The Message: The Bible in Contemporary Language by Eugene H. Peterson

by Eugene H. Peterson

Genres: Christian, Nonfiction, Christianity, Theology

Paperback

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

[Jan]

Did a challenge to read in 30 days. Decided to listen to The Message as the point was to view the overall story vs specific in depth study. I really like the translation's phrasing for that. It brings home some points in straight talk. Took me just under 7 weeks to complete

[Talia]

I wouldn't recommend this as an everyday Bible but I found it encouraging and helpful for a full audiobook listen-through.

[Jessica Rupp]

An incredible labor of love from Eugene Peterson.

[David Evans]

I love The Message! Not because it’s the most accurate translation of the Bible, but because—for someone who has read the scriptures for many years—Peterson’s paraphrase is refreshing. Agree, disagree with his take on a given passage, but I really enjoyed the ride. He makes the Old Testament especially accessible.

[Sarah Calvin]

Like so many others on Goodreads, I found this to be a helpful tool to read through the Bible story in a short period of time. The readability made it possible. I’m excited to study the Bible with a new perspective!

Four stars for me - the loose translation of verses got distracting at times.

[Amy Soupiset]

This is my third time to read the Bible in one year. I use the app with Nicky and Pippa Gumbel. The best thing about this year was that I read the entire Bible in The Message translation which was really transformative for me. I can’t recommend this Bible reading plan enough!

[Sara Best]

The word of God is precious, and reading it is life giving. I have enjoyed this version many times. My first read through was in 2007.

[Erin Brink Hoffman]

Best book I ever read.
Thankful for the group of women who lifted me along the year long journey.

[Jed Sanford]

Not nearly as wacky a Bible translation as I was expecting.

[Kristina Mete]

I really liked this for my purposes of getting a more story-like telling of the Bible to read through in a shorter time. I wouldn't suggest it as study Bible, but it's a great accompaniment to one.

[Missyjohnson1]

read in conjunction with NKJV and CEV. I like the Message better than CEV need to update this to the online version

[Tim Martin]

It's the Bible. Nuff said.

[Michael E Brown]

Don't. Just don't.

[Cheryl Lowman]

This was an easy to read, paraphrasing of the Bible. I enjoyed it as an addition to reading The Bible.