Prof. Jordan B. Peterson

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What does CAF think of Canadian Professor of Psychology Jordan B. Peterson? I have been watching his lectures on the Bible and he seems to be really forcing his way into the phenomenology of the narratives. It’s quite interesting. Also, he is a great combatant of leftism on college campuses. Any thoughts?
 
An academic, in Toronto, daring to oppose political correctness? That’s one courageous throughtcriminal! 👍
 
He is a very interesting and courageous person.

He’s not right on everything, but he’s got a lot of things right, and he’s extremely articulate!

Definitely would recommend much of his material.
 
I saw him on Crowder a few times. I really like him. I didn’t know he talked about the Bible a lot, though.
 
I’ve watched his entire 2017 Maps of Meaning lectures and they are incredibly captivating. He is an amazing champion and advocate for Western culture and Christian thinking and one of the most articulate human beings I’ve ever listened to. I especially like his lecture on Cain and Abel and how philosophically and psychologically people choose to go on each respective path. He also states that the modern scientific method of thinking was built upon Western-Christian foundations, and how this modern way of thinking is currently trying to destroy that same foundation…and that this can be completely disastrous.

I also love when he says “Life is suffering, just look at the Christian God…crucified. That is right!” And how you should take up on your own cross and overcome the pain and evil in the world. His stance on postmodernism is solid, SOLID. I would recommend many of us to watch his lectures on this and the neo-marxism that has polluted contemporary Western culture.

I do caution though, as a Catholic, you should take a lot of things he says with a grain of salt. Note that he is looking at faith, religion, God, the bible through a very specific psychoanalytical lens, NOT theological. I am unsure if all of his work can be reconciled with good Catholic teaching, it is something you have to carefully consider while watching his lectures and not fall blindly into it by the rhetoric. One example can be when he makes a connection between other religious mythological anthropology and history and how this was, for the lack of a better term, “replicated” in Christianity (i.e. Isis and Horus vs. Mary and Christ child).

In conclusion, he is very courageous, and an exemplar of a Western man fighting the murderous ideologically possessed new-marxists-postmodernists. His videos are 100% worth watching, but always keep in mind that he approaches faith in a scientific manner and not theological. I don’t believe he is Catholic (since he has not openly confessed his faith), and he has stated that he “acts as if God existed” but cannot give a direct answer for if he believes there is a God…it’s all highly complex, so I’ll let y’all come to your own conclusion about him…“roughly speaking”. 🙂
 
His videos on the Psychological Significance of the Biblical Stories are awesome. I’ve learned a lot from watching him.

I watched another discussion on Youtube between Rachel Fulton Brown (fencingbearatprayer.blogspot.com.au/) and Jonathan Pageau, an Orthodox artist:
youtube.com/watch?v=aQSLPmZQ8sI

It was interesting that they thought that Jordan Peterson was pushing people (back) to Christianity from the ‘outside’. I think a lot of atheists wouldn’t take what he says about religion seriously if he explicitly said he was a Christian.
 
He is a true hero. Great man. I enjoy his lectures and him on the Joe Rogan podcasts. Very intelligent man indeed
 
I’ve been listening to his lectures on the bible stories and I’m absolutely loving them.

He’s been very hesitant to talk about his personal religious stance. It seems to me his appreciation of Christianity is mostly in the realm of psychological significance, and he’s hesitant to, say, claim that Jesus was literally God and rose from the dead in actual history. But he speaks about it all with such depth and profundity I can’t help but think he’s on the brink of a conversion. Here’s praying! 🙂
 
I think that Jordan Peterson is largely correct in his critiques of contemporary culture and philosophy, and in his critiques on New Atheism, such as found in Sam Harris and Richard Dawkins. However, his particular brand of psycho-social structures is too Jungian and his philosophy in general is overly Pragmatic in approach for my taste as a Catholic and armchair philosopher. It makes sense because he has expressed aligning with both of those on a handful of occasions.

While I appreciate his approach to critiquing the downfall of the 21st century mind, there is something I can’t quite put in words yet that makes me uneasy about how approaches morality, values, religion, etc…
 
MJDorry said:
I think that Jordan Peterson is largely correct in his critiques of contemporary culture and philosophy, and in his critiques on New Atheism, such as found in Sam Harris and Richard Dawkins. However, his particular brand of psycho-social structures is too Jungian and his philosophy in general is overly Pragmatic in approach for my taste as a Catholic and armchair philosopher. It makes sense because he has expressed aligning with both of those on a handful of occasions.

While I appreciate his approach to critiquing the downfall of the 21st century mind, there is something I can’t quite put in words yet that makes me uneasy about how approaches morality, values, religion, etc…
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Could your uneasiness be because he’s not Catholic?

I heard him debate Sam Harris once, and I think he got the last word in there—no disrespect to Harris, who is brilliant in his own right.

But at the end of the day, the great minds of era from folks on the skeptic side or from Shapiro to Peterson don’t have the RCC, and it will always boil down to that fundamental Truth.
 
alliWantisGod said:
He is a true hero. Great man. I enjoy his lectures and him on the Joe Rogan podcasts. Very intelligent man indeed
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He has a very powerful cognitive sense to go outside of the box. As MDorry said, it’s very Jungian in interpretation, but it’s a starting point to countering all of the nonsensical rhetoric out there.

Which really shouldn’t be a chore, certainly for Catholics, who have the entire Truth to be shared.

We just have to embrace it. 👍
 
SuperLuigi said:
Could your uneasiness be because he’s not Catholic?

I heard him debate Sam Harris once, and I think he got the last word in there—no disrespect to Harris, who is brilliant in his own right.

But at the end of the day, the great minds of era from folks on the skeptic side or from Shapiro to Peterson don’t have the RCC, and it will always boil down to that fundamental Truth.
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I think that certainly contributes to it, or just that he’s not Christian in any traditional sense. But it’s the consequence of his simultaneously being outside of religion on his unique way, and yet speaking with favor of the Christian religion that strikes me as containing a seed of danger.

He’s close to the real thing, but the angle is off, and as close as you are to a thing, perhaps even because of your closeness, the degree of deviation at which you approach that thing has the potential to be even more dangerous than if you just didn’t approach it at all.

I’m imagining taking a picture of something that you have to zoom in on. Well if you’re tightly zoomed, but even slightly off, it can make a vast difference and it can take quite a bit of effort and precision to find your object, as opposed to merely zooming back out, re-centering, and zooming it more carefully. And in Peterson’s case, I think he’s certainly aiming in the right direction, but he’s ultimately snapping a shot of divinity that isn’t on the mark, and that has the potential to do more damage than simply turning in the other direction.

Also, he tend to have this “frantic” (for lack of a better word) way of expressing his thoughts, which is a bit of a turnoff.
 
In his talks on the Psychological Significance of the Biblical Stories he has said he is purposefully not giving his religious opinions as that is not his area of expertise.
He discusses the psychological meaning of the biblical stories, but he stresses that that doesn’t imply there is no other meaning to them. I think it’s a valuable point of entry for atheists and agnostics. By hearing about the Bible in a different way that they can relate to, I hope it can serve to overcome some of the objections many people have to Christianity.
 
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