Eugene H. Peterson wore many different hats including scholar, linguist, and teacher. Behind all these, however, lay his most significant role: pastor. In Run With the Horses you hear Peterson at his pastoral best.

The title is taken from the prophet Jeremiah:

If you have raced with foot-runners and they have wearied you,
how will you compete with horses?
(Jeremiah 12:5 NRSV)

His point is this. We are made to run with horses but we get caught up and pulled down by the inanity of modern life. “We have celebrities but not saints. Famous entertainers amuse a nation of bored insomniacs. Infamous criminals act out the aggressions of timid conformists. Petulant and spoiled athletes play games vicariously for lazy and apathetic spectators” (11). Surely there must be more!

To this apathetic world, the cry of Jeremiah rings out. The divine word that became audible in Jeremiah’s words has been re-formed in Peterson’s. This book consists of sixteen meditations on various passages from Jeremiah that seek to wake Christians from their slumber. You can almost hear the pastor pleading with his congregation as you read the writing of this master word-smith.

Peterson was a prolific writer. His Conversations in Spiritual Theology are masterful, as are his earlier books on pastoral theology. This, however, is Peterson at his finest. His posthumous voice still rings clear.

Peterson, Eugene H. Run with the Horses: The Quest for Life at Its Best. InterVarsity Press, 1983.