Behind the Name
Eugene & Jan Peterson
Peterson House is named after Eugene (1932-2018) and Jan (1935-2019) Peterson. In their lives and marriage they faithfully led the church, academy, and others to be more engaged with the Bible, a text that should be accessible, understandable, and life changing. Eugene Peterson is best known for The Message translation of the Bible, but also served as a longtime pastor in Maryland, as well as a prolific and engaging writer, professor, theologian, and poet. Jan was a consummate champion of Eugene’s ministry and also engaged the church and students.
Eugene and Jan’s marriage of 60 years often gave space for creating and making room for others. Whether this was a student, parishioner, faculty member, friend, or the world famous musician Bono, the Peterson’s style of welcome felt as if it was Christ himself saying, “come.” Their son, Leif, on behalf of the Peterson family, graciously agreed to our naming of this space for this purpose. Our hope at Peterson House is to carry on this important mission of the church and do our part of helping people consume the Word that changes everything!
We are excited for what Winn Collier is doing at Western Theological Seminary in Holland, MI. Winn is the Director of the Eugene Peterson Center and Associate Professor of Pastoral Theology and Christian Imagination. Winn was chosen by Peterson to write his biography. We are grateful for Peterson’s concession to have this done as in the early moments of thinking about a biography, Peterson said it made him tired. The Spirit soon gave Peterson the energy needed for telling a story, his story, about what lit the fire in his belly and how that vision for ministry was shaped. We highly recommend Winn’s telling of Eugene’s story to you in, “A Burning in My Bones.” This book was released in March 2021.