We never really think that versions of the Bible have authors, but they do. Some like Wycliffe and Tyndale, we know their names. Some, we have no clue. However, who wrote the Message Translation of the Bible? Eugene H. Peterson was a pastor, scholar, author, and poet. He wrote more than thirty books, including his widely acclaimed paraphrase of the Bible, The Message: The Bible in Contemporary Language; his memoir, The Pastor; and the bestselling spiritual formation classic, A Long Obedience in the Same Direction.Born on November 6, 1932, in Stanwood, Washington, Peterson grew up in Kalispell, Montana. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in philosophy from Seattle Pacific University, his Bachelor of Sacred Theology degree from New York Theological Seminary, and his Master of Arts degree in Semitic languages from Johns Hopkins University. He also held several honorary doctoral degrees. In 1962, Peterson founded Christ Our King Presbyterian Church (PCUSA) in Bel Air, Maryland, a church where he pastored for 29 years before retiring in 1991. He emphasized the message of Jesus as being communal rather than individual in its nature. After retiring from the clergy, he became an academia, as the James M. Houston Professor of Spiritual Theology at Regent College in Vancouver, British Columbia. He served there from 1992 to 1998.Someone referred to Peterson as “a teacher who pointed us to the essentials of faith, worship, church life, Scripture, and obedience.” While a number of people don’t know, the Message Bible os a paraphrase of the entire Bible. A friend recalled that Eugene Peterson rewrote the book of Galatians for his local church, which later became a 12-year-long undertaking to render the original languages of the Bible into modern, colloquial English. This project has overtime blessed thousands, even millions of believers across the world. The New Testament of the Message Translation was released in 1993 and the complete Bible was released in 2002. The stated goal of The Message was to make the original meaning more understandable and accessible to the modern reader. Although Eugene Peterson passed away on October 22, 2018, at 85 years old, his works has continued to bless a host of people, especially believers in different parts of the world. Eugene Peterson got married to Jan Peterson in 1958, and they were blessed with three children; Karen, Eric and Leif and grand children.