Author Winn Collier first wrote the news on facebook.
He wrote on twitter: "My dear friend and pastor Eugene Peterson has died this morning. The lantern is out, but the joy he carried with him to his final breaths endures. Eugene is now with the Triune God he has loved his entire life. Memory eternal."
My dear friend and pastor Eugene Peterson has died this morning. The lantern is out, but the joy he carried with him to his final breaths endures. Eugene is now with the Triune God he has loved his entire life. Memory eternal.
— Winn Collier (@winncollier) October 22, 2018
Eugene Peterson had recently gone into a hospice after what his son Eric said was a "dramatic turn in his health caused by an infection".
He was being treated for pneumonia and experienced heart failure and dementia, with his care becoming primarily palliative.
He is most well-known for writing his paraphrase of the Bible, aimed for it to be simpler to read, although it received criticism from many for missing key truths or simplifying themes too much.
Praise has come in on twitter, saying he made the Bible accessible.
Pastor and author Eugene Peterson has died. His paraphrase of the Bible called The Message has deepened many people's faith. Lesser known to many, he wrote some of the most important work I have ever read on what it means to be a pastor. Never got to meet him, but I am still sad.
— Jordan Rimmer (@jrimmer21) October 22, 2018