“For better or worse, the story is the thing” states Jordan Peterson in his new book We Who Wrestle With God. “For better or worse, the story on which Western psyches and cultures are founded” is the library that makes up the biblical corpus — it is “the foundation of the West, plain and simple.”

With this book, Peterson sets out to demonstrate God’s living relevance to our lives as individuals, to society and even to civilisation. Through the often turbulent journeys of Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, Abraham, Moses and Noah, he convincingly does just that. As he cites the protagonists’ brief tales and reflects on their conduct, we get a clear sense of how these ancient accounts are interwoven into every aspect of Western culture and how they are inscribed deep into our psyche. Without knowledge of these stories, our understanding of Western culture, art, literature, thought and even our perception of morality would be limited.

Peterson makes it clear that he is not out to prove the existence of God or preach the practice of religion. It is our conduct, more precisely the potentially devastating impact of our actions that concerns him. “The ancient stories are not an argument for the existence of God” he explains, “but a description of what is to be held properly in the very highest of places, so that the continuation of man, society, and world may be ensured.” So it is the manner in which we carry ourselves that concerns Peterson — our ability to strive high, choose good over evil, resist hedonistic temptation and make sacrifices when needed.

Peterson contends that the Bible is about each and every one of us — it is “not only of God, whose imitation, worship, or, indeed, embodiment is held to be the highest of all possible aims, but of every man and of woman — at every moment of crossroads we are fated to wrestle with God.” But what does that mean? It means living up to our responsibilities, not falling for narcissistic selfishness, soul-destroying hedonism or false pride.

Furthermore, he explains that the instinctively relatable biblical protagonists are a reflection of us — there is a reason why the ancient tales still resonate with us, and why they immediately “make sense when we read them even if we cannot explicitly say why.”

Peterson demonstrates this point very well. Through his observations, we see how like Cain, for example, we are angered at the face of rejection and just like him, we have the choice to wallow in downwards-spiralling resentment or, instead, better our sacrificial offering. How, like Eve, we fall for temptation and bear the consequences of our momentary lapses, and just like Abraham, we respond to the challenge of responsibility, and it is up to us to carry its cross with dignity and give it our all. Here lies the central theme and message of this book — our actions and choices have impact — we should consider them wisely and opt for what is morally right, or else, our descendants will be doomed to bear the burden of our misjudgment for generations to come, as happened to Cain, whose sins and lies have led all the way to the degeneration of society, and the flood.

Beyond the personal
Another thing the book does well is show the ancient stories’ similarity and relevance to society today. This comes across as Peterson’s repeated wake-up call to humanity — bottom line is that these arresting similarities should alarm us. Examples are too numerous to note but it is safe to say that every aspect impacting the West today is highlighted. Reflecting on the Israelites’ worship of the golden calf for example, Peterson speaks of today’s hedonism — a momentary pleasure void of any commitment that might in turn bring meaning. Another example sees the Israelites wandering the desert, growing nostalgic for the enslaving Egypt they escaped from — here Peterson reflects on the false nostalgia that arises when a tyrannical state collapses, and tells us of a significant proportion of Russians today holding positive views of Stalin, with almost 60 percent regarding him more favourably than they do Mikhail Gorbachev who led the transition out of communism.

Unique to this book is the progression through the biblical stories

Particularly notable is Abraham’s role as the father to nations, sparking Peterson’s look at the essence of fatherhood itself — it is the voice that encourages the child to take on challenges and so builds his resilience — a voice crucially lacking in today’s increasingly fatherless society.

Peterson speaks of children being able “to handle serpents and to confront dragons” something naive, childlike Eve failed to do. This brought to mind Harvard scholar Professor Israel Knohl who when asked why God created the tempting serpent in the first place, replied that evil is a catalyst for change, growth and consequential maturity — without it, Adam and Eve would forever remain like naked toddlers unaware of their nakedness, they will never face any hardship and never mature.

Also striking are Peterson’s reflections on the flood and the Tower of Babel — the catastrophic consequence of man’s sins. The whore of Babylon stands for society’s worship of sexual pleasure, the avoidance of marriage culture and of motherhood — an existential issue in light of some countries’ negative, or near-negative birth rate. “A society that worships sexual women instead of mother and child is thoroughly misguided and doomed“ he concludes.

Through Babel’s harrowing narrative Peterson also comments on today’s confused society where we are unable to agree on the meaning of basic words — it is the epitome of “humanity’s marked proclivity to arrogance” he argues, “the desire to exceed the proper human place, define good and evil themselves.”

Peterson the prophet
Much like the biblical prophets, Peterson boldly points to our deviations from the truth, succumbing to earthly temptation and falling for false pride. He alerts us to the consequences of our sins and calls upon us to mend our ways. Unlike ancient messengers, however, Peterson does not scold us into strictly abiding by God’s word. In fact, he does not present religion as the all-powerful, grand solution to society’s ills — his warning is simply that “there is moral order” and we should “beware of unintended consequences when it is violated”.

His call is to follow God’s doctrine but it is unclear what Peterson’s perception of God is. We get some clarification through Noah’s story, where the author asks “what does it mean to believe?” This is followed by an observation of modern people being “obsessed with the idea of ‘believing in’ God, as if that decision is one of positing or refusing to posit, some material existence or absence thereof or some mere description, like the description of an object.”

