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The Prodigal God: Recovering the Heart of the Christian Faith | 
 enlarge | Author: Timothy Keller
Publisher: Dutton Adult
Category: Book
List Price: $19.95
Buy New: $11.45
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Rating:  11 reviews
Sales Rank: 398
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 160
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 7.4 x 5.2 x 0.9
ISBN: 0525950796
Dewey Decimal Number: 226.806
EAN: 9780525950790
ASIN: 0525950796
Publication Date: October 30, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: BRAND NEW
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Product Description
Newsweek called renowned minister Timothy Keller a C. S. Lewis for the twenty-first century in a feature on his first book, The Reason for God. In that book, he offered a rational explanation of why we should believe in God. Now, in The Prodigal God, he uses one of the best-known Christian parables to reveal an unexpected message of hope and salvation.
Taking his trademark intellectual approach to understanding Christianity, Keller uncovers the essential message of Jesus, locked inside his most familiar parable. Within that parable Jesus reveals God's prodigal grace toward both the irreligious and the moralistic. This book will challenge both the devout and skeptics to see Christianity in a whole new way.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 6 more reviews...
A Masterful Exposition of the Parable of the Prodigal Son December 3, 2008
Tim Keller's The Prodigal God: Recovering the Heart of the Christian Faith (Dutton, 2008) is a brief gospel presentation that centers upon Jesus' parable of the Prodigal Son. Keller uses Jesus' well-known story as a lens through which to see how the gospel provides the answer to our sinfulness and self-righteousness.
Tim Keller has a way of communicating powerful theological truths in simple, uncluttered language. Nowhere is this more evident than in The Prodigal God. Keller masterfully weaves together contemporary stories with biblical commentary. Readers come face to face with solid, biblical exposition that centers in gospel application.
The title of the book comes from the picture of God and the prodigality (reckless extravagance) of his grace. Keller puts the parable in historical perspective and provides colorful, cultural details that illuminate the story. He believes that we miss the point of Jesus' famous parable if we fail to give proper attention to the elder brother. So Keller departs from the typical presentation of this parable and decides to focus more on the elder son than the younger.
Key to understanding Keller's intention in writing The Prodigal God is his insistence that we must repent not only of sin, but also of righteousness. Apart from God, we try to live righteously as a means of becoming our own Savior. Lost people either run from God's control by fleeing into sin, or they try to usurp God's control by determining their own circumstances and rewards through their "good" behavior.
Keller demonstrates how the gospel shatters these categories. He turns the spotlight towards the amazing grace of Jesus who brings us home - to the feast of the Father.
My only quibble with this excellent book is that Keller too often blames the elder brothers (Pharisees) for turning people off to God and turning them into "younger brothers." Granted, he doesn't excuse the behavior of either set of sinners. But I felt at times that Keller's desire to establish common ground with the seeker was at the expense of the Church. (Lord knows we are all Pharisees to some extent, but surely our Pharisaism is not the primary reason for others' rebellion.)
Overall, The Prodigal God is a masterful exposition of the Parable of the Prodigal Son. Get it. Read it. Pass it on.
A Profound Read November 25, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Others have reviewed this book in some detail - thoughtfully and eloquently - so my comments will be brief...
This is a deeply significant book from Tim Keller. I found it to be a profound read and one that speaks to Christians and seekers in both a challenging and hopeful way.
I have listened online to Keller's preaching over the last couple of years and The Prodigal God highlights 2 helpful aspects of Keller's approach that have been consistently present in much that he speaks and writes:
* he is able to connect the ancient truths of the gospel to the contemporary secular world
* he is able bring these same ancient truths alive in fresh and powerful ways for long term believers who may have grown jaded in their faith.
Highly recommended. This will be a Christmas gift to all my friends.
The Prodigal Revisited November 21, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
In reading "The Prodigal God" by Dr. Timothy Keller, I was repeatedly struck with the notion of how important this work is for the life of the church right now. The passage in Luke 15 that it is based on has been misunderstood and misapplied by preachers and readers in the West for several centuries. While there is a great deal of comfort available to us from the notion that the outwardly reckless younger brother, often known as the Prodigal son, there is much, much to be learned from the other two main characters in the parable.
It is the father that lavishes an extravagant love and a forgiveness upon BOTH brothers, who BOTH need his love. It is the elder brother who also needs to repent of his own set of sins which are just as heinous. The elder brother is just as lost as the younger, though in a very different way. The sins of the elder brother are harder to see and in some ways are not all that different from the younger brother's sins. Both suffer from a deep selfishness, and both show great disrespect to their father. In terms of "outward sins" the younger brother comes across as more fallen, but both come across as needing the father's love and forgiveness.
The lesson we learn from the father's love for the elder brother, as well as the direct implication of Christ's love for His church as the TRUE elder brother, the one we all need, is a large part of the message of this work.
We need to learn to repent of our righteousness as well as our sinfulness, and in opening up this parable to the reader and sharing a lifetime of work and insight, Dr. Keller has given us all an excellent tool to use in our own lives and one that we can give to others, without reservation.
Dr. Keller uses culturally relevant illustrations, and information gleaned from scholars such as Clowney, Luther, Edwards, Lewis, and Lovelace to bolster his work. This is book that all of us can benefit from no matter where we are at in our walk with the Lord. This may become a classic work along the lines of "Mere Christianity", "Knowing God", and "The Practice of the Presence of God".
