Last year, I spent some time pulling together letters from a correspondence I had with Eugene Peterson. I’ve been sitting on those letters for about fifteen years. The Peterson bubble has all but burst in popular evangelicalism, now that fascination with his Bible translation, The Message has died down, along with any celebrity he gained through association with Bono from the rock band U2. Some of the notoriety has also faded, when, near the end of his life, he affirmed and then denied the legitimacy of same-sex unions.
Today, what is left is the legacy of a pastor and writer who thought a lot about the Christian life and words and conversation. I was blessed to be able to enter into the conversation with Eguene near the end. In our short time of correspondence, I was given access to a treasury of mature reflection on pastoral ministry, the Bible, worship, and life in general.
I’ve put the letters together in manuscript form and have been thinking about publishing them as a book. I’ve only done a little bit of research on whether or not there is a market for such a book, but since the Peterson popularity craze is over, my suspicion is that there isn’t much of a market left. But I’m not primarily interested in capitalizing on the popularity of Eugene Peterson; I’m interested in keeping the conversation going and sharing the wisdom I received. If you think the book is worth publishing, let me know. Below are some pictures of the first few pages.
