The Prodigal God

Author TIMOTHY KELLER

Publisher HODDER

ISBN 0340979984

Timothy Keller is pioneer pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Manhattan.  We should expect good solid evangelical Christian truth from his pen bearing in mind the background from which he comes.  This short book delivers Christian truth based on a quite full and spiritual look at Luke fifteen and in particular the story Jesus told about the father and his two sons.  The book is probably intended to be an introduction to Christian truth and its revelation of God and His love for mankind, but it is not written in an apologetic style so much as a clear statement of what Jesus meant by His three stories contained in that famous chapter of Luke’s gospel.  The subtitle helps direct us to the intention of Timothy Keller, “recovering the heart of the Christian faith”.  He is after the heart of God and His truth and desires to rescue the reader from the distorted views that have often gripped the religious. As he travels through the story he concentrates somewhat more on the moralistic religiosity of the elder son than on the wastrel spirit of the younger.  I would suspect that this book would appeal more to those who have already become Christians more than those who have no knowledge of the gospel and of the God of the gospel.  It is not so much an introduction as a book correcting imbalanced doctrine.  The use of the word ‘redefining’ at the chapter headings indicates this.  It is churchgoers and Christian folk who need a ‘redefinition’ and not those who have never heard.  Redefining Sin, Redefining lostness, Redefining Hope head three of the sections and the book climaxes with a helpful chapter about the true elder brother (Jesus) and one on the ‘feast of the Father.’  The author’s style is readable and does helpfully introduce a healthy view of God as Father and His heart towards both elder and younger son types.  We all fall into the categories Keller explores though some will say that many of us have a mixture of the two sons if left to ourselves.  The skeptics and atheists are having a heyday in mocking the Christian view of God and what He has done and this book is a spiritual counterpoint to the unreasonable distortions of Christian truth these critics love to joust with.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Rate this review: