministry: preaching, teaching, and administration. The small angles connecting these lines to form a triangle are the unseen influences of prayer, Scripture, and spiritual direction. If these angles are off, everything is off. Again, the longer I am in ministry the more I see this to be true. Giving myself to the visible aspects of ministry while neglecting the hidden things is a short-term oversight with long-term consequences. The neglect of the hidden things will eventually become visible to all. Finally, it was Eugene Peterson’s influence more than any other that led me to pursue spiritual formation in my doctoral studies at Gordon-Conwell. During the course of my studies, my appreciation for Peterson’s contemplative approach to life and ministry grew even deeper.
And yet, despite the incredible impact Peterson’s writings had on my ministry, I actually knew almost nothing about the man himself. I knew he was a pastor in Maryland for a while. I knew he taught at Regent College in Vancouver for a season. But apart from that, I could not have told you anything. So I dove into this biography with great interest to learn about the man behind the books. I was not disappointed.
Winn Collier does an incredible job of taking us back to Eugene’s beginnings in Kalispell, Montana and helping us understand the impact of that place upon Eugene’s person in later years. It was a beautiful reminder of how places, as well as people, shape us. I was fascinated to learn of the various people he crossed paths with in his earlier years including Gordon Fee (later a celebrated New Testament scholar), Phil Jackson (later coach of the Chicago Bulls), Pat Robertson (later founder of the 700 Club and Regent University), and Bono (frontman of U2). As a runner, I was stunned to discover that Eugene was too. And a good one at that! During his college years at Seattle Pacific, he accumulated a long list of running accolades. At one point, he was recognized as such a talent that he was invited to race an exhibition against Roger Bannister in the mile. (That’s a big deal for you non-runners out there.) Another exciting discovery was to learn of his love for Fyodor Dostoyevsky. During the last several years, I have begun to appreciate the profundity of this Russian novelist and knowing the Peterson did too helped me understand him better as a man and as a pastor. Peterson believed this was so important to his ministry that he used to actually carve out hours of his workday to read Dostoyevsky. I haven’t done that yet, but I’m starting to understand why he did. All of these surprises about his life were a delight for me to discover in this book.
As a pastor and a father, I appreciated Eugene’s candor when evaluating where he felt he succeeded and failed as a father. Furthermore, the transparency with which he spoke of some close calls that tested his marriage was refreshingly honest and redemptive. For better or worse, Eugene wanted to be the same man outside that he was inside. We typically refer to that as integrity. And I came away from the book believing that Eugene had developed quite a bit of it through his years.
I can’t say that every discovery I found in the book was a positive one. The discussion of his late-in-life waffling on the issue of practicing homosexuality was disappointing. I remember the controversy when it arose in 2017. For those unfamiliar with the story, during the course of an interview he was asked this question: “If you were pastoring today and a gay couple in your church who were Christians of good faith asked you to perform their same-sex wedding ceremony, is that something you would do?” After a long pause, Eugene said, “Yes.” Well that little exchange created a huge firestorm among both evangelicals and the LGBTQ community alike. Collier does an excellent job of helping us to get a better sense of the context surrounding that statement, as well as the seemingly opposite statement Peterson released a short while later. At the time, I remember giving Peterson the benefit of the doubt and believing he ended his life with an orthodox view of marriage and sexuality. But the additional context this biography provided from his journals made it clear that he had drifted from his biblical moorings when thinking through this issue. It was an unfortunate public finish to an otherwise God-centered life. Eugene’s health had already declined significantly and the stress of that particular event sadly took its toll. Not much publicly happened after that.
But I also appreciate that he was not trying to make a statement and he certainly wasn’t interested in wading into a public controversy. He believed, rightly, that engaging in public discourse on controversial issues is mostly a distraction from pastoring the people right in front of us. I appreciate that sentiment, particularly in this social media-driven age where pastors are expected to have an informed (and public) opinion on every issue of global or national significance. My own heart’s desire is to live in my own community and focus on the issues I can impact with more than a tweet or Facebook statement. I think the solution to most of our national issues can be resolved by each of us learning what it means to be a good neighbor in our own communities.
Despite that grave theological stumble in later years, Eugene’s life is a wonderful one to imitate. His humility and desire to be a saint (without anyone knowing it) reflected his love for the one true God. His devotion to prayer and to the Psalms deepens my own devotion. His passion for the Scriptures and the biblical languages fans the flames of my own fire. And his desire to be with God with people (not a typo), is a beautiful picture of what it means to be a faithful shepherd. I’m thankful for his life. I’m thankful for his refusal to become the pastor others thought he should be. I’m thankful for his books. And I’m thankful he’s left behind a legacy that is inspiring a growing number of pastors to abandon the corporate model of pastoring, in favor of a more contemplative model. I believe pastors especially, but also anyone impacted by Peterson’s ministry will enjoy this book.
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