Prodigal God: Recovering the Heart of the Christian Faith

by
Timothy Keller

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Overview

The New York Times bestselling author uncovers the essential message of Jesus, locked inside his most familiar parable.

Newsweek called New York Times bestselling author 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 for why we should believe in God. Now, in The Prodigal God, Keller takes his trademark intellectual approach to understanding Christianity and uses the parable of the Prodigal Son to reveal an unexpected message of hope and salvation.

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781594484025
Publisher: Penguin Group (USA) Incorporated
Publication date: 3/1/2011
Pages: 176
Sales rank: 32,233
Product dimensions: 5.00 (w) x 7.20 (h) x 0.60 (d)

Meet the Author

As the founding pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City, Tim Keller started his congregation with a few dozen people. It now draws over five thousand weekly attendees who meet in three Manhattan locations. Redeemer has since spawned a movement of churches across America and throughout major world cities. Many pastors model their churches on Redeemer and Tim's thoughtful style of preaching. Dr. Keller lives in New York City with his wife and sons.

Read an Excerpt

Introduction

This short book is meant to lay out the essentials of the Christian message, the gospel. It can, therefore, serve as an introduction to the Christian faith for those who are unfamiliar with its teachings or who may have been away from them for some time.

This volume is not just for seekers, however. Many lifelong Christian believers feel they understand the basics of the Christian faith quite well and don't think they need a primer. Nevertheless, one of the signs that you may not grasp the unique, radical nature of the gospel is that you are certain that you do. Sometimes longtime church members find themselves so struck and turned around by a fresh apprehension of the Christian message that they feel themselves to have been essentially "re-converted." This book, then, is written to both curious outsiders and established insiders of the faith, both to those Jesus calls "younger brothers" and those he calls "elder brothers" in the famous Parable of the Prodigal Son.

I am turning to this familiar story, found in the fifteenth chapter of the gospel of St. Luke, in order to get to the heart of the Christian faith. The parable's plot and dramatis personae are very simple. There was a father who had two sons. The younger asked for his share of the inheritance, received it, and promptly left for a far country, where he squandered it all on sensual and frivolous pleasure. He returned home penitently and, to his surprise, was received with open arms by his father. This reception alienated and angered the elder brother greatly. The story closes with the father appealing to his firstborn son to join in the welcome and forgiveness of his younger brother.

On the surface of it, the narrative is not all that gripping. I believe, however, that if the teaching of Jesus is likened to a lake, this famous Parable of the Prodigal Son would be one of the clearest spots where we can see all the way to the bottom. Many excellent studies have been written on this Biblical text over the last several years, but the foundation for my understanding of it was a sermon I first heard preached over thirty years ago by Dr. Edmund P. Clowney. Listening to that sermon changed the way I understood Christianity. I almost felt I had discovered the secret heart of Christianity. Over the years I have often returned to teach and counsel from the parable. I have seen more people encouraged, enlightened, and helped by this passage, when I explained the true meaning of it, than by any other text.

I once traveled overseas and delivered this sermon to an audience through an interpreter. Some time later the translator wrote to tell me that, as he was preaching the sermon, he had realized that the parable was like an arrow aimed at his heart. After a period of wrestling and reflection, it brought him to faith in Christ. Many others have told me that this story of Jesus, once they came to understand it, saved their faith, their marriages, and, sometimes literally, their lives.

In the first five chapters I will unlock the parable's basic meaning. In Chapter 6 I will demonstrate how the story helps us understand the Bible as a whole, and in Chapter 7 how its teaching works itself out in the way we live in the world.

I will not use the parable's most common name: the Parable of the Prodigal Son. It is not right to single out only one of the sons as the sole focus of the story. Even Jesus doesn't call it the Parable of the Prodigal Son, but begins the story saying, "a man had two sons." The narrative is as much about the elder brother as the younger, and as much about the father as the sons. And what Jesus says about the older brother is one of the most important messages given to us in the Bible. The parable might be better called the Two Lost Sons.

The word "prodigal" does not mean "wayward" but, according to Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, "recklessly spendthrift." It means to spend until you have nothing left. This term is therefore as appropriate for describing the father in the story as his younger son. The father's welcome to the repentant son was literally reckless, because he refused to "reckon" or count his sin against him or demand repayment. This response offended the elder son and most likely the local community.