A Good Read, A Great Message November 19, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
This week I gladly received The Prodigal God: Recovering the Heart of the Christian Faith through the mail. What a blessing. The book arrived yesterday during the 9:00 o'clock hour and I read through it in one sitting. Written in a warm and engaging style, Timothy Keller's reflection on the story traditionally known as "The Parable of the Prodigal Son" contains a challenging message for individuals and the church corporate as followers of Jesus Christ.
Keller's book opens with a brief word on the popularity of this short parable and a justification for the author's preference to title this story "The Two Lost Sons." Keller explains the power of this narrative as he has experienced it in his own life. He tells of his hearing Edmund P. Clowney preach this text some thirty years ago and awakening him to a new and deeper understanding of the Christian faith, coming to find that within this short story the abundant grace of God is revealed not just to the younger brother, but to the older brother as well. This grace did not only come at a cost to the younger brother, who carelessly wasted his inheritance, but cost the father as well. The older brother was not exempt, either, as humbly welcoming the younger brother back home would have cost him a great deal. The insight gained by reflecting on this passage has greatly informed Keller's ministry at Redeemer Church in Manhattan, helping their community better embody the message of grace which is found in this famous utterance of Jesus.
Following a translation of the parable, Keller's book is divided in to seven parts. First, Keller explains the biblical and cultural context in which this story takes place, helping the reader to better recognize the finer nuances of Jesus' storytelling. Keller points out the type of people who had come near to hear this story, showing that the crowd consisted of religiously devout and religiously marginal persons. He demonstrates how each segment of the crowd would have identified with a different brother in the story. Here Keller muses on "why people like Jesus but not the Church," pointing out that Jesus seemed to draw unto himself all kinds of people-particularly those in his culture of the lowest piety who are depicted as the "younger brother" in Jesus' story. Keller muses, "If the preaching of our ministers and the practice of our parishioners do not have the same effect on people Jesus had, then we must not be declaring the same message that Jesus did. If our churches aren't appealing to younger brothers, they must be more full of elder brothers than we'd like to think."
Keller's discussion then moves to the Two Lost Sons. He explains the way in which each son had developed a wayward relationship with their father. Both elder and younger son are fair game for critique. Keller questions why this passage has not received a more well rounded treatment, noting that many times this story is told in a way that emphasizes how the younger son was welcomed home by the father to the neglect of the father's appeal to the elder brother. From here, Keller explores how Jesus' story redefines both sin and lostness, noting that the text is revolutionary in this regard. In his discussion of sin, Keller notes how each son had rebelled, "but one did so by being very bad and the other by being extremely good...It's a shocking message: Careful obedience to God's law may serve as a strategy for rebelling against God." Keller moves us to a deeper understanding. Rather than regarding sin as a list of wrongs, Keller points out that rebellion takes many forms, including those who in the tradition of the elder brother seek to be obedient for their own gain rather than for the glory of God. Keller sees the older brother's obedience in the story as undertaken for the purpose of controlling the father. How often we also fall in to a similar pattern of behavior.
Keller's chapter on redefining lostness was perhaps the most poignant, bringing forth a deep sense of emotion in my own soul. Here he explores the anger and superiority of the elder brother and the "joyless, fear-based" faith which can come to typify religious belief when one seeks to control God rather than express love and devotion for the Divine. This chapter, which stands at the heart of the book, may be the most important for those of us who stand within the church, and perhaps have obtained the attitudes and posturing of elder brothers. Keller's reminder that elder-brother lostness is just as wrong and destructive as younger brother lostness is important.
From this point Keller explores the nature of the gospel. Keller uses this parable to demonstrate God's relationship to us and how we might repent in a well-rounded way. In the story we are often reminded of how the younger brother turned from those things that he did wrong, and we feel compelled to do the same. Keller reminds us of the other extreme, saying, "To truly become Christians we must also repent of the reasons that we ever did anything right." The gospel calls us to acknowledge all that God has done for us freely and by grace. Christ has accomplished all things necessary for our salvation. Even the faithful need a reminder that our hope ultimately rests in God; we should not seek to become our own Savior and Lord. According to Keller it is Jesus, our true elder brother, who leaves us in a state of awe and wonder concerning the grace of God.
Keller's book closes with a two part reflection on the nature of our longing for home and an eschatological vision for the redemption of individuals and for all creation which will be celebrated in a heavenly banquet described in this parable and elsewhere in Scripture. Keller is very clear in presenting a view of the atonement consistent with his heritage (Presbyterian), and does an excellent job of painting a picture of the experiential nature of salvation in the here and the hereafter.
Keller's book is a gift for those of us longing for deep reflections on Scripture. This book is worthwhile reading for those seeking insight in to one of Jesus' most well known parables, and will serve as a challenge to your faith. I would recommend this book.
An Essential Read for both the new Christian and the Academic Theologian November 11, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I am unable to weave words the same way that the other reviewers are, such as Tim Challies, so I will keep this short. Keller has written a book that could not have come at a more perfect time for the church. During a distinct, marked growth in Reformed Denominations, it is essential that we take this book on the parable of the two lost sons and take a fresh look at God's grace and what it means for both 'types' of people discussed. It is far too easy to feel right in our reformed dogmatics, as if we have some sort of special revelation, basically a form of gnosticism. And a the same time we can so easily complain that 'we' have been right all along and we do not get this or that while our younger brother returns and receives a party. Moving through this book it is easy to see how I am both the prodigal son who came back home and the elder brother who stayed behind. I encourage everyone to read this book and hear the message of God's Grace given in a unique and quite refreshing way!
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