A Conversation With Eugene Peterson

· Why is Bible reading important?

It is important – there has got to be a stronger word that important. The whole Christian premise is that God has entered into our world and spoken. The Bible is his words. And if that in fact is what is going on, it is important to listen to it. Scriptures are the most accessible and immediate way of hearing that voice, listening to the voice of God.

· How do practices like lectio divina impact Bible reading? Do you use a specific practice for your own study of Scripture?

Lectio divina encourages you to pray what you’re reading. It is the difference between reading the Bible for information and reading the Bible for experience. It’s like reading a love letter, deepening and exploring relations. It’s not the kind of reading encouraged today when we are sitting in school studying for exams or reading the newspaper to see what happened yesterday.

As for me, I basically do a long, slow, prayerful reading of Scripture early in the morning.

· Do you have a profile of the average reader of The Message? Did you write for a particular type of person?

Not really. I wrote out of my own pastoral experience. I had a small congregation, a mixed group – half and half really – half of the people had never been to church, never heard about God and the other half had grown up in the church. I thought I was writing for new Christians, but I have seen such a response from Christians whose ears are dull to the revolutionary impact of the Word of God. I am surprised at the Christians who are hearing the Bible again for the first time. Biblical language in their language makes people think it was spoken to them today.

· Do you miss being a pastor?

Absolutely. Definitely. Being a pastor allows you the privilege of seeing the intimacy and the inner drama of people’s lives. It is endlessly interesting. Every day you have a front row seat watching what God is doing in people’s lives.

· Why do you believe the Bible should be read in a conversational, relational way?

The Bible should be read conversationally because that’s the way it was written. It came out of the local culture from named people, specific personalities and definite geographical areas. The whole Christian/Jewish world is intensely personal. Those who read the Bible in its original languages see its personal tone, but it loses that experience, the common experience of men and women, in many translations. All translations, especially early translations, were conscious of this. Translations throughout the years have become more formal, and thus less relational.

The Bible is written in the same language used to talk to neighbors, talk to family. This is the language God uses to speak to people during Biblical times; this is the language we should use today.

· How do you see readers using Conversations: The Message with its Translator? How do the extra readings and contemplative sections complement The Message as a translation?

I want to invite readers into my own conversation with the text during 50 years of reading, teaching, preaching and through my conversations with others about the Bible. I hope it would bring about personal transformation in many people’s lives, taking the Bible from remote and authoritative and get them into the conversation.

Hopefully, the added material will draw others in. I hope people will take my reflections and prayers and add their own. If two people are talking in a room and a third or fourth person enters, eventually he or she will want to get into the conversation. I hope that will happen with this Bible.

· Why do you believe The Message is so popular?

It astonishes me that it is. It totally surprises me. I got a call a couple of months ago from a man. There was no small talk, just him saying, “I hate The Message. Why did you do this?” I steadied myself for more. Then he added: “I liked the Bible a lot better when I didn’t understand it.”

Maybe our culture has become secularized and people are not used to hearing the word of God in their own contemporary language. And they say, “Oh, this is what it means.” People hear the Bible in a voice that is personal, a part of the culture, and it takes people by surprise.

· Who are some of your favorite authors?

My favorite authors, that is hard to say. It’s like saying which are my favorite children. Dostoevsky as a novelist. Karl Barth as a theologian. Miloszc has been important as a poet. Wendell Berry has been important as a contemporary Christian giving importance to the presence of God.

# # #

August 2007

Conversations: The Message With Its Translator

By Eugene Peterson

Price: Hardback $39.99, Leatherlook, $69.99

Pages: 2,016

Trim size: 6 x 9 3/16

Release Date: September 2007

Formats: Hardcover and Leatherlook

Hardback ISBN: 1576839591, ISBN-13: 9781576839591

Leatherlook ISBN: 1600061990, ISBN-13: 9781600061998

For sample chapters, contact Jana Muntsinger, McClure Muntsinger Public Relations:

281-251-0480, jana@mmpublicrelations.com