Eugene H. Peterson Quotes

The end is where we start from. T.S. Eliot

~ Eugene H. Peterson

The church is the primary arena in which we learn that glory does not consist in what we do for God but in what God does for us.

~ Eugene H. Peterson

Action without prayer thins out into something very exterior. A prayerless life can result in effective action and accomplish magnificent things, but if there is no developed interiority, the action never enters into the depth and intimacy of relationships.

~ Eugene H. Peterson

Prayer is a way of language practiced in the presence of God in which we become more than ourselves while remaining ourselves.

~ Eugene H. Peterson

Spontaneities offer one kind of pleasure and taste of sanctity, repetitions another equally pleasurable and holy.

~ Eugene H. Peterson

Unlike mere action, prayer is not subject to immediate evaluation or verification. If we are addicted to results we will quickly lose interest in prayer.

~ Eugene H. Peterson

As we grow into maturity in Christ our distinctiveness is accentuated, not blunted. General directions, useful as they are, don't take into account the details that face us as holiness takes root in the particular social and personal place we are planted.

~ Eugene H. Peterson

Preaching reveals God in action here and now -- for ME.

~ Eugene H. Peterson

There is nothing more common than for people who want to talk about God to lose interest in the people they are talking to.

~ Eugene H. Peterson

We need alert listeners to give dignity to those stretches in our lives when we are not aware of participating in anything we think might be embraced by the kingdom of God.

~ Eugene H. Peterson

We do not become less needy, less dependent when we pray; we become more needy, more dependent, which is to say, more human.

~ Eugene H. Peterson

Christian discipleship is a decision to walk in his ways, steadily and firmly, and then finding that the way integrates all our interests, passions, and gifts, our human needs and eternal aspirations. It is the way of life we were created for.

~ Eugene H. Peterson

Cross and resurrection are the South and North polls, true gospel polarities, of a single, undivided, salvation world. Remove either Paul and you've got salvation.

~ Eugene H. Peterson

Isn't it interesting that all of the biblical prophets and psalmists were poets?

~ Eugene H. Peterson

You don't make your words true by embellishing them with religious lace. In making your speech sound more religious, it becomes less true.

~ Eugene H. Peterson

Without stories we end up with stereotypes -- a flat earth with flat cardboard figures that have no texture or depth, no INTERIOR.

~ Eugene H. Peterson

I have no interest in eliminating the tension between justice and forgiveness by taking justice off the table. Given the subtleties of sin and the persistence of evil, we would soon be living in moral anarchy and political chaos if there were no provision for justice.

~ Eugene H. Peterson

That's the whole spiritual life. It's learning how to die. And as you learn how to die, you start losing all your illusions, and you start being capable now of true intimacy and love.

~ Eugene H. Peterson

If you don't take a Sabbath, something is wrong. You're doing too much, you're being too much in charge. You've got to quit, one day a week, and just watch what God is doing when you're not doing anything.

~ Eugene H. Peterson