His response to their demand for concrete proof of God’s existence is somewhat vague — “God exists according to the implicit dictates of such a formulation” he argues, “in the same manner that a table exists — or in the manner that an imaginary table truly does not exist.” For Peterson, to believe, “is much more truly and usefully to commit to; to sacrifice everything; to be voluntarily possessed by” — as such, belief is “the ultimate relationship” and not “the mere description of some state of affairs.”

We Who Wrestle With God
Those familiar with Peterson’s earlier works will already know many of this book’s ideas and concepts. Beyond Order for example discussed sons paying for their fathers’ sins, the debilitating impact of overprotective parenting, culture wars, veganism and more. Unique to this book is the progression through the biblical stories, going from God’s punishment of Adam and Eve, through Cain’s jealousy-triggered sins, Abraham and Moses, all the way to the consequential flood, societal degeneration and eventual collapse.

Those already familiar with these ideas might well expect Peterson to delve deeper into the concepts raised, and venture further outside familiar grounds. His deliberation over evil prompted thoughts of the very perception of evil in ancient times — the fact that with monotheism was born the dilemma of God being the creator of evil. His reflection on Jews’ intelligence and respect for learning, brought to mind the advantage they had within largely illiterate populations because at the age of 5, every child learned to read and write as part of Torah studies. Also within this context, the constant, living connection that Jews have with their past — the sacrifice of Issac, for example, is cited daily in the morning prayer, Passover is celebrated by all and so on.

Our existential need for tradition brought to mind Mahler’s quote of tradition being not the burning of ashes but the preservation of fire, Iain McGilchrist’s stunning insight into the idea of tradition being a growing plant — a living flow, that is our key to organic change, something lost in today’s mechanically-thinking society where we believe we can simply ‘cut something off’ but a plant cut off, withers; and soon the civilisation falls apart. 

The deterministic process
Sorely missing in this book is Hebrew — the language of the Bible. It is unclear what Peterson’s level of Hebrew knowledge is as the book does note several Hebrew references including Ezer Kenegdo — the creation of Eve as a companion to Adam, Akev — referring to Yaakov grabbing his twin Esau’s heel, and “to know” also referring to sexual interaction.

In any case, it is impossible to over estimate the pivotal importance of Hebrew to fully grasp the biblical text itself, the spirit and the culture of the time. This is the kind of gripping, in-depth revelations shared by Hebrew scholars the likes of Maor Ovadia and Israel Knohl, among others as they cross reference archaeological finds, and writings. Their insight into the evolution of God’s name alone (El, Baal, Adonai, Yeohowe) is a massive eye-opener. It is worth noting that it is not conclusive that the name Israel was granted in light of Yaakov’s battle with the angel. Two other possibles exist for this name, first the word Yeshurun meaning a “straight path” as in God has “straightened” Yaakov, the second is the El ending which followed a description, so Raphel for example meant “I will cure him”, Ezekiel – “I will strengthen him”, Ismael – “I will hear him”, Israel – “I will rule over him”.

We Who Wrestle with God cites the many symptoms of the West’s decline and the contributors to it. These are all correct of course but many view our decline as a deterministic process — a pattern repeated by the civilisations and empires that preceded us, from the Assyrians to the Romans and beyond. All went through the process of rise, affluence, decline and decay. Once the fight for survival is gone, security, comfort and affluence set in. Several generations on, we see hedonism, sexual freedom, family breakdown, incessant obsession with the self, reckless overconfidence and degeneration. Fighting days soon become a distant memory — instead of soldiers, entertainers are idolised. Interestingly, in all those civilisations, amid the decline, there was a rise in intellectualism — thinkers discussing problems and ways to solve them. There was also an apparent rediscovery of faith.  This deterministic process is beautifully articulated by philosopher Ibn Khadun and Cambridge scholar J D Unwin. If you accept their premise, Peterson is no doubt part of the aforementioned intellectual realm, but perhaps also the presenter of the biblical spirit as a possible solution.

We Who Wrestle With God is far from an easy read, but Peterson’s is a truly brilliant mind. The heart of his argument is solid and his insight is inspired — Solzhenitsyn’s chilling Gulag conversation with an “impenetrable” Marxist scholar for example, is guaranteed to shock you with its uncanny resemblance to discussions with “impenetrables” today. This is one example of many arresting references — others include likening “modern professional protesters” to  “the Pharisees who conspired to crucify Christ”, Noah’s ark representing integrity, marriage and family, or him pointing to degeneracy within today’s society — “we gaze without a commensurate shame on the nakedness of our parents” (referring to Shem and Japheth covering the nakedness of their father).  

Peterson’s strength remains the articulation of complex ideas and putting basic concepts under the philosophical microscope. He ponders over the essence of a lie, asks what pride is, what are “rights”, what we consider evil and many other quandaries including what it means to understand — what the process of understanding itself actually constitutes. These are fundamental questions that are pivotal to our considering of the factors contributing to our civilisation’s decline. Perhaps the most burning of all is “why are we now questioning the foundational axioms upon which our house stands?” And consequently, “are certain things sacred?” and if like the tree of knowledge, they should remain untouched?