Eugene Peterson, The Pastor: An Appreciation
There are only two books that I have read more than twice. The first is Middlemarch by George Eliot and the second is The Pastor by Eugene Peterson. I was introduced to the work of Peterson by Rev Dr Will Storrar at a Retreat he led for Aberdeen University candidates for the ministry and their wives at Carberry Tower in 1995. Later, in 1997, it was my privilege to meet Eugene at another Retreat held in Crieff.
My appreciation of Peterson knows no bounds. I read his trilogy of pastoral theology (Five Smooth Stones for Pastoral Work; Working the Angles; Under the Unpredictable Plant) first when I was a student at Aberdeen in the mid 90s, and again when I spent a short sabbatical at the Royal Scots College in Salamanca in 2009. These books formed my pastoral vision and shaped the ministry I was given among the people of Cupar where I served as minister. I was and I remain a committed Petersonite.
I always wanted to know more about the man who had inspired me so much. Peterson’s autobiography appeared in 2011 and I devoured it in three evenings when I was in Pittsburgh studying for my DMin. Later, when I came home, I read it again deliberately and then again slowly.
Perhaps more than anything else Peterson, especially in The Pastor, provided me with an honest, realistic yet wonderful vision of the church and the calling I had received to get to know people and recognise them as participants in the story of God. He provided me with a new way of seeing people and a new understanding of church. In this way, he recalibrated my expectations of others and helped me appreciate and understand the calling I had received to be a pastor of a congregation of saints and sinners. Peterson facilitated a fundamental paradigm shift in the way I looked at the world so that I slowly began to recognise that grace is everywhere. He also gave me a love and a fascination of stories, the stories of people’s lives and the place we hold in the story of God.
Eugene was and will always remain among the most significant people in my life. Everyone who is called to be a pastor should take time to enjoy the company of this wise and gracious companion.
Rev Dr Ken Jeffrey, Co-ordinator Centre for Ministry Studies, University of Aberdeen
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