139: Eugene Peterson, with Winn Collier (Part 1)

We become what we behold.
– Eugene Peterson, A Burning in My Bones

Known primarily for rendering the Message paraphrase of the Scriptures, Eugene Peterson was intimately faithful to the extensive range of his vocation. 

Not only was he the most influential pastor of our time, he was a son, husband, father, student, writer, and sage. 

Though all these titles surely mark waypoints along the geography of Eugene Peterson's soul, no description rings more true than this one:

He beheld the Presence of God.

Eugene fell in love with the Scriptures, but not from obligation to a religious hoop or as an abstract exercise in scholarship. No, he fell in love with the Scriptures as the space of face-to-face encounter with the Living God who pursued him.   

Winn Collier is the longstanding friend and author of Eugene’s provocatively honest biography, A Burning in My Bones. In Part 1 of this conversation, Winn invites us into the story of this modern sage whose life and way invite us all into Greater Presence. 

For the Kingdom,
Morgan