A Burning in My Bones

I’ve probably read close to 20 books by Eugene Peterson over the years – and some of them I’ve read repeatedly. He’s right up there among the authors whose work has most shaped my life. And I don’t just say that because we’re (probably) related.

Back in 2011, prompted by some interesting discoveries in his memoir, The Pastor, I wrote about the Hoilands of Stavanger, Norway – Eugene’s ancestors and mine.

Ten years later, it has been fun seeing those same Hoilands loom large in the early pages of A Burning in My Bones, the authorized biography by Winn Collier, director of the Eugene Peterson Center for Christian Imagination.

Collier’s admiration for the late Peterson is evident on every page of the book. And he’s a gifted writer whose prose is a joy to read. Fortunately, this isn’t hagiography, nor is it exposé. Instead, at least in the early chapters, it’s an exploration of the people, places, and events that made Peterson into the person he would become.

Given my impressions of the older, wiser, gentler man behind his later books, I’ve been struck by Peterson’s youthful ambition (angling to be student body president as a college freshman) and his occasional chutzpah (traveling cross-country to New York City and expecting to enroll in seminary without having bothered to apply).

Suffice it to say, the man who would eventually write A Long Obedience in the Same Direction took some strange detours to get there. I’m so glad we have this book. And I’m glad Winn Collier is the one to write it for us.

(Below, please enjoy my best Eugene Peterson impression.)