First / random thoughts
so far on Jordan Peterson, We Who Wrestle with God. DV a proper review in due
course.
We Who Wrestle With God: Perceptions of the Divine
Jordan B. Peterson
Allen Lane / Penguin
Random House, 2024 (ISBN: 9780241619612 hb, 544pp)
Rather as American
novelist Marilynne Robinson has
been Reading Genesis (Virago, 2024), so has Canadian psychologist Dr
Jordan Peterson been thinking about Old Testament archetypes from a Jungian
perspective. (See The Global Anglican 134 (2024) 4 , p379 for a review
of Reading Genesis).
It would be foolish, in my
opinion, if this were the first or only thing that anyone were to read on
biblical interpretation or the texts considered, but if Peterson’s online
success and sales figures are anything to go by, it would be worth pastors
being aware of some of the approach and contents of this book. The focus here
is a psychological, philosophical, moral and practical reflection. What do
these ancient and wonderful stories tell us about what matters most and how to
live? These stories have been the foundational wisdom of Western Civilisation
and that gives us good reason to listen to them. Peterson says: “we are trying
to extract out a universal thread of moral gold by walking through these
ancient stories, and the bitter parts of the biblical corpus must be swallowed
along with the sweet.” (455) He is to be commended for seeking to pay
attention, and has also been working on the Gospels. A forthcoming study on the
New Testament with some further forays into the Old (503) (particularly Job and
the Passion?) is promised.
The fairly extensive
endnotes (507-544pp) so far do not suggest that Peterson has engaged with the
best modern secondary scholarship on the biblical texts to any great degree
(though commentary from Biblehub is sometimes cited). We have had some
citations from Wikipedia and various other online sources (sometimes the date
of access is given, sometimes it isn’t), as well as Peterson's other work and
scientific papers etc. not always consistently e.g. Shakespeare is cited both
from online sources and print editions sometimes by Act and Scene and sometimes
by page number. Some sources recur multiple times. Other sections of the book
are often signposted. More radical editing might have eliminated some
repetition. A couple of times biblical references are given incorrectly e.g.
lacking book or chapter numbers. There are also a couple of other typos. Indices
would be helpful. Peterson gets surprisingly upset by Chat GPT being nice
about the Canaanites (381 and end note 38).
Peterson treats the story
of Elijah, Genesis, Moses and Jonah in some detail and also includes other
biblical incidents along the way, such as the encounter between David and
Goliath. He is surely to be commended for attending to these texts and for
appreciating something of their importance.
Peterson is not a
conventional Christian and this is not a conventional biblical commentary. It
progresses largely incident by incident (not verse by verse) through the text,
though sometimes with diversions. We often stray some distance from the text
and deal with a level of abstraction that some readers may find uncongenial.
Peterson reflects on the symbolism of the text, sometimes interacting with fairy
tales or other great literature such as Paradise Lost, Faust or Dostoyevsky, as
well as some other ancient (e.g. The Odessey, The Epic of Gilgamesh, The Gospel
of Thomas) and popular modern ‘texts’ (film,
TV etc., Disney, Harry Potter, The Simpsons, super hero films etc.).
Peterson can write, often
like a preacher. He is well aware of the Fall and the possibility of hell but
he urges us to look from the good of creation to the very good. He writes as
one who is conscious that these things matter intensely. Human destiny depends
on them.
Christ (the Logos), the
Gospels and biblical parallels are sometime discussed.
Those familiar with
Peterson’s previous work will recognise a number of themes. For example,
Peterson (surely rightly) sees the idea that human beings are created male and
female as one of the most fundamental distinctions within creation. Extensive
treatment is given to the masculine and feminine (including symbolically),
associated with order / structure and chaos / potential respectively. Likely
some readers will be less than fully persuaded, at least on some points. Christ
is seen as something of an androgenous figure who includes male and female and
/ or the figure of Mary is brought into play.
The theory of evolution is
presumed.
The attention is not to
the OT as history but to these stories as a window into what matters most. Just
occasionally Peterson considers an explaining away of the miraculous e.g. with
Lot’s wife turned into the pillar of salt. Peterson can speak of history
becoming “fictionalized” not so much in contrast to fact but as an expression
of “abstracted meta-truths” (159). “Jonah is everyman” (482). We are warned
against sceptical scientists who dismiss the text but also against “believers
who insist upon a naïve literalism” (481) rather than “a serious investigation
into [the] narrative significance” (482) of “these deepest of all fairytales”
(485). We should live as if these
stories are true.
