Great review! Harsh but fair. Seems to me that many conservative christians embraced Peterson well before he started to (awkwardly) embrace Christianity. I think Peterson just found an eager fanbase and wanted to play into that. But when you use Christianity as a means rather than an end in itself, it’s probably not going to bear the type of fruit you want.
Jordan Petersons religious critized by New agey recent convert Paul Kingsnorth. What would Jesus say about it.. Interesting times.
Peterson is trying hard to stay in the same place now. I predict he gets more ridiculous or he converts. I think that's where he's at. The 2 alternatives aren't mutually exclusive of course.
I haven’t read his new book, I am planning to (in all likelihood over Christmas), and so my pushback may be premature and unwarranted. Nevertheless, I have the sense that recent criticisms of Peterson in this vein overlook at least two points. The first is that the topic and mode of inquiry must naturally result in less concrete prose. We are here dealing with multiple modes of thought across history and their various attempts to commune with the divine. As such, we will be spending less time with the purely propositional. Secondly, Peterson is what he is — a psychologist-cum-Jungian-prophet. He isn’t making the same claims from the same mountain as the brilliant Paul Kingsnorth. But the points he is making are both interesting and valuable nonetheless. Especially for those who struggle to make the final leap into faith, someone like Peterson does a marvellous job interpreting Christianity through the secular lens, taking things so far that the lens tends to crack, thereby reminding materialists that it is in fact a lens. If anything, this sort of criticism points more to your spiritual and psychological growth. Good for you. But there are plenty of people who can still benefit from the good doctor as a kind of gateway drug.
(I do agree with you on the AI front, about which I am much more dubious).
I saw the Paul Kingsnorth lecture on YouTube, it's very good and, yes, an excellent example and antidote to the more secular Peterson movement, as it's turning out (personally, I think his friendship with Shapiro & Netanyahu has been a failing of his character). And, as a South Dakota, I am well aware of Charies Eastman's history, so many stories to tell, and of his family, his personal 6 children with Elsie Goode, trying to raise them in that conflicted culture and eventually his marriage falling apart as there were problems on both sides, so much sadness it seems.
Great review! Harsh but fair. Seems to me that many conservative christians embraced Peterson well before he started to (awkwardly) embrace Christianity. I think Peterson just found an eager fanbase and wanted to play into that. But when you use Christianity as a means rather than an end in itself, it’s probably not going to bear the type of fruit you want.
Jordan Petersons religious critized by New agey recent convert Paul Kingsnorth. What would Jesus say about it.. Interesting times.
Peterson is trying hard to stay in the same place now. I predict he gets more ridiculous or he converts. I think that's where he's at. The 2 alternatives aren't mutually exclusive of course.
I haven’t read his new book, I am planning to (in all likelihood over Christmas), and so my pushback may be premature and unwarranted. Nevertheless, I have the sense that recent criticisms of Peterson in this vein overlook at least two points. The first is that the topic and mode of inquiry must naturally result in less concrete prose. We are here dealing with multiple modes of thought across history and their various attempts to commune with the divine. As such, we will be spending less time with the purely propositional. Secondly, Peterson is what he is — a psychologist-cum-Jungian-prophet. He isn’t making the same claims from the same mountain as the brilliant Paul Kingsnorth. But the points he is making are both interesting and valuable nonetheless. Especially for those who struggle to make the final leap into faith, someone like Peterson does a marvellous job interpreting Christianity through the secular lens, taking things so far that the lens tends to crack, thereby reminding materialists that it is in fact a lens. If anything, this sort of criticism points more to your spiritual and psychological growth. Good for you. But there are plenty of people who can still benefit from the good doctor as a kind of gateway drug.
(I do agree with you on the AI front, about which I am much more dubious).
Great piece!
https://open.substack.com/pub/billionairbear/p/jordan-peterson-and-me?r=1g5bw0&utm_medium=ios
Please restack
I saw the Paul Kingsnorth lecture on YouTube, it's very good and, yes, an excellent example and antidote to the more secular Peterson movement, as it's turning out (personally, I think his friendship with Shapiro & Netanyahu has been a failing of his character). And, as a South Dakota, I am well aware of Charies Eastman's history, so many stories to tell, and of his family, his personal 6 children with Elsie Goode, trying to raise them in that conflicted culture and eventually his marriage falling apart as there were problems on both sides, so much sadness it seems.