We Who Wrestle with God: Perceptions of the Divine

Chaos and order represent an essential dichotomy in Peterson’s thought, but he does not explain them systematically in We Who Wrestle With God, opting instead for an abstract and allusive treatment (Peterson gives a fuller treatment in 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos). Peterson states that the human spirit exists “on the border between order and chaos” (27). God is the force that transforms chaos into order, as recounted in the story of creation in Genesis. Peterson defines the God of Genesis as a “creative spirit” that “confronts and shapes chaos and possibility” (5). Chaos is the state in which, because all things are equally possible, nothing can become actual. God creates the world by imposing order on this chaos of infinite possibility. He does so through the word, or logos. Later, Adam—a being created in the image of God—takes on this ordering role in the Garden of Eden, giving names, roles, and purposes to the things of creation. 

Chaos, then, is not an evil to be eliminated but a necessary element of existence. Chaos means possibility and adventure, but for Peterson, adventure consists in bringing order to chaos.