The divine is the
ultimate. And sacrifice is a core principle. Any attention or action involves
sacrifice. We give up one thing for the sake of another. We must give up the selfish
lesser now for the greater to (common good) to come. We must look upwards and
take up our cross and step forward in faith and hope. It is vital for the
individual to look beyond the hedonic moment to the community and the future.
You may not always find
Peterson’s interpretations totally convincing or think that he has focused on
the main thing, but there were certainly times when I found his work more
knowledgeable, subtle and sophisticated than I feared it might be. He treats
the text with respect. The tellers of these tales are held to be “just as
intelligent and wise as we are today – perhaps more so” (130). The focus is on
the final form with little interest e.g. in source criticism or The Documentary
Hypothesis. He is aware, for example, that the notion of Israel as a chosen
people is not just a matter of nationalistic chauvinism and bigotry and is able
to list noble foreigners in the Hebrew canon. Similarly, he knows that Adamic
dominion is balanced by texts which warn against tyranny and those which
require care (rather than merely use) of animals. Cain’s story is read as
another Fall and in contrast to Job and Christ.
Given that Peterson is not
an Old Testament scholar nor a theologian, he often reads the text
insightfully. The Hebrew (which is sometimes transliterated, sometimes given in
the Hebrew script only, and sometimes both) is sometimes considered and
multiple translations are sometimes given. I’ve no idea why the Benton
Septuagint Translation should be included. There is some close attention the
text but we have sometimes zoomed out quite a way or veered off to pursue a
theme.
Peterson is not Reformed.
The message might often be said to be moralistic. We rightly aim for God as the
ultimate and the way to him is by sacrifice. The story of Elijah is read as
climaxing in the voice of conscience. Much of the history of the OT is a heroic
/ epic quest. Jacob’s Ladder is read as an encouragement to reach up to the
divine.
Peterson speaks of divine
inspiration of Scripture (103) though not necessarily in an orthodox manner.
These stories have been formative for our society. And they have played this
role in part because they are ancient and honed stories of the archetypical. In
a kind of collaboration between the Logos and God’s image bearers, human beings
cherished and evolved those stories which spoke to them of foundational and
ultimate things, those stories which helped them to make sense of the world and
to walk in it, aiming upwards. These stories came to be seen as essential and
canonical.
Peterson sees sacrifice
“as perhaps the most profound and necessary of all truths.” (90) Voluntary
assumption of responsibility, an upward aspiration and a willingness to
sacrifice for others and the future are essential.
Human beings are
constituted by personal covenantal contractual relationships, with others, with
the future and with the divine. We exist as personalities only in these
relations.
Peterson argues that all
thought, all scientific enquiry, has something of the form of prayer for it is
openness to revelation from the divine spirit. It requires humility and a
willingness to repent, to admit ignorance and sacrifice old ideas. There must
be a death and resurrection, a giving up of old notions for the sake of the
new, and a disinterested aiming towards Truth whatever the cost. It turns out
the believers and scientist alike must take up their cross and follow the
Logos.
Peterson shows a
commendable willingness to take responsibility and to encourage it in others.
He rightly sees this as a terrible but necessary burden. It is all on you, with
God as guide. This seems to be lacking in grace, in the external power of the gospel,
in the Christ who comes from the outside to rescue by faith alone. This is too
much the gospel of self-help with God as goal and coach. The problem is not so
much sin or failure but a bitter and resentful response to such failure which
leads to further rebellion against reality and so downwards. The pathway to
redemption is humble repentance and willingness to seek to atone and to aim
upwards. The supposed good news is that if you bring forth the best that is in
you, it will be accepted (128). The ultimate and unforgivable sin, the sin
against the Holy Spirit, is the refusal to repent and instead to kill the
ideal, which is to murder God and the self.
If the main purpose of the
Bible is saving knowledge of God, this is clearly not the best guide. God is
abstracted to the ultimate / foundational / highest principle and the good news
has a good dose of try harder.
Careful readers will find
insights here, though arguably there is dross and some material which should be
refined and certainly augmented.
Let us pray for Peterson
and that many will find this book leads them to reflect further on the
Scriptures and to meet with Jesus Christ.
* * *
Sometimes the symbolic
interpretations will feel like a stretch. Granted Pharoh is stone-like in his hard-hearted
inflexibility, is this really in contrast to Moses who is associated with water
and its manipulation?
Stories show the weight we
give to facts (how we see the world and how we will therefore live). All facts
are not equal. It is not even possible to attend to all the facts.
Perhaps we like to think
of ourselves as neutral observers of facts, judiciously drawing conclusions
from all the data. But our perceptions are already value determined. We
cannot pay attention to everything so we decide some information is irrelevant
and hardly receive it. We tend to see through the lens of a story: a quest, a
goal. We see tools or obstacles, helpers or enemies, and a series of
objectives. Maybe there is an end pre-programmed into human beings which
derives from our nature.
