Eugene H. Peterson
Eugene H. Peterson
Eugene H. Petersonis an American-born clergyman, scholar, author, and poet. He has written over thirty books, including Gold Medallion Book Award winner The Message: The Bible in Contemporary Language, a paraphrase of the Bible...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionClergyman
Date of Birth6 November 1932
CountryUnited States of America
years world way
Pastors need to know what's going on in the world and what has been going on for 4,000 years. We need a way to read Scripture which is imaginative, interpretive.
helping-others suffering way
Suffering attracts fixers the way road-kills attract vultures.
people way firsts
There is nothing terribly difficult in the Bible - at least in a technical way. The Bible is written in street language, common language. Most of it was oral and spoken to illiterate people. They were the first ones to receive it. So when we make everything academic, we lose something.
art imagination way
It's essential for us to develop an imagination that is participatory. Art is the primary way in which this happens. It's the primary way in which we become what we see or hear.
christian grace way
The life of faith is a daily exploration of the constant and countless ways in which Gods grace and love are expereinced
grace way world
A person has to get fed up with the ways of the world before he, before she acquires an appetite for the world of grace.
learning ordinary receiving scriptures thousand
Spirituality is no different from what we've been doing for two thousand years just by going to church and receiving the sacraments, being baptized, learning to pray, and reading Scriptures rightly. It's just ordinary stuff.
position-of-power people scary
Religion is a very scary thing, because a pastor is in a position of power. And if you use that power badly, you ruin people's lives, and you ruin your own life.
stupid ideas errors
The Spirit works through community. Somebody will have a stupid, screwy idea. That's okay. The point of having creeds and confessions and traditions is to keep us in touch with the obvious errors.
kicking attention want
I don't want to end up a bureaucrat in the time-management business for God or a librarian cataloguing timeless truths. Salvation is kicking in the womb of creation right now, any time now. Pay attention.
loyalty thinking people
People learn to shop for churches; there is no loyalty to the church. They're consumers being attracted to one product or another. I think it's sacrilege, to tell you the truth, it really is.
worship failing offers
I cannot fail to call the congregation to worship God, to listen to his Word, to offer themselves to God.
teaching thinking giving
I think pastors are the worst listeners. We're so used to speaking, teaching, giving answers. We must learn to be quiet, quit being so verbal, learn to pay attention to what's going on, and listen.
reading years two
Spirituality is no different from what weve been doing for two thousand years just by going to church and receiving the sacraments, being baptized, learning to pray, and reading Scriptures rightly. Its just ordinary stuff.