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Jordan Peterson is the mild-mannered Canadian professor of clinical psychology who was flung into the limelight of controversy after he stood up against neo-Marxist compelled speech laws in Canada in late 2016. The professional political hitmen of the left descended upon him and thought they had an easy kill. Little did they know that they had stumbled on an intellectual giant.
Through the leftist efforts to “assassinate” his character, they alerted millions of people across the world of his existence. Now he is a YouTube star and his latest book 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos has become the biggest Canadian bestseller of all time.
The Great Uniter
The usual suspects formulaically call him “divisive”, “hateful” and “racist.” The opposite is the case. He has managed the impossible feat of uniting people across genders, races, religions, and politics.
Most notably, he has created a new wave of interest in Christianity. Atheists are flocking to his lectures to hear about the psychological significance of the biblical stories, and Christians – including pastors and theologians – are doing the same to learn about the evolutionary underpinnings of morality and divinity.
The Bible Rebooted
Christianity has been losing ground to materialism for a long time. The question has always been how much will be left after the wave of science has washed over religion. Many – certainly so-called progressives – feel that there will be nothing left.
Peterson has shown that there is more to the Bible stories than meets the eyes. A story that is told and retold for thousands of years can only survive if it touches something common and ancient in all humans.
The Discovery of the Future
At some point in the distant past humans discovered that by giving up something in the present, they could gain something better in the future. According to Peterson, the future is the greatest discovery in human history.
However, there is a great tension between our animalistic perceptual self and our abstract conceptual understanding. To our bodies, the future doesn’t exist. There is only now. Therefore, even if we understand on an abstract level that we will benefit in the long run, it involves actions that our flesh experiences as sacrifice.
This tension between the flesh, which lives in the present, and the spirit, which is oriented towards the future, is the theme of the archetypal hero story.
The Divine made Flesh
The story of Christ is strange but enlightening. It begins with Jesus as God – the Word – made flesh. Even at the outset, this is an intriguing premise: the embodiment of an eternal divine truth.
As we have already seen, there is a tension between the body and the spirit. Fitting something eternal into a finite body involves a conflict that is experienced as a corporal sacrifice. The passion of Christ is the heroic overcoming of the obstacles of the present in achieving salvation in the future.
Pick up your cross, and carry it
In the Passion, Christ must voluntarily accept the burden of carrying his cross. He does so with a future goal in mind. He is trying to achieve salvation by taking on the responsibility of living in the world.
However, to do so is painful, and to succeed, part of his present self needs to die so that his future self can benefit.
Ultimately, the Passion is a triumphant story. Christ emerges victorious, having overcome his challenges. The moral of the story is: take on voluntarily as big a burden of responsibility that you can carry. If you do that, you will be rewarded with the experience of meaning, the feeling of purpose to your life.
A Popular Message
In this nihilistic era of short-term hedonism and materialism, Peterson’s retelling of the Biblical stories is finding a huge audience. What is even more interesting is that a growing number of people attracted to his lectures identify themselves as left-leaning. As such, he could be having a greater long-term effect on the political landscape than the usual political debate. The result could very well be a resurgence of a renewed Christianity in the West.
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28 Comments
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Nat_Leer_Bal
Jordan Peterson is the canary in the secular coal mine.
I don’t think he is as good for Christianity as he is bad news for secular materialism. His theology is too fragmented and he falters on cornerstones of the Christian faith e.g., the resurrection.
On the other hand, he is very good at revealing secular materialism as a hollowed out farce that leads to just one thing: no moral foundation, which in turn leads to the slaughter of millions in the name of whatever the “worthy” group cause or gripe may be. Nevertheless, he does offer a “Christian” alternative that non-believers would never have heard from the Church. But, since Jesus Christ is indeed God come in the flesh the Christian stories are much more than mere evolutionary archetypal narratives…
ClintonN
Great article. As an atheist I wanted to share more on Peterson with my Christian friends. This is an excellent reference. What helps is his insistence on staying away from the superstitious aspects of Christianity, which as been a barrier in our past conversations.
Edrie Scisciani
I truly appreciate your article! I just believe the moral of the story is something else. Rather than believing that Christ died for our sins on the cross that we might be saved and therefore we should take on as much responsibility that we can carry to find meaning and purpose in life…we must believe in our hearts in the completed work of Christ on His cross and therefore carry whatever cross He has allowed in our life to be carried on our shoulders as we follow Him and His word the Bible. The meaning and purpose of our lives is to reflect Him to a dying world…to those desperate for the thrush. There is no greater meaning and purpose in life than to join with Christ in sharing His simple yet profound message of eternal salvation through Him…alone. Blessings to you!
