Eugene Peterson Has Completed His Long Obedience (KATE SHELLNUTT, OCTOBER 22, 201, Christianity Today)

His family released a statement on his final, joyful days earthside.

"During the previous days, it was apparent that he was navigating the thin and sacred space between earth and heaven," they stated. "We overheard him speaking to people we can only presume were welcoming him into paradise. There may have even been a time or two when he accessed his Pentecostal roots and spoke in tongues as well.

"Among his final words were, 'Let's go.' And his joy: my, oh my; the man remained joyful right up to his blessed end, smiling frequently. In such moments it's best for all mortal flesh to keep silence. But if you have to say something say this: 'Holy, Holy, Holy.'" [...]

Last year, in a Religion News Service interview about the end of his career in public ministry, Peterson told Jonathan Merritt that he was more curious than fearful of death.

"I have no idea how it's going to work out. But I'm not afraid, I'll tell you that," he said. "I've been with a lot of people who are dying. I think those conversations are some of the best I've ever had. These are people who have lived a good life and who have embraced their faith. They're not afraid."

Peterson's Bible paraphrase and writings on spirituality inspired evangelical leaders and laity alike. CT had described him as a "'shepherd's shepherd'--a pastoral writer who aims to keep Christian leaders grounded in robust biblical theology amid the din of shallow preaching aimed at self-improvement and megachurch marketing campaigns to 'do more.'"

He was the author more than 30 books, including the bestselling A Long Obedience in the Same Direction, where he explored discipleship and perseverance in the Christian life.

"Resurrection does not have to do exclusively with what happens after we are buried or cremated. It does have to do with that, but first of all it has to do with the way we live right now," he wrote in his 2012 memoir, The Pastor. "But as Karl Barth, quoting Nietzsche, pithily reminds us: 'Only where graves are is there resurrection.' We practice our death by giving up our will to live on our own terms. Only in that relinquishment or renunciation are we able to practice resurrection."

The Message was the second title in the history of NavPress to sell more than a million copies, and has gone on to sell 20 million.

"How does this Book, this Bible, reveal The Message of love to us? Is there a special God language to convey this special God love? Just what kind of Book is this? And how does the way this Book is written control and shape and affect the ways in which we read and understand it?" he said in an interview in 2002, when the complete paraphrased version was released. "These are important questions because the way The Message of God's love comes to us is exactly suited to the way God loves us."