Leap Over a Wall: Earthy Spirituality for Everyday Christians

Leap Over a Wall is Eugene H. Peterson’s vibrant, insightful, and heartfelt exploration of one of the Bible’s most controversial figures: King David. Peterson beautifully elucidates the Old Testament’s rich depictions of David's failures and victories, recapturing their excitement and immediacy to reveal David himself as a crucially human example of how we relate to God.

This is an awesome book. Peterson explores the David story, from his first introduction to his death, and relates it to a modern day life. He focuses on one element at a time; for instance, when David is in the wilderness as a result of Saul's persecution. Then he paraphrases the story, weaves in psalms where appropriate, talks about the deeper meaning in each of these encounters, gets back to the story, back to our lives, and so forth, before ending with a summation that wraps up the big life lesson that David learned in this passage, and what we can take from it for our lives. He does hit on the big David moments, like Goliath and Bathsheba, but he also narrates a lot of the lesser known events, like Abigail's wisdom and beauty in the show more desert, and the generosity at Besor. I learned so much about the David story that I didn't know, simply because my attention had always been focused on the blockbuster stories before.

Also, the wisdom that Peterson imparts is really powerful. A major focus of this book is that God works in us and around us through the conditions of our life. We don't live in a vacuum. So even though David lived in a violent Canaanite land, where war and sex were a huge part of existence, David was still able to become God's beloved. God didn't make David wait until he was safely away from all the madness of the world around him - he worked in his life in every moment, every situation. How applicable that is to our society today. The point is that humanity, being truly human, all that we can be, is through God alone, and it happens right now, no matter what our context is. God can work through and with anything, and in doing so, can transcend it. Spirituality is true humanity.

A lot of the insight and Bible references in this book really helped me, especially as I was going through a rough period of depression as I read it. Plus, it pushed me into a thorough re-reading of I Samuel and II Samuel, and more reading of the Bible is always good. I love trying to understand how faith is lived out in daily life, and this book is right on the mark for that subject. show less

“Leap Over a Wall is Eugene H. Peterson’s vibrant, insightful, and heartfelt exploration of one of the Bible’s most controversial figures: King David. Peterson beautifully elucidates the Old Testament’s rich depictions of David's failures and victories, recapturing their excitement and immediacy to reveal David himself as a crucially human example of how we relate to God. A vision brought to life by one of the world’s most respected and influential theologians….Leap Over a Wall is a unique opportunity to reconnect with David, a man simultaneously admirable, soulful, and dark, and one of the most complex and vital characters of the greatest story ever written.” This book is found on the library shelves under the number show more 222.4/PET show less

I'm a fan of The Message and I appreciate Peterson's perspective in this book as I do in his translation of the Bible. That being said, I feel like this book starts with a bang and ends with a little of a whimper. As a Christian myself, I'm torn on the story of David. While I can appreciate the fact that it's a redemptive story - that we all sin and none of us are perfect, I struggle with the ease in which many Christians look to David's story as a literal blueprint for their own lives. "David fell short, so I can too. And hey, David was God's favorite, right?" There's fresh perspective here on David's story, for sure. Peterson points to ways in which David completes his story, sort of coming full circle with the way he lived his life. show more However, while he states that David's sins should not be minimized, the sentence literally has a "but..." in it. Certainly this is a worthwhile read. I imagine I'll continue to wrestle with some of the questions that came from this book. show less

Peterson is one of my favorite authors and I appreciate his expressive faith and deep spirituality. This book is very good but not, in my opinion, as good as many of his others. Having said that, it reads well and makes some excellent insights into David and his life as a springboard for exploring Christian spirituality.

Took me over a year to finish this book because I've been teaching it 4 or 5 lessons at a time in my Sunday School class. Like most of what Peterson writes, this is poetic and dense with meaning. I'm glad I read it slowly and had to study it because sometimes the complexity of the meaning didn't come through until a second reading. It is a book both Illumnating and challenging. Good stuff.

In this inspirational volume, Professor Eugene H. Peterson uses stories from David's epic life as vivid lessons in everyday faith and spirituality. Exploring David's experiences of friendship, grief, love, sin, and suffering, as well as sanctuary, beauty, and wilderness, he reawakens us to the enduring truths behind these beloved stories.