Sue Smith
Great article. “Intellectual giant” indeed. The Left is in a tailspin and, as Jordan says so eloquently, “the frightened dog barks a lot”.
Leesa K. Donner
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[email protected]
I love Dr. Peterson. He is a light in a time of great darkness.
Pandeism Is Possible
Pandeism proposes that the Creator of our Universe wholly became our Universe, and we are all part of it — expressions of its undying desire to experience the fullness of existence. And so, in Pandeism, we have a deep motivation to treat other people as if they (and we) were lost fragments of our same Creator!! The interpretation of Christianity proposed above could neatly be absorbed into Pandeism, and fuel its continuing growth. Blessings!!
daznez
‘The result could very well be a resurgence of a renewed Christianity in the West.’
pretty sure Jesus predicted this in the olivet..
‘sign of the times.’
Hawkesbay
Refreshing to read an article about the professor that isn’t an ideological hit-piece. Thank you.
Onar Åm
Thank you. Jordan Peterson is an important intellectual in today’s barren ideological landscape.
Bonnie W
One way to tell how important Peterson’s thinking is, is to read all the recent hit pieces that are aimed at him. Oddly enough, I haven’t come across any that are effective critiques of his ideas.
Onar Åm
I have looked for valid critiques. I have some of my own, but they are only minor tweaks that do touch his general framework. All the critiques are banal and ineffective because his philosophy has a solid foundation. You are right that he would not be attacked unless he was considered dangerous, i.e. effective in distrubting the leftist agenda.
Anonymous
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Wiffle
I love the Jordan Peterson phenomenon. He is what apologetics is supposed to be. He’s taking Christianity to the people, in their language. Mortal sin is a helpful shorthand when I’m talking to other believing Catholics. It’s just emotional baggage and a turn off when I’m talking to someone who has never set foot in a church. Very good article, thanks. 🙂
Lars Jøran Nordberg
Love this post! 🙂
Guest
Onar Åm
I think that apart from the psychological and mythological re-telling of the stories, his most significant contribution in this regard is that he has “secularized” sacrifice and altruism away from its self-abnegating academic version and rendering it into a species of self-interest. This version of Christianity, for instance, is consistent with Ayn Rand’s Objectivism and her concept of Rational Egoism.
Wiffle
I get a little twitchy over Ayn Rand, as much as I like the the novels of hers that I’ve read. 🙂
But as practicing Catholic, I will offer up that what you see in modern Christianity, particularly in Catholics is not particularly well, Christian. I’ll be honest, culturally at this point in time, we’re communists, almost flat out. There are conservatives out there like me, but we don’t have the bull horn or the Priesthood, for the most part. It’s even worse in Europe.
Catholics in particular have prioritized a salvation by works mentality over the overall picture of what’s in the Gospels. There’s a sense that we owe poor people our (or rather other people’s) stuff, our lives, and our time. The rejection of salvation by works is perhaps Ayn Rand’s greatest observation in the books I’ve read, even though she didn’t phrase quite that way.
While all Christians are called to help the poor, every Christian needs to be crystal clear that nobody earns their way into Heaven and slavery to even noble causes such as helping the poor is quite unnecessary. Works only display faith and love, just as you’re willing to buy flowers for someone in the hospital. Growing them yourself or mortgaging your house to fill the room or attempting to make sure every sick person has flowers everyday doesn’t prove “extra” love and it is self defeating.
Onar Åm
I think Ayn Rand’s reaction to the academic version of altruism/sacrifice is absolutely correct. In the original meaning, sacrifice was always an orientation towards the future, even in those cases when the future was in the next realm. However, people like Kant and Compte have distilled this concept to mean self-abnegation for no benefit at all. This is a moral evil. I think that Ayn Rand did much to rectify this, and Peterson does the same, only within the framework of Christianity (and psychology of course), which is great.
Lori Tinnion
Nobody earns their way into heaven. Thank you for this point. By Christ’s sacrifice we are redeemed
BeFirmBeFair667
Well stated. I think that the point that you are moving for is that Christianity compels the individual to serve the poor and the oppressed rather than shift the responsibility to the government who will invariably retard wealth accumulation as it expands oppression in the name of “equality.”
Bonnie W
Peterson did read Rand as a young man, before he went to university. But I’m not at all sure he has been influenced by her thinking.
Onar Åm
I think he is far more influenced than he thinks. I am pretty sure that Rand was his first step away from socialism as a young man, but he was not content with her psychology or atheistic philosophy, so he developed along similar lines in a Christian path. His understanding of sacrifice is very similar to Rand’s rational self-interest.
John G.
Truth* being dependent on whether you live.
Anonymous
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