We Who Wrestle with God: Perceptions of the Divine

Well, Jordan Peterson on his best day isn’t easy to follow either in conversation or writing. The man is such a genius it seems he can’t control the narrow avenues of speech allowed to the rest of us mere intelligent beings. That said, this book is highly understandable. Where he uses Scripture he give a good explanation in addition to the reference. And Peterson understands the books of Scripture, all 77 of them in addition to extra biblical writings very well. He mainly approaches his subject from a human psychological perspective, since that’s his field. He has a huge heart and had a clinical practice in addition to teaching psychology at Harvard and then the University of Toronto. But Peterson is first a true scientist and wants hard data and evidence. He employs data brilliantly in his analysis of the books of Scripture and its overall sweep of meaning with elegance not found elsewhere. In addition to this book, there is an eponymous audiobook which I also highly recommend. Many times I’ll first read a paragraph or chapter, then listen to Peterson’s reading of it to get his nuance that I miss without his tone of voice, and then I’ll read it again on my own for a deeper understanding. And this is the type of stuff every human being craves to know. He poses the BIG questions of life that we all must strive to answer. Some people he says actually, sincerely and humbly seek the truth as the Gospel of St. Matthew states in 7:7 “Ask and it will be given. Seek and you will find. Knock and the door will be open to you.” These are the promises of Christ that Peterson shows with research to bear out in the real world daily in our lives no matter what we believe. His mastery of the subject matter is very impressive and he holds his own against the modern theological giants Bishop Barron, and Dennis Praeger and the like. Peterson has been studying the books that comprise Scripture for many years and has one of the best grasps for the secular world in this chaotic time. He also completed a video series called the book of Exodus in classroom dialogue setting with him as facilitator. He hand picked a few people he greatly respected from a variety of disciplines and beliefs. Now Peterson has just now completed a ten part series on The Gospels like he’d done with Exodus. If anyone wants to understand how to understand truth, meaning, purpose, goodness and beauty, there’s no better read than this. Peterson has such mastery over the subject of how we wrestle with God it’ll dazzle you and you will understand. No matter your beliefs. Highly recommended. It’ll be a modern classic in its genre. 5 stars

Best J. Peterson book by far. I could not put it down once I started reading it. J.P. really has gone indepth in his study of the first gospels and puts things into a eye opening perspective.

My wife bought this for me last Christmas. I've taught Bible for forty years and written a book on the Bible and self defense. Peterson's commentary on the Bible shows him as the most thought-provoking and inspiring biblical thinker since C.S. Lewis! His approach to the Scriptures is unique and serious. It took a month to read because his ideas lead his readers to stop and contemplate his conclusions and application of God's wisdom. He demonstrates why God has setup His relationship with mankind, and how each story has it's timeless lesson.by bringing in correlations with Scripture from fairy tales, great literature, philosophy, and other religions. Just as the many flood stories from cultures worldwide evince the certainty of the Bible's Great Flood, Peterson's examples enhance the reliability and personal relevance of the Bible for the reader. I recommend this book for Christians, Jews, atheists, agnostics, seekers, Hindus, materialists, Muslims, and lovers of philosophy. You may not agree with Peterson's conclusions, but you will have a fascinating and enjoyable time! I'm giving this book to friends. I'll bet you will too.

Jordan PETERSON‘s insights in this book are remarkable and deep. He brings forward vital concepts for today’s world and how we can each strive to be better and fulfill God’s purpose in our lives. It’s a deep book that brings together many elements of other ancient belief systems that could be seen to be the foundation of the Bible’s own narrative. Well done Jordan PETERSON.

Over the last several years, many people have tried to criticize Dr. Peterson for speaking about religious topics at great length while being somewhat opaque about his own religious views. When asked whether or not he believes in God, for instance, he often rejects the premise of the question rather than giving what people would consider a forthright answer. He has explained his reasoning there and I understand where he’s coming from, but I also understand why some people consider his responses somewhat unsatisfactory. I read this book in part hoping for a more nuanced exploration of Peterson’s own ”wrestling” with religious faith. The book largely isn’t that, however. It does contain some of those elements, and it will certainly give the reader a good sense of the character of Peterson’s thought on matters of religion, but it’s focused largely on the same kinds of scriptural interpretation through the lens of psychology for which he’s become well known. Indeed, though this book arguably goes deeper than his prior work, readers who have followed Peterson’s prior Biblical commentaries—particularly his lecture series on Genesis and his seminar on Exodus—will find much of the book, however fascinating and however well-written, largely familiar. That’s because the bulk of this book doesn’t focus on wrestling with God in a more personal or abstract sense but rather through the lens of the Biblical narratives themselves, beginning with Genesis 1 and continuing through the tale of Jonah (albeit leaving out most of the books in between). It certainly has an Old Testament focus, though Peterson remarks regularly on parallels between the tales upon which he’s focused and the Gospels. In terms of the quality of information presented, long-term readers (or listeners) of Peterson’s will not be disappointed. He takes great care to draw from a variety of disciplines when making his commentary, though the final product still maintains his trademark emphasis on psychological (and particularly, though certainly not exclusively, Jungian) analysis. In the past, some critics such as Richard Dawkins have accused Person of being “drunk on symbols.” And I suspect the same criticism stands here. While I find more value in symbolic interpretation than does someone like Professor Dawkins, even I remarked on a couple of minor points that Peterson might have been taking his symbolic thinking a step too far. Nevertheless, the scholarship is of high quality and offers the reader much to think about. Readers who have only read Peterson’s more popular 12 Rules for Life books may be somewhat surprised to find this is a substantially denser work that requires a lot more interaction on the part of the reader. It’s written in accessible language and certainly isn’t meant only for an academic audience, but at the same time, it’s clearly meant for readers willing to do the work of pausing between chapters—sometimes even between individual paragraphs—to deeply reflect upon what has been written. In that sense, I’d place it between Peterson’s popular “self help” style books and his extremely dense and academic Maps of Meaning in terms of both reading difficulty and philosophical depth. All in all, I’m not sure it’s Peterson’s absolute best work to date, but it is yet another thought-provoking read well worth one’s attention.

This book has been a mental yoga for me. But after reading this I find all other books really easy to read. Mr Peterson's mind is beyond what a normal human can comprehend. What a book, the longest I took to read a book. Must read.

Fantastic. Has really helped me to read and understand the Old Testament. Packed with interesting and insightful observations.

Great insight into the biblical stories and how they can be useful to understand the world and the character of God.

Bible meets the heroes journey, meets discipline is freedom. JP at its best. I recommend with great enthusiasm

Great book, many references to the Old Testament, which makes it sometimes a bit difficult to fully understand, as these parts draw upon old language. However, Jordan Peterson manages to establish parallels to the modern world, thus making it lively.