Eugene Peterson Has Completed His Long Obedience

From Christianity Today-

Eugene Peterson has completed his “long obedience in the same direction.”

The Presbyterian pastor, best known for authoring The Message Bible, died today at age 85, a week after entering hospice care for complications related to heart failure and dementia.

Author Winn Collier first shared the news on Twitter. “My dear friend and pastor Eugene Peterson has died this morning,” he wrote. “The lantern is out, but the joy he carried with him to his final breaths endures. Eugene is now with the Triune God he has loved his entire life. Memory eternal.”

NavPress, publishers of The Message, confirmed Peterson’s death. His family released a statement on his final, joyful days earthside.

“During the previous days, it was apparent that he was navigating the thin and sacred space between earth and heaven,” they stated. “We overheard him speaking to people we can only presume were welcoming him into paradise. There may have even been a time or two when he accessed his Pentecostal roots and spoke in tongues as well.

More here-

https://www.christianitytoday.com/news/2018/october/eugene-peterson-died-message-bible-long-obedience-resurrect.html?fbclid=IwAR0p4Fo_mVkmEeaq_1l6qDqE2BfyqcSqhTEtYkTfI0qafDnsc3NY_j6K3vE

Eugene Peterson Enters Hospice Care

From Christianity Today-

“Every moment in this man’s presence is sacred.”

So concluded the son of Eugene Peterson in a weekend announcement that the 85-year-old retired pastor and bestselling author of The Message and A Long Obedience in the Same Direction is receiving hospice care.

Robert Creech, a professor of Christian ministries at Baylor University’s Truett Seminary, shared the announcement from Eric Peterson on Facebook.

“Eugene Peterson has encouraged, formed, and often literally saved the ministry of more than one pastor over the years through his writing and thinking (I would include myself in that list),” wrote Creech in a Saturday post now shared more than 1,000 times. “He has refreshed Scripture for many through his thoughtful paraphrase of the Bible published as The Message.

More here-

https://www.christianitytoday.com/news/2018/october/eugene-peterson-hospice-long-obedience-living-resurrection.html?fbclid=IwAR0qK9ApOFIAhZkREV59hS2_y77OZXlEDfH-8b_gemukb5V_Q1bW9plrKhI

Pity Eugene Peterson, the latest victim of social media's theology wars

From Premier-

The translator of The Message version of the Bible and well respected contemplative pastor Eugene Peterson caused quite a stir this week for his statements on gay marriage.

The retired pastor was asked by Religion News Service (RNS) during an interview: "If you were pastoring today and a gay couple in your church who were Christians of good faith asked you to perform their same-sex wedding ceremony, is that something you would do?" Peterson had given a one word answer: "Yes".

Cue much rejoicing from LGBT-affirming Christians. Praise was heaped on Peterson. He’d been so brave. On the traditional side there was sadness at another leading Christian who many perceived to have taken the easy way out and sided with the culture, rather than the Bible.

More here-

https://www.premierchristianity.com/Blog/Pity-Eugene-Peterson-the-latest-victim-of-social-media-s-theology-wars

Eugene Peterson Retracts Affirmation of Same-Sex Marriage

From Eugene Peterson's Literary Agent. Various articles can be found in links at the bottom-

Dear friends and supporters of Eugene Peterson,

Eugene is a long-time client of Alive Literary Agency who is best-known as the translator of THE MESSAGE Bible, and the author of the recent AS KINGFISHERS CATCH FIRE and numerous works on spiritual theology. You may be aware of his recent interview by Religion News Service on topics ranging from his mortality, current events and homosexuality. The interview—rare at this stage of his life at 84–was circulated broadly and generated significant controversy because of his one-word response to a very hypothetical question as to whether he would perform a wedding ceremony for a gay Christian couple if he were pastoring today—something he hasn’t done in more than a quarter century. In discussing the interview with him, he told me he was taken by surprise by the query, but that after a long and awkward pause, he responded with an uncharacteristic and simple yes.

On further reflection and prayer, as he says, he would like to clarify and change his response. He has asked me to circulate his revised statement as follows:

Recently a reporter asked me whether my personal opinions about homosexuality and same-sex marriage have changed over the years. I presume I was asked this question because of my former career as a pastor in the Presbyterian Church (USA), which recently affirmed homosexuality and began allowing its clergy to perform same-sex weddings. Having retired from the pastorate more than 25 years ago, I acknowledged to the reporter that I “haven’t had a lot of experience with it.”

Statement here-

http://aliveliterary.com/eugene-peterson-issues-revised-statement-following-religion-news-service-interview/

From RNS-

http://religionnews.com/2017/07/13/eugene-peterson-backtracks-on-same-sex-marriage/

Christianity Today-

http://www.christianitytoday.com/news/2017/july/eugene-peterson-actually-does-not-support-gay-marriage.html

Patheos-

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/revangelical/2017/07/13/eugene-peterson-retracts-affirmation-sex-marriage.html

Eugene Peterson on changing his mind about same-sex issues and marriage

From RNS-

When a journalist has a chance to interview a paragon of the Christian faith like Eugene Peterson, there’s a lot of pressure to pick the perfect questions. I’d asked him about why he was leaving the public eye and if he was afraid of death. I’d asked him about Donald Trump and the state of American Christianity. But there was one more topic I wanted to cover: same-sex relationships and marriage.

It’s one of the hottest topics in the church today, and given Peterson’s vast influence among both pastors and laypeople, I knew his opinion would impact the conversation. Though he has had a long career, I couldn’t find his position on the matter either online or in print. I did discover that “The Message,” Peterson’s popular paraphrase of the Bible, doesn’t use the word “homosexual” and “homosexuality” in key texts. But this wasn’t definitive proof of anything. After all, those words never appear in any English translation of the Bible until 1946.
More here-


http://religionnews.com/2017/07/12/eugene-peterson-on-changing-his-mind-about-same-sex-issues-and-marriage/