Tim Keller Follows in the Footsteps of C.S. Lewis

I enjoy "top 10" lists, so today I clicked with interest on an advertisement to view the all-time top ten downloads on Christianity Today's websites, covering their many magazines from 1995 to present. Interestingly, the number one article was on Christian literary apologist C.S. Lewis, subtitled "The atheist scholar who became an Anglican, an apologist, and a patron saint of Christians everywhere."  Who hasn't read one of his books? More important, who doesn't know someone who came to faith (or back to faith) after reading a C.S. Lewis title? With the Narnia series of movies, a new generation of interest in C.S. Lewis is certain to rise.

Earlier this week I read a Newsweek story from their 2/18/08 issue suggesting an American pastor as "a C. S. Lewis for the 21st century, a high-profile Christian apologist who can make orthodox belief not just palatable but necessary." The article was profiling Tim Keller (pictured above), founding pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City who this week will release his first book, The Reason for God.  According to The Penguin Group/Dutton, the publisher, he dismantles a long list of the most frequently voiced “doubts” skeptics bring to the church. Written with atheists, agnostics, and skeptics in mind, Keller also provides an intelligent platform on which true believers can stand their ground when bombarded by the backlash.

I've ordered the book, but not seen an advance issue. However, I have heard Tim Keller speak on many  occasions, and I'd feel very comfortable taking my thoughtful but skeptical friends to hear Tim's angle on Christianity, the same way as I've suggested that some of them might want to read a C.S. Lewis book. Time will tell, but I have great hopes for how God might use Tim's new book.

Warren Bird, Ph.D., is Research Director at Leadership Network, and co-author of 19 books on various aspects of church health and innovation.

Comments

[Mark Traphagen]

The publisher is Dutton, not Zondervan.

Westminster Bookstore (www.wtsbooks.com) has it for less than Amazon. In stock, ships the same day.

[Warren Bird]

Thanks, Mark. I updated the blog to reflect the correct publisher. -- Warren