For the Glory of God: An Evening With Jordan Peterson

Two weeks ago, I was beyond words privileged to attend Dr. Peterson’s Boston lecture on his “We Who Wrestle With God” tour. It has been two weeks and I am still processing the evening. And I still get tears in my eyes thinking back to it. Seeing Dr. Peterson speak in Boston and meeting him after was what Anne of Green Gables would have called “an epoch in my life.” Let me tell you about it. 

After watching many happy hours of their respective podcasts and learning so much from them both, it was an indescribable joy to get to see Tammy Peterson and Jonathan Pageau speak in person, providing an introduction and context for Dr. Peterson’s lecture. And I enjoyed every moment of Julian Peterson’s musical performance. But the moment when Dr. Peterson came out on stage and we in the audience all stood up to welcome him is a shining star in my memory. 

I didn’t watch Dr. Peterson’s projection on the screen. I didn’t take notes. I watched him. I did not take my eyes off him, the tall, thin, rosy-cheeked figure on the stage. And there’s no replacement for that immediacy. For the thrill when I first glimpsed him just off stage and realized he was wearing my favorite of the suit coats he wears and knew I was actually under the same roof with him. I did not want the lecture to end. 

Because I did not take notes of the lecture or the Q and A afterward,  I can’t provide a breakdown of what Dr. Peterson spoke about. But I can tell you that it was the best lecture of his I have ever heard. There is an immediacy, a kind of intimacy, to seeing him live that you simply don’t get from watching his recorded lectures. And I should know, I’ve seen all of them. 

We all have that one thing that Dr. Peterson taught us that changed our lives. Mine is that Dr. Peterson taught me that story matters. I am a novelist climbing the Alpine Path to success as a writer, which is a long, hard climb. It is very easy for me to succumb to my besetting sin of discouragement and futility. However, Dr. Peterson taught me the importance of a story and not just any old story. A deep story. His words gave me the encouragement, the backbone, the reason I need to keep writing. To get to hear him once again speak on the essential nature of story that night meant more to me than I can express. 

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My only critique of the lecture is that whilst telling the story of Abraham, which made me smile from ear to ear because I’ve heard him tell that story so many times I have it memorized, he failed to mention that Abraham was lying around eating peeled grapes in his father’s tent. Dr. Peterson disappointed me. He forgot to mention the damned grapes! I don’t feel that I got my money’s worth out of the lecture! (Dear reader, this is a joke made in the spirit of play. I’m teasing Dr. Peterson). 

All joking and fooling around aside, a common critique I have heard of Dr. Peterson’s lectures is that they are disjointed and that there are many parts of the lecture that do not fit together. Because I, like Dr. Peterson, am high in trait openness and my brain regularly makes connections and intuitive leaps that others find hard to follow, I can see where he is going and the patterns he is laying out in his lectures. 

I suggest that his lectures are like a great symphony. There is the allegro movement and the main theme of the symphony stated. But the following adagio movement, a slower and more thoughtful and perhaps sadder movement, may seem to bear no resemblance to the allegro and to be not even a part of the symphony. But then the final movement ties it all together, theme and variations, and weaves the disparate musical patterns into a harmonious whole. But only someone with an ear trained to appreciate a symphony will hear those patterns. 

I have been thinking a good deal about what it means to write, speak, and live for the glory of God. To write and speak and live in such a way that light is shed on the true nature of God, author of love and joy and peace so that people who have believed lies about God can see Him. It is to be a lighthouse in the dark night of this age. By that definition, Dr. Peterson spoke, that night in Boston, for the glory of God. 

I got to meet Dr. Peterson after the lecture. I was so shy that I dropped to the back of the line and very nearly could not go up to him when my turn came. But he was so gentle and tender with this shy one. Meeting him was like a reunion with an old and dear friend. There is simply no substitute for face-to-face, hand clasping hand, eyes meeting eyes. It is a sacred connection. Online, Dr. Peterson can come across as a curmudgeon. But face to face, he is an absolute sweetheart. 

If anyone is on the fence about spending the money to go see Dr. Peterson when he announces the next leg of his tour, probably this fall, DO IT. Go see him. If you love Dr. Peterson, you will love going to see him. 

Wrong Speak is a free-expression platform that allows varying viewpoints. All views expressed in this article are the author's own.