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Discouraging News About Eugene Peterson

Disappointing. Big fan of Peterson's; hadn't seen that.
 
I have to admit that I'm not surprised. I'm always suspicious when anyone feels the need to make scripture more approachable. Obviously I'm a little hypocritical here because I do read it in English but The Message just never sat right with me, at least not as a Bible. As a Bible study it was fine. But when they elevated it to scripture, much before I was cognizant of these things, I think they did a real disservice to scripture, Peterson and those people who were benefitting from his teaching.

It stands to reason that someone who is told his paraphrase of scripture is as good as scripture might drift in to other additions as well.
 
Wait, did I miss something? Didn't the first paragraph state that he recanted if that view? Did I read it wrong?
 
Mojo said:
Wait, did I miss something? Didn't the first paragraph state that he recanted if that view? Did I read it wrong?
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Eh, how much do you trust that though? This isn't something you confuse for something else. Such a retraction makes it a little worse in my view.
 
ZecAustin said:
Eh, how much do you trust that though? This isn't something you confuse for something else. Such a retraction makes it a little worse in my view.
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Still want to know full context of original endorsement, then the retraction.

Not a fan of the Message being sold as scripture, but I like his taste in musicians (he and Bono are great friends:D)
 
He retracted his apparent endorsement of same-sex marriage. That may have been sincere, and he may have really been caught off guard by an interviewer and "misspoken" himself in the first instance. He is still upholding a sort of "hate the sin, love the sinner" approach, and saying he would personally fellowship with same-sex couples, even if he wouldn't (he says now) marry them. So who knows, right?

I like Peterson. I think he's brilliant, and he's done a real service to the body of Christ with his books, including The Message. Sad to see him going with the cultural flow on this one.
 
Sarah and I were posting at the same time. Went and read the article; doesn't change much. The article says what the reporter wanted it to say; Peterson's subsequent statements say what he thinks he meant to say. Unfortunate business.
 
FollowingHim2 said:
This is the original article I think.
http://religionnews.com/2017/07/12/...-his-mind-about-same-sex-issues-and-marriage/

It wasn't just that he said "yes" to same sex marriage in the heat of the moment. He answered the question before with a lot more detail about it.

The Message is scripture about as much as my children's Bible Stories books are scripture in my opinion.
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Read it. Seems pretty clear he endorsed it without much qualification. He did recant, so only he and the Lord know. He seems to be a gentle soul with hatred of no one. He may be trying to reconcile his propensity for love with his immense knowledge of the faith (not that they are mutually exclusive).
 
andrew said:
Sarah and I were posting at the same time. Went and read the article; doesn't change much. The article says what the reporter wanted it to say; Peterson's subsequent statements say what he thinks he meant to say. Unfortunate business.
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Yes, but if the quote is correct, he said it was "not a right or wrong thing".

This may be an instance where the overwhelming good he has done should outweigh this one blind spot.
 
This is what concerns me:
I think that kind of debate about lesbians and gays might be over. People who disapprove of it, they’ll probably just go to another church. So we’re in a transition and I think it’s a transition for the best, for the good. I don’t think it’s something that you can parade, but it’s not a right or wrong thing as far as I’m concerned.
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And maybe he's been misquoted, or the reporter has phrased things in a way that makes things go his way.
You can't judge someone entirely based on one interview, one comment. Especially something online because people edit and mix and match and do all sorts of nonsense.
I'd be wary but not go throwing out all his books. Same way I don't agree with some C.S Lewis stuff but we still have his books around the place.
 
It’s worth noting that in my 29-year career as a pastor, and in the years since then, I’ve never performed a same-sex wedding. I’ve never been asked and, frankly, I hope I never am asked. This reporter, however, asked a hypothetical question: if I were pastoring today and if a gay couple were Christians of good faith and if they asked me to perform their wedding ceremony—if, if, if. Pastors don’t have the luxury of indulging in hypotheticals. And to be honest, no is not a word I typically use. It was an awkward question for me because I don’t do many interviews at this stage in my life at 84, and I am no longer able to travel as I once did or accept speaking requests.
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He also said he believes in one man to one woman too. We think he is wrong on that also, so maybe two blind spots?
 
FollowingHim2 said:
I'd be wary but not go throwing out all his books. Same way I don't agree with some C.S Lewis stuff but we still have his books around the place.
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Agreed.

Here's the deal. None of these guys is perfect, and we are being unreasonable to expect that from anyone.

Meanwhile, our culture has a ridiculous anti-authoritarian bias that of course creeps into the church, and in some ways it seems to gratify some part of us that probably shouldn't be fed too much to set up our celebrities just to knock them down again.

Neither Lewis nor Peterson (just as examples of a much bigger issue) claimed any special authority or anointing to deliver absolute undisputed truth. They were just two laid back guys writing their thoughts out whose ideas found traction with the book-buying public. With either one of those guys I would consider it an honor and a privilege to spend an hour together in person swapping stories, and I have benefited greatly from their many books.

As for The Message, Peterson was pretty clear about his purpose and method for translating The Message, and I find it to be a refreshing and stimulating read (or did back in the day; haven't looked at it much in recent years). A little story:

About 20 years ago I put a group I was leading through an exercise: Each of us rewrote the 23rd Psalm in our own language, using a metaphor appropriate for what we were actually doing in real life. Instead of "The Lord is my Shepherd...", we ended up with "The Lord is my Architect", or "The Lord is my Conductor" (orchestra conductor), and the like, with different tellings of the story from each participant. That was an amazing evening as we each shared our retellings of the familiar Psalm in our own idiom.

And here's tonight's "Heresy of the Week": Each of those stories, the unique testimony of a living individual praising God for His sufficiency in their own way based on the reality of their own relationship with God, was more touching than David's familiar pastoral story could ever be to a bunch of urbanites, some of whom haven't ever seen a live flock of sheep or an actual shepherd. Our ancient record of David's testimony is cool, but testimony of what God is doing today in the lives of his children is cooler.

So I don't beat Peterson up too much for The Message. His work is defensible for what he intended it to be, and it throws an interesting light on many familiar passages.

Reminder: Jesus didn't say they would know we are Christians by the accuracy of our bible scholarship....

Knowledge puffs up; love builds up.
 
Mojo said:
He also said he believes in one man to one woman too. We think he is wrong on that also, so maybe two blind spots?
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Touché!
 
Thanks very much ladies and gentlemen. I am glad to fit in somewhere. May the LORD bless you,
 
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