Eugene Peterson — The Bible, Poetry, and Active Imagination

A beloved pastor and biblical interpreter. The poetry of the Bible as what keeps it alive to the world. The spirituality of loving books. Reimagining God. Prayers as tools not for doing and getting but for being and becoming. “Prayers are tools not for doing or getting but for being and becoming.” These are words of the legendary pastor and writer Eugene Peterson, whose biblical imagination has formed generations of preachers. At the back of the church he led for nearly three decades, you’d be likely to find well-worn copies of books by Wallace Stegner or Denise Levertov. Frustrated with the unimaginative way he found his congregants treating their Bibles, he translated it himself, and that translation has sold millions of copies around the world. Eugene Peterson’s down-to-earth faith hinges on a love of metaphor and a commitment to the Bible’s poetry as what keeps it alive to the world. Eugene Peterson served as the pastor of Christ Our King Presbyterian Church for 29 years. He is the author of over 30 books, including “Answering God: The Psalms as Tools for Prayer,” “The Pastor: A Memoir,” “The Message: The Bible in Contemporary Language,” and “As Kingfishers Catch Fire: A Conversation on the Ways of God Formed by the Words of God.” His new book, “Every Step an Arrival: A 90-Day Devotional for Exploring God’s Word,” will be published in October 2018.