Yes, I Like Eugene Peterson!

Some may call me a heretic.  Not so fast.  I'm not even talking about The Message, though I think it has its place.  I'm talking about Eugene Peterson's writing and preaching ministry concerning spirituality and spiritual theology.  I was exposed to his amazing, lesser-known-to-The-Message work titled Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Place.  My rating = A!  

He does a beautiful job weaving together theologies that we learn about in classes and congregations into a "big picture" that is saturated in Scripture, but screams for living it out in the daily life.  He uses a poem, As Kingfishers Catch Fire by Gerard Manely Hopkins to set the stage for his conversation:

As king fishers catch fire, dragonflies draw flame;

As tumbled over rim in roundy wells

Stones ring; like each tucked string tells, each hung bell's

Bow swung finds tongue to fling out broad its name;

Each mortal thing does one thing and the same:

Deals out that being indoors each one dwells;

Selves -- goes itself; myself it speaks and spells,

Crying What I do is me: for that I came.

I say more: the just man justices;

Keeps grace: that keeps all his goings graces;

Acts in God's eye what in God's eye he is --

Christ. For Christ plays in ten thousand places,

Lovely in limbs, and lovely in eyes not his

To the Father through the features of men's faces. 

I have been greatly blessed by this book over the last year.  It has taught me wonderful practical theology (which I believe is the only necessary theology--If it doesn't change us, there's no use studying it.  What a word of truth for myself and peers in Biblical Studies!).  This is the only place that I have found excellent bible exposition, background study, literature, art, and poetic stories of daily life.  

Haven't convinced you yet? Check out these articles or READ THE BOOK!!!

Christianbook.com describes it this way:

Eugene Peterson realizes that within our seminaries, congregations and, most importantly, our lives, spirituality and theology have been estranged. Thus, in Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places Peterson works to ground our spirituality in Trinitarian theology and provides an illuminating discussion of how such theology shapes spiritual lives. After sweeping aside the misunderstandings that hinder our discussions of spiritual theology, Peterson clearly describes how spiritual theology can remain sensitive to ordinary life, effectively present the Christian gospel and find its rooting in the "fear of the Lord." The foundational book in a new series on spiritual theology, Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places serves as an essential resource for those of us who have committed ourselves to incarnating the Christian gospel in a contemporary context.

Read the Christianity Today article on Eugene Peterson and spirituality. 

A Conversation with Eugene Peterson article concerning spiritual theology.