Quote

Jesus almost never talked in terms of explaining. He was always using enigmatic stories and difficult metaphors. He was always pulling people into some kind of participation.

Eugene H. Peterson

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

Eugene H. Peterson
Age: 85 †
Born: 1932
Born: November 6
Died: 2018
Died: October 22
Author
Bible Translator
Theologian
Translator
University Teacher
Stanwood
Washington
Art
Talked
Stories
Metaphor
Kind
Using
Always
Terms
Enigmatic
Never
Almost
Metaphors
People
Term
Explaining
Jesus
Participation
Difficult
Pulling

More quotes by Eugene H. Peterson

Image
I cannot fail to call the congregation to worship God, to listen to his Word, to offer themselves to God.
Eugene H. Peterson
Image
The role of the pastor is to embody the gospel. And of course to get it embodied, which you can only do with individuals, not in the abstract.
Eugene H. Peterson
Image
If you keep the Sabbath, you start to see creation not as somewhere to get away from your ordinary life, but a place to frame an attentiveness to your life.
Eugene H. Peterson
Image
Isn't it interesting that all of the biblical prophets and psalmists were poets?
Eugene H. Peterson
Image
Wisdom is the art of living skillfully in whatever actual conditions we find ourselves.
Eugene H. Peterson
Image
In high school I was very much involved in poetry. You cannot read a poem quickly. There's too much going on there. There are rhythms and alliterations. You have to read poetry slow, slow, slow to absorb it all.
Eugene H. Peterson
Image
Stories are verbal acts of hospitality.
Eugene H. Peterson
Image
The religious leader is the most untrustworthy of leaders in no other station do we have so many opportunities for pride, covetousness and lust, and with so many excellent disguises to keep such ignobility from being found out and called to account.
Eugene H. Peterson
Image
Pity is one of the noblest emotions available to human beings self-pity is possibly the most ignoble . . . . [It] is an incapacity, a crippling emotional disease that severely distorts our perception of reality . . . a narcotic that leaves its addicts wasted and derelict.
Eugene H. Peterson
Image
Prayer gets us in on what God is doing.
Eugene H. Peterson
Image
There is nothing terribly difficult in the Bible - at least in a technical way. The Bible is written in street language, common language. Most of it was oral and spoken to illiterate people. They were the first ones to receive it. So when we make everything academic, we lose something.
Eugene H. Peterson
Image
You're here to be LIGHT... Shine! Be generous with your lives.
Eugene H. Peterson
Image
I believe God takes the things in our lives - family, background, education - and uses them as part of his calling. It might not be to become a pastor. But I don't think God wastes anything.
Eugene H. Peterson
Image
All the persons of faith I know are sinners, doubters, uneven performers. We are secure not because we are sure of ourselves but because we trust that God is sure of us.
Eugene H. Peterson
Image
Exile (being where we don't want to be with people we don't want to be with) forces a decision: Will I focus my attention on what is wrong with the world and feel sorry for myself? Or will I focus my energies on how I can live at my best in this place I find myself?...'I will do my best with what is here.'
Eugene H. Peterson
Image
It is easier to find guides, someone to tell you what to do, than someone to be with you in a discerning, prayerful companionship as you work it out yourself. This is what spiritual direction is.
Eugene H. Peterson
Image
My job is not to solve people's problems or make them happy, but to help them see the grace operating in their lives.
Eugene H. Peterson
Image
The life of faith isn't meant for tourists. It's meant for pilgrims.
Eugene H. Peterson
Image
The minute the church and pastors start saying what do people want and then giving it to them, we betray our calling. We're called to have people follow Jesus. We're called to have people learn how to forgive their enemies.
Eugene H. Peterson
Image
Neither the adventure of goodness nor the pursuit of righteousness gets headlines.
Eugene H. Peterson