Peterson is known as an
anti-woke warrior and in reading the Cain and Abel narrative he comments on
politics because he sees here victimhood and supposed victimiser, a narrative
especially important to some in our age. The story asks us how we will deal
with difference, rivalry and hierarchy. Can there be a good unity between
individuals and for societies or is some kind of sectional war inevitable and
necessary?
Peterson has been
lecturing on the bible for years
He believes he should live
as if God exists
The fundamental story is
not power, or hedonism, or nihilism but sacrifice.
Peterson has sometimes
been slippery on the question of the existence of God or the empty tomb. He
rightly argues that God is not real like a table is real since God is necessary
being and timelessly eternal, “hyper-real”, as Peterson puts it.
Work is sacrifice:
sacrifice of pleasure now for better reward later. Community is sacrifice of
self to others.
Aaron at the Golden Calf
incident succumbs to a kind of populism and having rejected God the worst of
their natures and community rise to the top
If we get rid of God, we
end up nothing or with a war of the gods or the Strong Man
Marriage and children are
the stuff of sacrifice and Genesis is a family story
Suffering characterises
life because of hellish prideful over-read (The Fall)
Eve (hyper-compassionate
inclusiveness) Adam (desire to impress followed by blame)
Collapse into chaos (Noah
and the Flood) or the rise of power (Babel)
The distinction between
man and woman might be the most basic of all biologically and psychologically /
symbolically
Abraham – increasing
sacrificial offering, transformation, new adventures through sacrifice / with
God
Abaraham it is possible to
be a blessing both to yourself and your society and the future
Children must be offered
up to God and the world and if you do that you get them back. If you don’t they
die.
The coherence of the
biblical story is so deep and profound
Peterson thinks he is
trying to unite modern science with our deepest stories
Post-Enlightenment: there
is no escape from the story
Large language models give
us a hard scientific map of meaning
Everything is perceived in
relation to the ideal. It turns out Plato was basically right.
Every perception is really
a micro-narrative. There are no really self-evident facts. It is interpretation
all the way down.
It seems likely that these
stories are being coded into our biology and collective sub-conscious
Peterson says he stakes
his life on God. He chooses by faith to live as if God exists.
Literal minded
propositional truth religious types need to remember that God is ineffable. God
is beyond time and space and our categories.
Peterson argues that “Karl
Marx is Cain to the core” because he saw the world in terms of rigged group
conflict (105)
God must ultimately remain
in some important sense above and beyond human evaluation. In other words,
human beings must sometimes adapt themselves to reality rather than expecting
the universe to answer to them.
Technology / knowledge / mastery
by Luciferian pride / intelligence / cleverness / subtlety – technical ability
obviously can be good, but it can also be demonic (by way of privation /
corruption / parasitical use of the potentially / originally good for lower
aims
The lone hero heartlessly
speaking the truth
The symbolism of the
rainbow (183) – the full spectrum implicit in a transcendent and heavenly unity
– Light as ultimate / order; water as earthly / chaos – diversity in harmony /
balance / integration; the divine and the material
Peterson’s wife has
recently converted to Roman Catholicism and he thinks this has been nothing but
beneficial for her. He has been attending church with her regularly. He is
especially taken with the image of Mary and the Christ child…
Forthcoming work on Job
and the Passion
Peterson is surely right
that a flourishing society requires certain basic shared fundamental axioms or
assumptions, and a common commitment to the ultimate
Peterson is interested in
the divine name revealed to Moses at the burning bush and likes to characterise
God as being and becoming, which may not necessarily be heretical. He mentions
Aquinas and the notion of God as Pure Act. But he sees “I am who I will be” as
capturing both divine eternal essential constancy and creative divine
potential. One can see how these two are psychologically and practically
important: human beings need both continuity and change.
It seems Peterson has
heard the sermons about freedom from sin for service. Freedom is not to be used
for hedonic self-indulgence but responsible self-sacrifice.
Voluntary assumption of
distributed responsibility – subsidiarity
Respect for tradition and
willingness to innovate
The margins and the centre
– a necessary relationship with the possibility e.g. of experimentation and
renewal, but not if the marginal usurps the centre
Peterson is especially
impressed with the brilliance of the parallel between the lifting up of the
bronze serpent in the wilderness and the crucifixion
Lk 12:48 – these stripes
most often the whip of fate
A Pelagian gospel: if we
strive upwards and sacrifice, we can (e.g. 504f)
I didn’t agree with
everything here and at times I found it frustrating, but on the whole it is an
enjoyable read, not without insight
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