Eugene Peterson Quotes

From the May/June issue of Relevant, which I'm just now getting around to reading. These quotes are from the interview with author Eugene Peterson:

"We hate mystery. We're enamored with knowledge. We have incredible educational institutions, all getting a certain kind of knowledge that has to do with information and function. There is very little relational stuff goin on in there. If there's a problem, our first response is to find out what's wrong and find the technology to fix it. If we can't do that, we've failed. But most of life is a mystery."

"I like Vonnegut's line about writing--that it's like having a flashlight in your mouth in the woods, trying to find your way. Prayer is like that, too."

Q: I hear you don't own a TV.
A: "I own one. But it broke many years ago, and we never fixed it...When it broke, we started reading to each other and found it more satisfying...when I'm in a hotel, I'll turn it on and, within a few minutes, wonder why anyone looks at it at all...There are a lot of good novels, a lot of good poetry, a lot of good live theatre [after he'd already mentioned great movies with redemptive imagination in a previous question]. I think television is pretty much a wasteland. TV has done as much as anything to degrade and corrupt the American imagination. Lowered it, in fact."

Have at it, patrons!