Christopher Browning took a historical and psychological survey of the grass-roots killers who perpetrated the Holocaust in Poland. What he unveils in his book “Ordinary Men” is an ugly truth about humanity: everyday people are capable of mass murder, if given the right environment. But what is the direct cause of the holocaust? Did Hitler merely unleash the fury of racism and hatred? Or do average, decent people have the capacity for unspeakable evil?
Jordan Peterson has challenged and revitalized our postmodern conceptions of meaning, morality and religion. But without the metaphysics of Christianity, it is unclear how some of Peterson’s optimistic claims can be grounded. The result is that he sounds like an atheist when he talks to a Christian, but he sounds like a Christian when he talks to an atheist. Without a literal God, the Jungian psychologist is essentially an atheist with extra steps. Regardless, is Peterson ultimately a friend or a foe of traditional Christianity?