Jordan Peterson Does It Again
"Exodus" couldn't be just like his Genesis Series but I think it could inspire a refresh of the art of lay Bible Study for the next generation.
The first two episodes of Jordan Peterson’s @jordanbpeterson “Exodus” are now out on @dailywireplus and I highly recommend them. Why? (I won't be able to do a video on this until next week so Substack will have to suffice.)
Jordan Peterson’s series on Genesis broke into the zeitgeist like a revelation. How could this suddenly outspoken Canadian professor of Psychology fill a theater in cosmopolitan Toronto with 2-hour-plus lectures about the Bible??!!
I was immediately drawn to it because I could see that like CS Lewis, he was making a way forward through the thorns and thistles of decaying modernity.
Because I struggled to find ministerial colleagues who were as excited as I was by what was happening around Jordan Peterson I decided to see if I could find some conversation partners via YouTube. What followed would transform my life and vocation.
I had hundreds of conversations on the Internet with people whose lives had been improved by watching JBP's online content. Many of these because of Jordan's work began exploring Christianity as a way to address what John Vervaeke coined "The Meaning Crisis".
This harvest was so large I knew I couldn't personally pastor it and most churches were either ill-equipped or uninterested to enfold these seekers so with the help of former CRC Minister John Van Donk I began to develop Estuary. https://www.estuaryhub.com/
Jordan Peterson had talked about following up his Genesis lectures with similar treatments from the rest of the Bible but this was pushed back for years by book tours, illness and the swarm of political drama that follows wherever he goes.
I was very concerned when he signed a multi-year contract with @dailywireplus that the Biblical Series project would be lost in the banalities of political punditry that I associated with the YouTube channel.
After what I saw as a few initial missteps @jordanbpeterson has seemed to have regained his footing and established for himself a production platform to facilitate even his more religious interests.
I knew it would be impossible to recreate the moment that was the first Biblical series. It very much had a hero's journey quality to it. One embattled man hiring a theater with his own money hoping people would come only to have every evening sell out...
My friend Jonathan Pageau had told me about his trip to Florida to discuss Exodus. Would this work? Could it work? Part of what was so special about the first Biblical Series was that it was Jordan's own ideas disconnected from the complex schools of Biblical scholarship.
Having now seen the first two episodes of what they've produced I'm very happy with the results. While it can't be "just like" the Genesis series it improves on it in a number of ways.
Jordan Peterson has managed to better inform his Biblical reading without blunting his own fresh observations. The goal isn't to contribute to modernist Biblical scholarship but to refresh the practice of lay Bible study.
It has the sort of wild and diverse qualities that the best Bible studies have to offer. Here with an interesting cast of diverse perspectives contributing connecting regular people to hear the Bible speak to them in their contexts.
I can imagine this Exodus series inspiring thousands around the world to try their hands at this, helping to once again refresh our culture by having this sacred text once more ignite our spiritual imaginations.
I think Jordan Peterson has managed to again pull a rabbit out of a hat and offer the world and the church something deeply helpful even when it looked to many that his ability to contribute might be spent.
For me the Exodus series looks worth the price of admission to @dailywireplus and I look forward to seeing what God does next through Jordan as his unlikely journey continues.
I'm always fascinated by the fence straddlers who's commentary runs hot and cold depending on whether or not any particular pundit is aligning with their personal views and biases... Like the story of Exodus itself Jordan's new chapter began by leaving his old land of Academia and placing himself under the authority of a more powerful entity that would save him from the famine and starvation being imposed upon him from the old world...., perhaps like the Jews he describes he will have prosperity for a few centuries and grow and multiply until that system attempts to kill his creations and he is forced to flee through the sea and into the desert. Undoubtedly his fair weather friends and those clinging to his coattails for fame and profit will come and go... Peterson is one of the few honest actors in this drama and those that criticized his decisions know far less about where his true north is than they think they do.
I agree this is Jordan Peterson at his best. Paul, for Christians that have been part of local churches with small group Bible studies (like myself), it’s honestly quite amusing to see these high power intellectuals sitting around a table with Bibles open doing what’s basically a “small group”. A couple of the highlights for me: Jonathan Pageau’s insight on the de-masculinization of the Hebrews, a mother’s compassion being correctly placed, and the danger of wearing shoes!