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Liz's avatar

I’d like to understand WHY a few individuals who share Peterson’s worldview (for the most part) are so critical of him - dismissing him as charlatan or simply a clever wordsmith, but adamant that he has nothing to offer - no substance. Or worse that he’s deceiving and “dangerous.” I have a hard time understanding where they’re coming from here. I feel Peterson’s influence, body of work, engaging, articulate lectures and authenticity proves his worth. Maybe they are just trying to get noticed by being “against” him.

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The Antipole's avatar

You are correct that men gravitate towards Peterson's message of meaning and responsibility in a world awash in the meaningless nihilism of post-modernism. Unfortunately the word "meaning" encompasses an impossibly huge idea like "God"

Peterson spoke with moral clarity and conviction and against the relativistic rot that has settled into the western institutions, especially the church. I've long been bothered by the character and ethos of the American suburban church in particular and the church in general. It's hard to describe the problem exactly, but I'm always left with this vague constellation of impressions - as if the church doesn't really believe its message; as if the church secretly thinks, or at least suspects, the scientific materialists / evolutionists are correct; as if the church feels guilty about its moral teachings and is afraid to take a moral stand; as if the church secretly prefers and is chasing after worldly things but must do so under false pretenses; as if the church doesn't understand that it cuts its own legs out from under itself when it accepts at face value many modern (and post-modern) presuppositions about the world and truth - and thus seems to start belief in God by swallowing a contradiction. I think all of that can be summed up in the idea that the Church doesn't seem to understand its own message nor believe in it. Peterson seemed to talk about God, the Bible, and faith in a way that made it come alive, have relevance, have intellectual credibility, and have meaning.

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