Product Description

Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places reunites spirituality and theology in a cultural context where these two vital facets of Christian faith have been rent asunder. Lamenting the vacuous, often pagan nature of contemporary American spirituality, Eugene Peterson here firmly grounds spirituality once more in Trinitarian theology and offers a clear, practical statement of what it means to actually live out the Christian life.

Writing in the conversational style that he is well known for, Peterson boldly sweeps out the misunderstandings that clutter conversations on spiritual theology and refurnishes the subject only with what is essential. As Peterson shows, spiritual theology, in order to be at once biblical and meaningful, must remain sensitive to ordinary life, present the Christian gospel, follow the narrative of Scripture, and be rooted in the "fear of the Lord" — in short, spiritual theology must be about God and not about us.

The foundational book in a five-volume series on spiritual theology emerging from Peterson’s pen, Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places provides the conceptual and directional help we all need to live the Christian gospel well and maturely in the conditions that prevail in the church and world today.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #15680 in Books
• Published on: 2005-02-03
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 368 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. One of Peterson's early books, long before his blockbuster Bible paraphrase The Message, was titled A Long Obedience in the Same Direction. This pastor, professor and writer has lived up to the promise of that title, consistently producing books of uncommon eloquence that explore the Christian life through the lens of scripture. In this volume, the first of a projected five, Peterson lays the foundation for "spiritual theology." Following the biblical languages, he asks readers to consider "how our perceptions would change if we eliminated the word 'spirit' from our language and used only 'wind' and 'breath.' Spirit was not 'spiritual' for our ancestors; it was sensual." Beginning with an account of Gerard Manley Hopkins's vivid poem "As Kingfishers Catch Fire," Peterson goes on to employ his own considerable gifts as a writer to uncover the sensual, concrete realities behind biblical texts from Genesis to Revelation. These nuanced and convincing readings help frame the three areas where Peterson sees Christ at "play": the beauty of creation, the tragedy of history and the beloved, bewildering community of the church. "The single most important thing to understand in spiritual theology is that it is not about theology... it is a cultivated disposition to live theology." Rich, generous and wise, Peterson's "conversation" will help readers at every stage of faith to live their faith more deeply. (Mar.)
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From Booklist
In this first and foundational volume of a five-volume series, Peterson rescues spirituality from both its ancient connotations of cloistered monasticism and its modern contamination with self-help boosterism and neopagan recreation. No dogmatic catechist, Peterson invites his readers into a true dialogue--speaking and listening in turn--that opens up Christian spirituality as a lived reality. Though grounded in scripture and in Trinitarian doctrine, the spirituality Peterson would foster is deeply experiential, intensely felt as a growing awareness of both transcendent miracles and intimate connections. That growth comes not through personal achievement but rather through selfless submission to the divine presence, memorably described in the Gerard Manley Hopkins poem from which Peterson takes his title. Allowing the Lord to play in us, Peterson promises, will nurture receptivity to the wonders of creation as we recognize in Christ's birth the revelatory key to the universe and as we reverence the Sabbath as a weekly day of renewal. Richly ecumenical, Peterson's reflections will attract Christians from diverse affiliations. Bryce Christensen
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

About the Author
Eugene H. Peterson, author of the best-selling contemporary translation of the Bible titled The Message, is professor emeritus of spiritual theology at Regent College, Vancouver, British Columbia. His other books include The Contemplative Pastor, Five Smooth Stones for Pastoral Work, Subversive Spirituality, Take and Read, Under the Unpredictable Plant, The Unnecessary Pastor, and Working the Angles (all Eerdmans).

Customer Reviews

A good, thought-provoking book by a knowledgeable theologian and educator..
Eugene Peterson is a very knowledgeable theologian and educator. He is thorough as well as very good at covering his topic from several different viewpoints and with a variety of "word-pictures" and sidelights on his topic. This book provided a very good basis for an online faith formation discussion I participated in.

A vibrant and concrete God-focused life
A vibrant and concrete God-focused life. That is Eugene Peterson's vision for the Christian life, a vision that he lays out in Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places: A Conversation in Spiritual Theology. This profound yet conversational book gives readers a glimpse of what a spirituality focused on Christ may look like, with a careful anchoring in the Scripture and in the Triune God, with an ever-living fear-of-the-Lord permeating every move of our lives.

In today's world, spiritual and theology are not words that are too often combined. There is no shortage of books on spirituality in some form or another, and neither is there any lack of books on theology, either biblical or systematic. But too often books on spirituality lack grounding in the person of Christ, and equally as often, books on theology get no further than doctrines or systems of thought. Eugene Peterson, in Christ Plays in Ten-thousand Places, elegantly combines these two streams into a tightly-knit pattern. He describes this synthesis as the conjoining of the two streams that have occupied his professional life, those of professor and pastor.

