Posted on 12/21/2014 4:06:32 AM PST by RoosterRedux
‘Cheer up, you’re worse than you think,” Rev. Timothy Keller says with a smile. He’s explaining that humans are more weak, more fallen, more warped than they “ever dare admit or even believe.” Then comes the good news: At the same time people are “more loved in Christ and more accepted than they could ever imagine or hope.”
Do you know many New Yorkers who believe that? Perhaps not, but on Sundays some 5,500 city folk file into the church Mr. Keller founded 25 years ago, Redeemer Presbyterian, at eight packed services across three Manhattan locations, the Greenwich Village campus of which I attend on Sundays. The service is traditional, the congregation less so: Most who show up, if you can believe it, are single and under 35, whether bankers, lawyers, actors or artists.
Mr. Keller has a growing national following and is often described as a Christian intellectual who takes on the likes of Nietzsche, Marx and Freud in a sermon rooted in a specific Biblical text. He’ll sprinkle in references from popular culture—something about contentment he read in the Atlantic, a poignant passage from “Lord of the Rings.” His fruitful work has multiplied. Redeemer efforts have helped plant more than 300 churches in 45 cities, from Santiago to Dubai.
I met the 64-year-old Mr. Keller this week at the church’s offices in midtown Manhattan. He’s at least six-feet tall, bespectacled and I don’t have a chance to notice much else before I realize he’s asking me questions. We sit down in his office to discuss how he’s revived Christian orthodoxy in the naked city and how he sees religion changing in the modern world.
(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...
Let’s hope that he preaches the “Good News”.
Go to youtube and search for Tim Keller. You will be very impressed.
Certainly one to push the liberal boundaries of his denomination but careful in doing so.
He does.
An earlier version of that same message is the often misunderstood “Sin Boldly” letter written by Martin Luther to Philip Melcanthon.
This is a very good read. Well thought out, well presented and Scripturally supported. May have few minor doctrinal disagreements, (he's Presbyterian, me Baptist) but it is overall an excellent intellectual argument for God and His divine purposes.
He wrote this with the over-educated, northeast liberal in mind.
and
How to Tell the Difference between PCA and PCUSA
http://thegospelcoalition.org/article/how-to-tell-the-difference-between-the-pca-and-pcusa
His podcasts are free on I Tunes. Great teaching.
Keller is helping the Good News of Christ shine in the darkness of New York City.
I believe he is one of the ministers in this nation who hasn’t gone “PC”.
He signed the Manhattan Declaration back in 2009—and as far as I know continues to take a strong stand for the truth.
Manhattan Declaration: http://demoss.com/newsrooms/manhattandeclaration/background/manhattan-declaration-signers
Yes, if he was in the PCUSA, he’d be a rock hard conservative. But in the PCA, he’s certainly on the liberal fringe. I’ve always thought that it would benefit both the EPC and the PCA if he moved to the EPC. Several of his church plants have done so.
Two of the areas of primary concern are his views on creation (Google Keller biologos if you need an introduction to the discussion) and his views on the role of women in the church. (Tending toward egalitarianism, but careful not to push too far while not willing to clearly enunciate the truths of scripture.)
While Keller is a good influence on NYC, he’s been a bad influence on the denomination.
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