Reflective Review of Ron Dart (ed.), Myth and Meaning in Jordan Peterson: A Christian Perspective (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2020), 210 pages.

It may well be that the tide of Dr. Jordan Peterson’s rise as a social phenomenon has crested and begun its wane. After a long career as an academic and therapist, we witnessed this fascinating Canadian become a major media celebrity-villain, uber-selling author, and then recede into treatment to overcome his dependency on prescription medication. While his opponents might wish him the worst, the man is an expert on improving resiliency, so I wouldn’t plan for his exit prematurely.

The truth is, Jordan Peterson is more than a polarizing influence: he’s a living Rorschach test. I learn almost nothing about him by reading his fans or opponents. But I can certainly infer a fair deal about them. And frankly, it got old. One couldn’t even mention him on social media without a firestorm of devolving shitfits. How’s that for a mixed metaphor? Having actually read the man’s books and listened to his lectures, I would argue that Peterson says almost nothing that validates his alt-right sycophants or arms his far-left critics. He did, however, serve to hold the mirror up to fascist groupthink on both ends of left-right spectrum ideology. And, well … yawn.

While his recovery and the pandemic give us a breather from the hyperbolic blowhards, it’s a treat to read a calm and scholarly work that reflects on Peterson’s real thought. Ron Dart has edited a fresh collection of essays titled Myth and Meaning in Jordan Peterson. Ten clear-minded assessments without a hint of slather or anxious body odor.

At the same time, the peace isn’t boring. I’m very intrigued by what Christians make of Peterson’s elusive faith and his non-denial denials thereof. Unlike C.S. Lewis or Tolkien, there’s no chance that the Evangelical tribe will be able to project themselves onto his thought to co-opt him for their agendas. Yet ironically, who else has reinvigorated interest in the Bible and tempted millennials to re-examine faith in Canada more than Jordan Peterson? Ex-church agnostics were filling large halls to hear him ramble on about archetypes in the Book of Genesis for endless hours. Now that was newsworthy. I’ll say it: for good or ill, Jordan Peterson has been, by far, the most effective evangelist in our nation for many decades. A striking accomplishment for someone who is self-consciously agnostic and heterodox. But that’s part of the appeal, no?    

Back to the book. I may as well drop the table of contents here:

Contents

    “Introduction” by Ron Dart

1. “Jordan Peterson and the Chaos of Our Secular Age” by Bruce Ashford
2. “Jordan Peterson the Counter-Revolutionary: Marxism, Postmodern Neo-Marxism, and Suffering” by Hunter Baker
3. “Language and Freedom: Jordan Peterson as Champion of Free Speech (and Freedom from Compelled Speech)” by Alastair Roberts
4. “Myth, Memoricide, and Jordan Peterson” by Ron Dart
5. “Archetypes, Symbols, and Allegorical Exegesis: Jordan Peterson’s Turn to the Bible in Context” by T. S. Wilson
6. “Jordan Peterson’s Genesis Lectures: Interpreting the Bible between Rationalism and Nihilism” by Laurence Brown
7. “The Image of Christ: Jordan Peterson as Humanist” by Esther O’Reilly
8. “Professor Peterson, Professor Peterson: What Is Your View on … Science and Religion?” by Esgrid Sikahall
9. “A Kierkegaardian Reading of Jordan Peterson” by Stephen M. Dunning
10. “Being and Meaning: Jordan Peterson’s Antidote to Evil” by Matthew Steem and Joy Steem

Myth and Meaning is well-written, thoughtful, and transcends the tired rhetoric, propaganda, hagiography, and misinformation that’s made “the historical Peterson” harder to locate. Each of the authors approaches their topic from within their own wheelhouse and applies their expertise to coolly interpreting a facet of his thought where they may be as competent or more so than he is. I found the book charitable and “true” if there’s such a thing in our age. I mean that its affirmations and critiques, whether accurate or mistaken, were consistently thoughtful and, more importantly for Peterson, in good faith. He deserves at least that. Everyone does.

I won’t annotate each chapter, but I would like to express enthusiastic kudos to Ron Dart for orchestrating this impressive ensemble. And I especially want to laud T.S. Wilson’s work in his chapter on “Archetypes, Symbols, and Exegesis.” It outshone the essay I had hoped to contribute on “Peterson’s Affinities to Patristic Interpretation.” Ron had kindly invited me to the table at a time when I knew I was unable to pull together something worthy of the volume. But I’m gratified that Wilson far exceeded the very best I could have offered. Well done, Taylor!

The secondary literature on Peterson is already expanding exponentially and will no doubt continue to grow. But unless readers are planning to accumulate a large collection, for my money, Dart et al’s Myth and Meaning in Jordan Peterson would be my go-to first recommendation.