There can be little doubt that Peterson has a keen eye for just the right turn of phrase and metaphor. He opens the book with the poem from which its title comes, and uses these perceptive words from the poet Gerard Manley Hopkins to provide the occasion for, and in fact give life to, his exercise in spiritual theology. The vision of Christ "playing" in ten thousand places, "Lovely in limbs" and "eyes not his." We were made for a life in Christ, made to be in relationship to this Triune God, made for his presence to live in and through us.

Peterson unfolds a four-fold vision for his spiritual theology, a vision he then unpacks in three cycles throughout the book, echoing the Triunity of God as a vision for creation, history, and community. His vision entails a spiritual theology, and in fact a spiritual life, oriented around four terms, "spirituality," "Jesus," "soul," and "fear-of-the-Lord." "Spirituality" means a spiritual life that is truly alive, a life that is both in touch with the transcendent yet "vaguely intermingled with intimacy" (27). This is a life that is genuine, vibrant, experienced. "Jesus" points to a life that is concrete. In opposition to so much spirituality that focuses on vague impressions and abstraction, Jesus truly anchors our faith and life in the concreteness of history, the revelation of God to humanity in intelligible and meaningful form. "Soul" intimates the relational character of this spiritual life. God is a Triune God, a being-in-relationship, and we have been created in God's likeness and have been called into relationship with this Triune God. For Peterson, "soul" is set over against "self" as we realize the fullness that is found not by being curved in on ourselves but in opening the totality of our being (the "soul") up to relationship with the other, and ultimately with the Triune God who invites us in our entirety into relationship with him. Finally, "fear-of-the-Lord" speaks of the God-focused nature of this life. In cultivating a life lived this way, we live "responsively and appropriately before who God is, who he is as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit" (40). These four terms form the core of Peterson's vision, and point to the vibrant life-in-relationship to which he invites us, a spirituality that is truly informed, or better, formed, by Christ and lived in him.

Peterson then moves through this four-fold vision in three cycles, in response to the Triunity of this God who forms our spiritual theology. Through each cycle, he perceptively illuminates the world in which we live, with a very adeptly and subtly applied theological vision that at once informs the entire work without taking it over. He also speaks of pitfalls and obstacles that often result from distortions of the vision he is seeking. The core section of each chapter is its grounding in scripture, with extended reflections on two texts for each of the three cycles to give shape and anchor to his reflections. He then concludes with a reflection on the lived dimension of the truths he has been exploring, giving flesh to his visions of the Christian life through explication of symbols and acts such as Sabbath, Eucharist, and Baptism.

"The end of all Christian belief and obedience, witness and teaching, marriage and family, leisure and work life, preaching and pastoral work is the living of everything we know about God . . ."(1). Peterson shares, through these pages, his blueprint for a life so lived, a life lived to the glory of God. This means living a life of congruence "between what a thing is and what it does" (334). We find this congruence, through Christ's example, when we realize we were created to live in Christ, and seek to live out that design. In our world where spirituality is so often self-focused, where we are told to look inside, told to seek self-fulfillment, Peterson shares with us a contrasting vision, the vision of a live oriented toward God. This means that we are called to participate and to live out this life, but it is a life of "prepositional participation" (335) as we are called to act "with," "in," and "for." We stand not at the center, but are always oriented outside of ourselves, oriented with the fear-of-the-Lord toward God our Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer, the God of creation, history, and community.

Peterson's book is one that I hope many will find time to read. His deep theological insight lends a profound depth to his reflections and truly models the type of "spiritual theology" he commends. The book also demonstrates the devotional and God-oriented focus he prescribes, as his pages so eloquently reflect a prayed theology. In the end, this is really a book about orientation, and it is just the prescription our wandering world needs to hear, myself clearly included. Many can get focused on self, others on theology, others on inclusion, at the expense of God. Peterson helps us shift our focus to the author of life, the worthy God, the end for which we were created, and points us toward a life where Christ plays. It is a jubilant vision of God-focused life, and an expression of what theology, when rightly done, may be.

Not a user's manual
The earlier reviewer is right: This is not a user's manual. Peterson doesn't explain his ideas with straight, clear prose. Rather, he waxes poetic and writes rather circularly, going round and round a point well after it is established, but not necessarily shedding new light on it each time. But then, that shows my preference in style; others apparently really like it.

I think the book also is for the already-converted, those already familiar with his basic ideas and who share his assumptions. It is not for the non-Christian or the non-traditional Christian, especially since it seems to define "the spiritual life" (rather than "a spiritual life") only in Biblical terms, despite the spiritual practices and wisdom of many non-Biblical faiths.