Psychologist, self-help author and cultural commentator Dr. Jordan B. Peterson will appear on Jan. 17 at Acrisure Arena as part of his "We Who Wrestle With God Tour."
Presales will run throughout this week starting at 10 a.m., Wednesday ahead of the general sale at 10 a.m., Friday. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit ticketmaster.com.
The tour is centered around Peterson's upcoming book, "We Who Wrestle With God," which will be released on Nov. 19. According to Peterson's website, the book is a guide through ancient and foundational stories of the Western world featuring Biblical accounts of rebellion, sacrifice, suffering and triumph.
Peterson's 2018 self-help book "12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos" topped bestseller lists in the U.S., Canada and United Kingdom.
Peterson, a former psychology professor who taught at Harvard University and the University of Toronto, became a popular and controversial figure in 2018 after publicly opposing Canada's Bill C-16, which passed in 2017 and protects the rights of transgender or gender-diverse Canadians, and includes them under human rights and hate-crime laws.
In 2022, Peterson resigned from his position at the University of Toronto and attributed his departure in an editorial published by the National Post to diversity, inclusivity and equity mandates in academia.
According to a 2018 profile by Tim Lott of The Guardian, Peterson believes university humanities courses should be defunded for being "corrupted by neo-Marxist postmodernists." But even though he's considered a high-profile conservative influencer and one of the most-listened-to critics of left wing identity politics in the world, Peterson identifies as a "classic British liberal" who supports socialized medicine, redistribution of wealth towards the poorest and the decriminalization of drugs.
Lott described Peterson as "a strange mixture of theologian, psychologist, conservative, liberal, wit and lay preacher."
On Tuesday morning, Peterson posted an interview (a clip of his Oct. 21 podcast conversation) with British evolutionary biologist and zoologist Richard Dawkins to his YouTube channel that had amassed 6,140 views within an hour of its publication.
In the heated discussion, the public figures go head-to-head on topics such as "the importance of holding the image of 'mother and infant' sacred for a society to flourish, and whether the events as depicted in the bible are physical truth claims or a story with evolved depth."
Brian Blueskye covers arts and entertainment for the Desert Sun. He can be reached at brian.blueskye@desertsun.com or on Twitter at @bblueskye.