Jordan Peterson's new book We struggling with God: God's perception It contains deep insight into biblical stories, but also addresses interpretive freedom to reconstruct theological meanings. Scott Rae and Sean McDowell of Biola University discussed Peterson's book in an hour's discussion for an episode of the episode Shawn McDowell Shaweach of them is a fan of Peterson's work, and I believe the book has valuable insights for the Christian community. Last fall, We fight against God It was on the New York Times bestseller list and when it was released there was one of the bestselling books on Amazon.
Peterson is a psychologist, author, and cultural commentator, and is known for his criticism of modern secularism.
“I felt very encouraged about how familiar he is with the Bible, and I think his familiarity with the Bible has made some of our fellow brothers and sisters embarrassed in Christ,” said Ray, Viola's professor of philosophy and Christian ethics and faculty dean of Talbot Theology.
“He has the text with a kind of respect, then a sense of learning, respect, a similar feeling.
McDowell praised Peterson for highlighting the importance of religion and marriage in society. He also praised Peterson for seeing old testimony and new testimony as a unified story with an overarching theme.
However, both men said that Peterson's interpretations of certain biblical stories often miss Mark. McDowell cited Peterson's interpretation of the story of David and Goliath.
“He says, 'The real hero is him who defeats the huge tyrants of the nation,'' McDowell said.
McDowell admitted that Peterson “makes the same moral mistakes that many preachers make” when discussing the famous story. However, McDowell stated that the point of David and Goliath's story is “the true God of Israel is the true God.”
“It's not about beating the tyrants of the nation, and I think he's made this mistake several times,” McDowell said.
Another example of Peterson missing the mark, according to McDowell: 1 Kings 19when Elijah takes down the prophet of Baal, he flees to Mount Horeb and meets God in what the Bible calls “still a small voice.” Peterson interprets still-smacked voices as “voice of conscience,” McDowell said.
“And he took that voice of conscience and said, “Abraham was responding to the voice of conscience, Jonah was responding to the voice of conscience, Moses was responding to the voice of conscience.” ”
But the Bible makes it clear that it was a “sounding voice,” McDowell said.
“If you were with Elijah, you… you'd actually heard that sound,” McDowell said. “And by eliminating the objective of speaking God to Elijah, he makes some universalisation of these stories, saying, “This is still a small voice. God is all calling us to adventure. He is all calling us to this.” And that is because if he frames the way he sees all of these different heroes, I think, “These are real historical figures called to sound a particular task.”
“And I think this is a kind of example of importing a particular worldview into the text itself, rather than letting the text speak,” McDowell said.
Ray said Peterson “incorporating hermeneutic freedom in the text.
“I think he gets a lot of mileage from biblical stories without necessarily clarifying whether he believes it is true,” Ray said. “I think he believes it is relevant and timeless, and there is a lot to say it is insightful about the human condition.”
Ray added, “The heroes in all these stories are not scripted characters. It's God who is a hero.”
Although Ray and McDowell opposed some of Peterson's interpretations, both men praised Peterson for his work because of traditional beliefs.
“I think he gives a voice to the culture segment.
The two men also invited Peterson to appear on the podcast.
“I'll do that with a heartbeat,” McDowell said of a potential interview with Peterson. “I'm very grateful for his voice.”
Watch: We Wrestling with God | Review of Jordan Peterson's New Book
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4_mhkrkjbk
Photo credit: ©YouTube/Sean McDowell
Michael Foot For 20 years, I have covered the intersection of faith and news. His stories appear in the Baptist Press, Christianity Today, Christian Post, Leaf Leaf, Toronto Star, Knoxville News Sentinel.
Listen to Michael's podcast! He is the host of Cross Walk Talka podcast where he talks to Christian movie stars, musicians, directors and more. Listen to famous Christian figures keep their faith a priority in Hollywood and discover the best Christian films, books, television and other entertainment. You can find Cross Walk Talk Above lifeaudio.comor subscribe apple or Spotify So you won't miss an interview that will surely encourage your faith.
It was originally published on March 18, 2025.
