Dr Jordan Peterson’s wrestling with God 

Why have Dr. Jordan Peterson’s videos been watched by almost a billion people since 2017? Other Canadians rarely have this kind of social media coverage.  His regular 8.56 million subscribers have been closely following his spiritual/psychological journey regarding the meaning of the Bible. God seems to be using him to soften millions of young people to the gospel and even to do the ‘unthinkable’ – attending church. In Peterson’s new book, We Who Wrestle with God, he has become absolutely fascinated with the Bible and its shaping of western culture: …the biblical corpus, the compilation of drama that sits at the base of our culture and through which we look at the world… is the story on which Western civilization is predicated.

In this book, he throws down the gauntlet to Dr. Richard Dawkins and the new atheism. The biblical stories are maps of meaning. These maps function at the psychological, scientific, and spiritual levels. True meaning is found in narrative, particularly the biblical accounts. Being made in God’s image is Peterson’s core theological and psychological starting point. The Bible reveals a true moral order that can be ignored and subverted at our own peril. The voice of conscience is very close to the voice of God, the still small voice: “…the possibility of establishing a relationship with God by attending to conscience.”  This will result in people being “in some sense reborn and become new people.”

The name Israel, given to Jacob, means wrestling with God.  Peterson sees this wrestling with God as our true destiny that we are wise to embrace. To refuse this call is to hide our light under a bushel and embrace hellish chaos. Will Peterson help bring about a revival of biblical marriage instead of living together? This book helps young people realize that marriage is not just a piece of paper but rather is a deep-rooted covenant involving the very core of our social identity. As he says, “why would anyone with any sense not want their sexual relationship consecrated?” To embrace the responsibility of marriage and family is to choose a life-giving adventure. God appears to approve of sex, if only in the context of consecrated, covenantal relationships – but, of course, why would it be otherwise?

Peterson speaks of Jesus revealing his divine identity during the Transfiguration. He moves back and forth seamlessly in discussing the Old and New Testament. The Kingdom of God is a major theme in his book. “Elijah is delivered into the Kingdom of God.” Christ as King of Kings is “by definition, the spirit or essence of sovereignty, its very embodiment.”

In his book, he uses the metaphor of ‘upward’ for spiritual connection with God and societal transformation. As Peterson mentions, “life is well portrayed as a series of uphill journeys.” Upwards for Peterson is about aim and purpose versus nihilism and despair: “We aim at the upward target we deem central…” Upward represents the Promised Land. Carrying our cross and embracing suffering is the Upward path of adult maturity: To “pick up the cross” – that means to voluntarily face the reality of mortality and malevolence and to struggle uphill nonetheless.

Aim and character development are deeply connected: “character is nothing more than the habitual embodiment of aim.” Where we aim is all about voluntary sacrifice: “the sacrifice that makes such aim possible…” Without such sacrifice, society becomes ruled by sexual hedonism and tyranny.  Covenantal Kingdom faith is all about upward sacrifice: This is an act of faith as well as one of sacrifice: faith, because the good could be elsewhere; sacrifice, because in the pursuit of any particular good we determine to forgo all others.

Because Peterson is Jungian, he both embraces the gospel and perhaps redefines it subjectively: God himself does the same with his son, a sacrifice played out as the Passion of Christ – an offering and transformation that brings about the end of the dominion of death, harrows hell, and reconciles the sinful progeny of Adam to their heavenly Father.

At face value, it looks as if Peterson is affirming Jesus as God’s Son, who sacrificed his life for us on the cross, breaking the power of death and sin.  Does Peterson’s new love for the Bible and Jesus trump his allegiance to Jungian psychology?  Does he believe that Jesus physically rose from the dead?  Has he encountered Jesus in a life-transforming way?  We hope so. If so, he may become the next C.S. Lewis for our very lost generation.