Timothy Keller: His Spiritual and Intellectual Formation

Colin Hansen takes readers behind the scenes to meet the people and understand the events that formed Keller's spiritual life and ministry priorities.

Millions have read books and listened to sermons by Timothy Keller. But which people and what events shaped his own thinking and spiritual growth? With unfettered access to Keller's personal notes and sermons and exclusive interviews with family members and longtime friends, Collin Hansen gives you an unprecedented understanding of one of the 21st century's most influential church leaders.

Spend any time around Timothy Keller, and you'll learn what he's reading, what he's learning, and what he's seeing. The story of Timothy Keller is the story of his spiritual and intellectual influences, from the woman who taught him how to read the Bible to the professor who taught him to preach Jesus from every text to the philosopher who taught him to see beneath society's surface.

For the first time, Hansen introduces readers to Keller's early years: the home where he learned to tell stories from the trees, the church where he learned to care for souls, and the city that lifted him to the international fame he never wanted.

You'll discover how to:

• Understand the principles and practices that allowed Keller to synthesize many different influences in a coherent ministry.
• Take the best of Keller's preaching and teaching to meet emerging challenges in the 21st century.
• Develop your own historical, theological, and cultural perspectives to shape your leadership.

This is the untold story of the people, the books, the lectures, and ultimately the God who formed and shaped the life of Timothy Keller.

#ENDORSEMENTS

“In our time, few Christian leaders have a vision of the faith that is as recognisable—and as globally influential—as Tim Keller. In this engaging book, Collin Hansen charts the fascinating range of figures whose writings and examples influenced that vision and guides the reader through a life spent exploring and distilling the best of the Christian tradition. By humanising a towering figure, Hansen challenges his own audience to learn from the deliberateness that marks Keller’s own journey in the faith. Quite simply, I could not put this book down.” — James Eglinton, Meldrum Senior Lecturer in Reformed Theology, New College, University of Edinburgh

“Tim Keller’s writings and teaching are such a blessing because they speak to our intellects and to our hearts. Tim’s work makes me go, "Aha, that’s it!” one minute, and in the next minute he makes me sob. His apologetics are incisive, accessible, and culturally relevant, yet he is never far from revealing the simple, heartbreaking beauty of grace, the beauty of Jesus and his love for a wretch like me. I’m so grateful for this well-written and expertly researched work. Collin Hansen reveals things that many of us never knew about Keller, but above all he reveals how Tim Keller became Tim Keller. Along the journey of Keller’s life and ministry, Collin helps us to consider our own faith, the evidences for it, the centrality and supremacy of Jesus. This is a book about Tim Keller of course, but in the end, it is a book about Jesus Christ. I’m fairly sure this was intentional, or at least instinctive, and as a result it is a delight.” — Tim Farron, member of the British Parliament and former leader of the Liberal Democrats

“As a Tim Keller admirer I was eager to read this biography, and Collin Hansen did not disappoint. In his marvelously written narrative, we learn much about the people, experiences, and struggles that have shaped Tim's amazing ministry. I can add that I found this book inspiring—but with the awareness that saying so does not do justice to the profound ways it also spoke to my soul!” — Richard J. Mouw, president emeritus, Fuller Theological Seminary

“Here is the story of a man possessed of unusual native gifts of analysis and synthesis, of the home and family life that has shaped him, of people both long dead and contemporary whose insights he has taken hold of in the interests of communicating the gospel, and also of the twists and turns of God’s providence in his life. These pages may well have been titled Becoming Tim Keller. That “becoming” has been neither a quick nor an easy road. But Collin Hansen’s account of it will be as challenging to readers as it is instructive.” — Sinclair Ferguson, author of The Whole Christ