Earth & Altar: The Community of Prayer in a Self-Bound Society

by Eugene H. Peterson

Book by Peterson, Eugene H.

Genres: Prayer, Nonfiction

175 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1985

About the author

Eugene H. Peterson was a pastor, scholar, author, and poet. For many years he was James M. Houston Professor of Spiritual Theology at Regent College in Vancouver, British Columbia. He also served as founding pastor of Christ Our King Presbyterian Church in Bel Air, Maryland. He had written over thirty books, including Gold Medallion Book Award winner The Message: The Bible in Contemporary Language a contemporary translation of the Bible. After retiring from full-time teaching, Eugene and his wife Jan lived in the Big Sky Country of rural Montana. He died in October 2018.

Reviews

[Gretchen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another classic from one of my favorite thinkers and writers. A book best savored slowly, chapter by chapter, over and over, and I will return to it often. Written in the 80’s I think, but still soooo applicable today. I’ve noticed that happens a lot with Peterson’s work.

[Jason Kanz · Rating 5 out of 5]

I honestly cannot think of any of Eugene Peterson's books that I have not liked. He is a gifted writer and exegete of Scripture and society. On the dawn of a new presidency, this book now 32 years old, presents an exceptionally wise read. Focusing on 11 different Psalms, Peterson focuses on our self-centeredness as a society and prayer has the means of addressing our self-centeredness. Highly recommended. In fact, I would highly recommend this book just for the first 2 1/2 pages of chapter 1.

[Jeff · Rating 4 out of 5]

I got this book because of a Substack article that I read back in September of 2024, written by Winn Collier, the author who wrote a most excellent biography of Eugene H. Peterson, one of my all-time favorite authors. This is the first publication of the book, and it was later re-released, in 1993, with the title, Where Your Treasure Is. I read that book in 2018, so I have read this material before. Ironically, I gave it four stars that time, as well.

I just read my review of that book, and there is not a lot I would change, but my emphasis is different this time around. I am currently in the middle of a major spiritual overhaul that began a couple weeks before reading this book. So my focus is different, this time around. And, I dare say some other parts of my outlook have changed since 2018, as well, although I think the shift had already begun.

In Earth & Altar, the emphasis is well-defined by the subtitle, "The Community of Prayer in a Self-Bound Society. The book was first published in 1985. Forty years later, it still reads like it was published yesterday. But I have to wonder what happened to all the people he referred to in the beginning of the book, that are doing the hard work of prayer. Peterson, himself, passed away in 2018, roughly a month after I read Where Your Treasure Is. The world was instantly a sadder place.

In this book, Peterson selected eleven psalms, and each of the eleven chapter titles begins with the word "unself." Chapter 1 is the exception, but not by much, titled "The Unselfing of America." Right off the bat, he quotes Alexis de Tocqueville, who visited the US 150 years before, and said, "Each citizen is habitually engaged in the contemplation of a very puny object, namely himself."

A few sentences later, Peterson says, "America is in conspicuous need of unselfing. . . . we have a self problem and that problem is responsible for everything else that is going wrong."

We then proceed to look at Psalms 2, 87, 110, 93, 46, 62, 77, 14, 82, 114, and 45, with titles "The Unselfing of America," "Unself-Made," "Unself-Centered," "Unself-Help," "Unself-Assertion," "Unself-Pity," "Unself-Righteous," "Unself-Serving," "Unself-Sufficient," and last, but certainly not least, "Unself-Love."

This is a powerful book that most definitely deserves a re-read with deeper attention paid to it. It also serves to make the reader quite uncomfortable along the way, dishing out some hard truths about the self and our relationship to our Creator, our neighbors, and our world.

I recommend this book to anyone desiring a deep look at their own self and heart. I don't recommend this book for "light" reading. And it is most definitely suitable for Lent, which begins in two days from the writing of this review.

[Bill Hooten · Rating 4 out of 5]

As most Eugene Peterson books have a tendency to be (at least to me), this volume was a little wordy, and difficult to read. The material was outstanding, but Peterson has the ability to use words that I am not familiar with, and to be a little too philosophical. In a series of lesson from different Psalms, Peterson proceeds to talk about the need for America to "unself" itself. Of course, we all realize what he means by that, even if we have never heard it described that way. There is no one better than Peterson at digging it to the Psalms, and bringing out material that I had never thought of before. If you are into the Psalms, are want to be. I would advise you to start with Peterson.

[Pamela Strickland · Rating 5 out of 5]

It didn't start out as accessible as other books by Dr. Peterson, but it was well worth the perseverance to forge ahead into his brilliant treatment of corporate and personal growth through prayer. There is nothing dated about this book. It reads like it was meant for today. Very prophetic, or timeless, depending on your perspective.

[Jesse · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a Powerful book. Written decades ago it is still so relevant it could have been written for today. It calls us to prayer, and not just private but corporate and communal prayer as the way forward in our hyper self bound self focused society. It has, above all, convicted me to pursue a more robust and faith filled prayer life. Read it.

[Marcus · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredible read. It's out of print, get a copy if you can find it. His words from 1985 are just as true for this society that celebrates self absorption.