One book I REFUSED to read while working on my forthcoming introduction to Proverbs was Jordan Peterson’s Twelve Rules for Life. I didn’t want to be influenced by it nor tempted to respond to it.
I am not sure I even knew who Peterson was when I began working on my manuscript. I became aware of him during the process (of course!) and, at one point, when I was studying something Proverbs says about speech and “deep waters,” I noted the theme was in line with the subtitle of his book.
“Jordan Peterson, call your office,” I thought.
Last week, I ordered the book finally and plan to blog my way through each chapter. I hope it will be a worthwhile project.
Peterson, as everyone knows, is not a Christian. I’ve been disappointed from some reactions to him on the part of Christians who almost seem bothered that he might have something valuable to say.
For now, I classify Peterson as one of the “wisdom writers” during Solomon’s reign.
And God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding beyond measure, and breadth of mind like the sand on the seashore, so that Solomon’s wisdom surpassed the wisdom of all the people of the east and all the wisdom of Egypt. For he was wiser than all other men, wiser than Ethan the Ezrahite, and Heman, Calcol, and Darda, the sons of Mahol, and his fame was in all the surrounding nations.
1 Kings 4:29–31 (ESV)
Obviously, this passage asserts the superiority of Solomon’s wisdom. Just as obviously, the passage doesn’t work if one wants to assert that it was a waste of time to read “all the people of the east and all the wisdom of Egypt.”Saying Solomon was wiser than them is meaningless if they were utter fools.
Likewise, I think treating Peterson like a waste of time is wrong-headed. The interest in Peterson demonstrates an interest in wisdom. We should be thankful for that.