In this story the father represents the Heavenly Father Jesus knew so well. St. Paul writes: "God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not reckoning to them their trespasses" (2 Corinthians 5:19 – American Standard Version). Jesus is showing us the God of Great Expenditure, who is nothing if not prodigal toward us, his children. God's reckless grace is our greatest hope, a life-changing experience, and the subject of this book.

Introduction xiii

The Parable 3

1 The People Around Jesus: "All gathering around to hear him." 9

Two Kinds of People 9

Why People Like Jesus but Not the Church 13

2 The Two Lost Sons: "There was a man who had two sons." 20

The Lost Younger Brother 20

The Younger Brother's Plan 24

The Lost Elder Brother 29

3 Redefining Sin: "All these years I've been slaving for you." 34

Two Ways to Find Happiness 34

Two Lost Sons 39

A Deeper Understanding of Sin 43

Both Wrong; Both Loved 51

4 Redefining Lostness: "The older brother became angry and refused to go in." 55

Anger and Superiority 55

Slavishness and Emptiness 65

Who Needs to Know This? 74

5 The True Elder Brother: "My son, everything I have is yours." 82

What We Need 82

Who We Need 89

6 Redefining Hope: "He set off for a far country." 101

Our Longing for Home 101

The Difficulty of Return 110

The Feast at the End of History 114

7 The Feast of the Father: "He heard music and dancing." 118

Salvation Is Experiential 119

Salvation Is Material 123

Salvation Is Individual 127

Salvation Is Communal 139

Babette's Feast 143

Acknowledgments 150

Notes 152

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Georgiatucker

Posted March 9, 2010

I Also Recommend:

A lifechanging book for anyone

The Prodigal God finds you where you are and tugs you gently back to where you need to be. For anyone who finds relief in the wrong things -- be it compulsive shopping, workaholism, alcohol or other drugs, worrying, preocuppation with self or family, etc. etc. -- this book is a must read. Not preachy, but written with a warmth and conviction that draws you further through the book. I have given copies to friends and recommended it to acquaintances.

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
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Anonymous

Posted March 25, 2012

GREAT READ!

Refreshing and great wisdom!
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LarryDEllis

Posted March 17, 2012

This is a refreshing discussion about Jesus's teaching about a m

This is a refreshing discussion about Jesus's teaching about a man who had TWO sons. The meaning of the word prodigal takes on a new perspective with this book. I had always thought "prodigal" meant wasteful and particularly wayward. Keller explans that the only prodigal is not the younger son, who squandered his inheritance, but the father as well who gave all he had pointing to our Heaveny Father who gave his most beloved son. The author points out that the more well-known, younger son, who wastes his inheritance and comes home to his loving father is not the main character. Keller looks in depth to him, of course, but also at his older brother, who has many self-centered perspectives. Finally Keller examins the father in the parable, who lovingly extends love to both his sons,despite their rejection. We are challenged to see how much of both sons are in ourselves. What we find can be particularly disturbing to the faithful church-goer, who lives a sacrificial life serving God and others in the church. I highly recommend this book to those who think they have mastered the meaning of Jesus' parable. There is always more to learn.
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Soulwinner

Posted December 13, 2011

I Also Recommend:

Short and sweet inspiration

A few books have been written on the Prodigal Son story, such as with John MacArthur and Henri Nouwen. Timothy Keller¿s short but meaningful book is a nice addition to the canon. It does justice to the theme of God¿s love and grace, and what distinguishes Christianity from other religions. It¿s quite true that the Prodigal Son story can adequately sum up the theme of the entire Bible, and the Prodigal God indeed captures the heart of the Christian faith, pleasing to Christians and possibly to seekers.

I give this book a good recommendation if you want to see the depth of God¿s grace and mercy, but at the same time see an important theme discussed through the older brother story, which is the danger of self-righteousness and empty piety, and this hinders many from coming to true faith.
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Prodigal God: Recovering the Heart of the Christian Faith

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Table of Contents

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A lifechanging book for anyone

GREAT READ!

This is a refreshing discussion about Jesus's teaching about a m

Short and sweet inspiration