Mark Driscoll, Meet Jordan Peterson

FYI: I am very sick due to a virus I’ve been battling the last couple weeks that took a turn for the worse a couple days ago. I’m told there’s nothing I can do but take over the counter meds and wait it out. I will probably have very limited posting here until I start feeling better.

Mikhaila Peterson recently tweeted out an interesting thread:

I've found it very difficult to go to church. Most (and I mean most) of the services I've been to throughout my life had a pastor that either felt like he was selling me something, didn't feel authentic, was seriously boring, or I had no idea what they were talking about. So when people told me to "go to church" it wasn't useful because not every church has a pastor that is worth listening to, and I'm not interested in wasting my time. Even marrying @jordan_m_fuller, it took him a while to convince me that church was important. I didn't get it. I straight up told him I wasn't going to listen to someone who sounded like they were lying to me once a week. Nope. @PastorMark though, he's the real deal. You can tell by the feeling you get when you're at his church. His stuff is on You Tube as well if you're not in Scottsdale, AZ. Highly recommend him if you’re interested. And for my secular friends (of which I have many because I didn't grow up around Christians) - it took me 29 years to get here and it's seriously, seriously changed my life for the better and I think people can see that sooooo... stay open friends.

Mikhaila Peterson is Jordan Peterson’s daughter, and “@PastorMark” is Mark Driscoll.

I find it very interesting that she ended up in Driscoll’s new church in Arizona. Pre-Peterson, Driscoll was known as the rare pastor who could reach young men effectively. Now, unlike Peterson, Driscoll had a huge female fan base as well. Probably that’s because, at the end of the day, Driscoll was just another “blue pill” pastor whose actual content was the same beating up on men message you can find anywhere, but in more hip packaging.

One reason Peterson became a superstar on a level far beyond Driscoll is that Peterson’s message to men was more accurate, more affirming, and more attracting than Driscoll’s.

I have avoided doing much retrospective analysis of what Driscoll actually taught because his ministry collapsed in scandal and his new venture has not been especially influential. But it would be interesting to see how his teachings towards men have changed in the post-Jordan Peterson world.

Do not underestimate how charismatic Mark Driscoll was. The same time, he was also a close student of others. For example he adopted a lot of stylistic points from standup comedy. I’m sure he has studied Peterson in depth to find out what he could adopt for his own approach. Although it’s not something I plan to take on, a before and after analysis of Driscoll’s teachings on men and gender would be interesting.

I also can’t help but wonder whether Driscoll is trying to leverage Mikhaila Peterson to reboot himself as an influencer.

Regardless, it’s a very interesting world where these threads connect.

Cover image credit: Mollie.hanke, CC BY 4.0