Eat This Book

A Conversation on the Art of Spiritual Reading

By: Eugene Peterson

Narrated by: Grover Gardner

Eugene Peterson is convinced that the way we read the Bible is as important as that we read it. Do we read the Bible for information about God and salvation, for principles and "truths" that we can use to live better? Or do we read it in order to listen to God and respond in prayer and obedience?

The second part of Peterson's momentous five-volume work on spiritual theology, Eat This Book challenges us to read the Scriptures on their own terms, as God's revelation, and to live them as we read them. With warmth and wisdom Peterson offers greatly needed, down-to-earth counsel on spiritual reading. In these pages he draws readers into a fascinating conversation on the nature of language, the ancient practice of lectio divina, and the role of Scripture translations; included here is the "inside story" behind Peterson's own popular Bible translation, The Message.

Countering the widespread practice of using the Bible for self-serving purposes, Peterson here serves readers with a nourishing entrée into the formative, life-changing art of spiritual reading.

©2006 Eugene H. Peterson (P)2007 christianaudio.com

Why Read The Footnotes?

Eugene Peterson is one of my all-time favorite authors, and pastors. I have been deeply influenced by his work. This is a great book, however, the author reads each footnote reference; breaking the cadence, and rhythm of the book. I was unable to finish listening to it because of this distraction. I will purchase a hardcopy to finish it.

Regret: Listen to Sample FIRST

I was excited to hear this book as I had read it years ago and LOVED it. However, the reader sounds so snooty I couldn’t bear to listen. This is a book of COMPASSION of our God and needs to be read with passion.

Most helpful book on translation!

This is the most helpful book on translation I have ever studied. Truly made me understand it to its deepest and most human core. It's a must read for anyone interested in Bible translation and the many ways it's done and promoted today.

Ohhhh!! What an Eye Opener!

I have read the Word for years and finally I can see that it is alive! life giving and for every day life.

Thank you for the extraordinary work that was done to write this book.

His grace is sufficient.

Good audio version of an excellent book

Peterson has helped many people to better understand the Bible by making the language more approachable. In this book, he spends time explaining why he was led to create his well-known Message version of the Bible and also how he approaches reading and understanding scripture. His writing is understandable and works well as an audio book as he tends to write in down-to-earth language. It is the same approach he uses for translating the Bible itself. This is definitely worth the time.