Oct. 22, 2023, column from the Amarillo Globe-News:

Tim Keller was rooted in traditional Christianity, love and grace

By Mike Haynes

                Not long after Timothy Keller died of cancer this May 19 at age 72, “Christianity Today” magazine published a commemorative issue on the New York-based pastor and writer. It had 104 pages and included 10 insightful remembrances plus an excerpt from one of his sermons called “Everything Bad Is Going to Come Untrue.”

Dr. Timothy Keller

                I don’t recall anybody but Billy Graham, the magazine’s founder and the most famous evangelist of the 20^th century, receiving such a tribute from America’s premier evangelical Christian publication.

                Before that special issue, I had heard one of Keller’s sermons online and had read just one of his books, “The Prodigal God.” And I’ve noticed some pastors that I respect quoting him in recent months. I knew from those encounters with Keller that his take on Christianity was a little different from many of his fellow evangelical believers.

My brief description of Keller would be that he was rooted in traditional, orthodox Christianity but with an emphasis on love and grace, not condemnation.

Not that he was alone in that approach, but he certainly didn’t fit the stereotype of the judgmental Christian that many people outside the church like to criticize.

In addition to his books – the best-known probably is “The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism” – Keller’s largest work was founding Redeemer Presbyterian Church in 1989 in Manhattan, along with his wife, Kathy.

                In a long New York Times obituary, Sam Roberts wrote that Keller was “a best-selling author and theorist of Christianity who performed a modern miracle of his own – establishing a theologically orthodox church in Manhattan that attracted thousands of young professional followers.”

                Several social ministries sprang from the church, including Redeemer City to City, a global urban ministry; Hope for New York; and Center for Faith and Work. Redeemer has spread to multiple New York campuses, but not under one large umbrella.

                In the “CT” memorial issue, writer Emily Belz pointed out that Keller didn’t want Redeemer to be a megachurch, although it had grown to 5,000 members when he stepped down as its leader in 2017. In a video shown to Redeemer churches the day he died, he said he preferred churches on a “human scale” and that “to have three churches of 800 people is better than having one church of 2,400 people.”

                Keller’s combination of intellectual thought and personal connection, his speaking skills and his best-selling books resulted in publicity that he didn’t want. Collin Hansen said in the “CT” issue that Keller believed he was called to pastoral ministry. “Even when Keller criticized evangelicals, he spoke and wrote as a pastor with love for his flock,” Hansen wrote.

                In 2017, Princeton Theological Seminary planned to give Keller its Kuyper Prize for Excellence in Reformed Theology and Public Witness and asked him to give a lecture along with the award. But because of his orthodox views on homosexuality and women’s ordination, various groups protested, and PTS rescinded the prize.

                Keller graciously gave the lecture anyway.

                Hansen wrote that Keller quoted Lesslie Newbigin, “who identified the post-Christian West as the most resistant, challenging missionary fronter of all time.” In the lecture, Keller agreed with Newbigin that “Christians must not withdraw like the Amish, pursue political takeover like the Religious Right or assimilate like the mainline Protestants.”

Keller agreed with James Davison Hunter that “faithful presence” is a better alternative, and he said one strategy of that presence is emulating the early Christians as writer Larry Hurtado had encouraged.

“The persecuted early church wasn’t just offensive to Jews and Greeks,” Hansen wrote. “It was also attractive. The first Christians opposed abortion and infanticide by adopting children. They did not retaliate but instead forgave. They cared for the poor and marginalized. Their strict sexual ethic protected and empowered women and children.

“Christianity brought together hostile nations and ethnic groups.”

Those are some of the recommendations Keller offered to a Princeton institution that had declined to give him an award. His demeanor that day certainly reflected his belief in the grace of the gospel.

In 2006, “Christianity Today” wrote, “Fifty years from now, if evangelical Christians are widely known for their love of cities, their commitment to mercy and justice, and their love of their neighbors, Tim Keller will be remembered as a pioneer of the new urban Christians.”