A Long Obedience in the Same Direction: Discipleship in an Instant Society

Seventeen publishers rejected this manuscript.

Peterson recalls being informed that "there was no 'niche' in the market, ... that it was irrelevant to the concerns of contemporary North Americans" (202). Who wants to purchase a book on Spiritual Growth with the words "long" and "obedience" in the title, anyway?

Fortunately, InterVarsity Press took a risk and published a book that spoke honestly about Spiritual Growth. Life with God is not a sprint—it's a decade-long path of obedience. Whether or not the message is popular is irrelevant: it's true.

This book is a meditation on the 15 Songs of Ascent (Psalms 120-134). Even at the beginning of his career, Peterson had a knack for taking ancient scripture with all its obscurity (Kedar? show more Meshech?) and making it deeply understandable and personal. As a pastor, I'm amazed at his skill. The modern applications he explores are so obvious in hindsight—but it takes someone like Peterson to point them out in the first place.

I don't recommend many devotional works. I'm probably too cynical, but I find that most of Christendom's best-sellers are little more than pop-psychology with a Christian veneer. This is not the case with Peterson. A Long Obedience in the Same Direction runs counter to the spirit of our age even as it aligns with God's paths.

I suspect this is one of those books that will be reprinted in perpetuity for the life of the church. show less

I read this book with high expectations, and maybe that was the problem. I would read sections and think I want this to be a YES! But it was much more of a yeah.
Peterson's translation of the Psalms didn't do anything for me at all. I kept referring to other translations. The chapters themselves were good, and the and the insights were good, there was even a few sections that really got to me, yet I think it was just the writing itself just never connected. Some authors are just like that.
In the end I wanted this to be rated higher, but it still just turned out to be a 3. A really good book for many but just good for me.

This is one of the best books about Christian faith I have read. Peterson draws his title from Friedrich Nietzsche, a most unlikely place. "The essential thing 'in heaven and earth' is... that there should be long obedience in the same direction; there thereby results, and has always resulted in the long run, something which has made life worth living." Peterson's premise is that today's marketing/tourist mindset has changed religion and how people practice it. He examines Psalms 120-134, the Songs of Ascent, and how they pertain to the "long obedience in the same direction" of Christianity.

Some quotes:

"There is a great market for religious experience in our world; there is little enthusiasm for the patient acquisition of virtue, show more little inclination to sign up for a long apprenticeship in what earlier generations of Christians called holiness."

"...I am quite sure that for a pastor in Western culture at the dawn of the twenty-first century, the aspect of the world that makes the work of leading Christians in the way of faith most difficult is what Gore Vidal has analyzed as 'today's passion for the immediate and the casual.' Everyone is in a hurry. The persons whom I lead in worship... want shortcuts. They want me to help them fill out the form that will get them instant credit (in eternity). They are impatient for results."

On joy- "We try to get it through entertainment. We pay someone to make jokes, tell stories, perform dramatic actions, sing songs. We buy the vitality of another's imagination to divert and enliven our own poor lives. The enormous entertainment industry in America is a sign of the depletion of joy in our culture. Society is a bored, gluttonous king employing a court jester to divert it after an overindulgent meal. But that kind of joy never penetrates our lives... When we run out of money, the joy trickles away."

"Western culture takes up where Babel left off and deifies human effort as such. The machine is the symbol of this way of life which attempts to control and manage... Machines become more important than the people who use them. We care more for our possessions with which we hope to make our way in the world than with our thoughts and dreams which tell us who we are in the world." show less

Perhaps inevitably I found some chapters of this book more helpful and comprehensible than others. However, Peterson's anecdotes are always real and down to earth, and an extra star for his quoting from my favourite author, Anthony Trollope.

This is the third time I've read A Long Obedience in the Same Direction, and it has the same kind of staying power - as does its author, Eugene Peterson - as it talks about. The book is not exactly a Bible study; it is more a scriptural meditation, which Peterson excels at and has done all his pastoral life. Reading it will teach one to read scripture prayerfully and carefully, with response all important. In 2000, the 20th anniversary edition was released with a little updating and Bible passages from Peterson's The Message instead of the RSV. The book is of historic interest, because it was in writing it that Peterson was led to embark on his paraphrase of the Bible which came out as The Message. It was also the first of about 30 more show more books of scriptural meditation/discipleship. I've read about 10 of his other books and they are magnificent. If you are a follower of Christ, and haven't read any Eugene Peterson yet, please do so!!!! show less

As always, Peterson hits it right on the head. In this book he walks us through the Psalms of Ascent, and how they point us to a path of maturity in Christ. This path is one that goes on for the whole of our Christian life, and is, to borrow the quote from Nietzche, " a long obedience in the same direction."

Peterson is a master wordsmith and story teller, and points out how we cannot be tour guides on our journey to Christ, but we must be pilgrims on our journey.

Through the psalms of Ascent he show us the areas we must master as travel as pilgrims to the heavenly land.

Discipleship
Repentance
Providence
Worship
Service
Help
Security
Joy
Work
Happiness
Perseverance
Hope
Humility
Obedience
Community
Blessing

This book is a treasure! Peterson uses the psalms of ascent to frame his discussion of living the Christian life and learning to live like Christ. Chapters explore topics such as hope, perseverance, community, joy, etc. I will read this one again and again!