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Reviewed by Kenneth H. Carter Jr., senior pastor at Providence United Methodist Church in Charlotte, NC The Jesus Way: A Conversation On the Ways That Jesus Is the Way by Eugene Peterson The way that Eugene Peterson guides us into is the way of purgation, the acknowledgement that there are many roads to be taken. In the words of the Didache, there is a way that leads to death and a way that leads to life. Peterson is profoundly helpful in that he is acquainted with the roads so often taken by us: pathways that carry our cultural assumptions about hierarchy, consumerism and celebrity. In contrast, he is also immersed in a road not so often taken, the way of the Lord, anticipated by John the Baptist, and incarnate in Jesus. Eugene Peterson is the most significant pastor-theologian of his generation. Building on years of pastoral ministry in a local congregation, writing out of this experience for pastors seeking a spirituality that makes sense in a North American context, and then moving into the translation of the entire body of Old and New Testament writings, Peterson is now in the midst of a five-volume spiritual theology (the first two volumes, Christ Plays In Ten Thousand Places and Eat This Book have already appeared and have been previously reviewed on this site). Peterson’s work is substantial for many reasons: it is ecumenical and evangelical; it is prophetic without being moralistic; it is at once critical and appreciative of culture; it is conversational and confessional. His words live, and are descriptive of a living faith and a living church. The Jesus Way is first a study of six Old Testament figures who anticipate the way that becomes complete in Jesus: Abraham, Moses, David, Elijah, Isaiah of Jerusalem, and Isaiah of the Exile. In these figures Peterson locates differing aspects of the way: sacrifice (Abraham), language (Moses), imperfection (David), marginalization (Ezekiel), holiness (Isaiah of Jerusalem) and beauty (Isaiah of the Exile). Peterson is masterful in sending us back to these formative stories and persons, who provide the depth that is necessary to walk in the way that becomes the way of Jesus. For example, his reflection on Abraham moves beyond the moment in which he was called to sacrifice Isaac to a consideration of Abraham’s entire lifelong sacrificial journey, making spiritual connections between Mount Moriah and finally Gethsemane, as Jesus would later respond to the same call. The life of Abraham is of critical importance for North American Christians, Peterson insists. Why? “We need testing. God tests us. The test results show whether we are choosing the way of awe and worship and obedience (which is to say, God), or whether, without being aware of it, we are reducing God to our understanding of him so that we can use him” (page 54). The way of faith, Peterson notes, “is not the way to God on our terms; it is the way of God to us on his terms” (page 55). After reflecting on the six Old Testament figures, Peterson contrasts them with three contemporaries of Jesus: Herod, Caiaphas, Josephus. For different reasons, each of these men envisioned a way that differed from the way of Jesus, a way that led to death, and a yet a way that is very much an option for travelers in our own time. The Jesus Way is an imaginative commentary that connects Old and New Testaments, ancient teaching with modern struggle, biblical worldview with cultural assumptions. Now that I have read this work, I am challenged by the call not only to believe that it is the truth, but to let it become the way of life for me.
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