I have really enjoyed listening to Rev. Tim Keller lately. I was lent, on DVD, The Desiring God Conference, 2006, and really profited from his lecture "The Supremacy of Christ and the Gospel in the Postmodern World".I have found that Redeemer Presbyterian Church has a number of his sermons here for free. (Boo to those for which they charge exorbitant amounts of money!)
I look forward to listening to some of these sermons. I would also like to read his latest book (which, of course, is whirling with controversy). But, I have little time for all of the reading that I would like to do.
6 comments:
Hi Nate,
What's the controversy that's whirling? I have read the book and liked it.
What I have heard from a couple of readers is that he does not have a biblical view of hell (even though he believes in it and that it is eternal) and that he 'leaves the door open' too much for open theism.
Of course, I have not read it, so I do not endorse either of these arguments. Maybe I will read it this summer and write a review (day late and dollar short review).
Nathan,
I just finished Keller's book this past week. He was even in Pittsburgh two weeks ago. It is excellent and in the fall it will serve as a mainstay for my apologetics class. He is clear in his introduction that he is contextualizing the Christian message for Manhattanites. That is a must when the reader interacts with what he says. I would love to sit down with him and ask where his exegesis for hell comes from. Instead I have sat with other friends who share the same concern with me. Our conclusion is that he does not say everything he could or can (he has an article on preaching about hell at the Resurgence website).
The Open Theism charge... I definitely did not see it. He certainly does not treat God's sovereignty as "divine rape" (Quoting Greg Boyd).
There is a critical review of his book over on the Reformation 21 site.
The reason that Redeemer charges money for the sermons is that every year 1/3 of the congregation leaves due to starting a family or job. Many people are new Christians who do not believe in tithing, if they do it is very little. So the "profits" from sermon recordings go to the gospel ministry.
in the end, his book is phenomenal and we should praise the Lord that it is getting the national attention it is. It is far better than Mere Christianity... I am not sure how it compares with Wright's Simply Christian as I have not finished that yet.
Thanks for those helpful comments Robbie. Do you think you could get us some links for the things you mentioned?
resurgence (on hell) http://theresurgence.com/tim_keller_1997_preaching_hell_in_a_tolerant_age
reformation 21 review
http://www.reformation21.org/shelf-life/the-reason-for-god-a-critical-interactive-review.php
Nathan,
this article, which I just finished reading, helps to understand Keller's ideal of Contextualization... he mentions his definition of sin and explains why he uses it.
http://www.christianitytoday.com/le/2008/002/9.74.html
Post a Comment