A patient Peterson

Lifestyle/Technology: The pastoral author and his wife lead a quiet life | Susan Olasky

When I sat down with Eugene Peterson to ask him what he did all day—what his life looked like and how its rhythms had been shaped by his study of spiritual theology—he turned the question around: What does your life look like these days?

That question and the attentiveness with which he waited for an answer shows that though he may not still be serving as the pastor of a Presbyterian church in suburban Baltimore, he's still a pastor at heart.

Peterson is the author of 35 books (all still in print) and translator of the bestselling The Message, the Bible in modern American English. With his gray beard and weathered face he looks like a grandfather from Montana, which he also is.