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Tim Keller’s Heterodox Views of God & Christianity
In his book, The Reason for God (quite a title!) Tim Keller espouses some, shall we say, heterodox thinking in regards to the nature and character of God as well as some pretty strange thinking of Christianity. I won’t cite everything that gave me the heebies, but here are a few.
For example, Keller claims:
- that God ‘does not seek his own glory but the glory of others’ (p. 218).
- that Jesus came to ‘restore justice to the oppressed and marginalized, physical wholeness to the diseased and dying, community to the isolated and lonely and spiritual joy and connection to those alienated from God’. – p. 224
- that true worship must include ‘serv[ing] the human community and car[ing] for the created environment’ - p .224
and get this…
- Keller claims ‘The work of the Spirit of God is not only to save souls but also to care [for] and cultivate the face of the earth, the material world.’ p. 223
Honest question (and feel free to discuss): Where are any of these bizarre teachings in the Word of God?
For the record, my God seeks His own glory. My Jesus came to save sinners not redeem culture (the latter is an impossibility; the Bible says the culture of the world is passing away). The Holy Spirit described in Scripture, is certainly not the one being described in this book by Keller.
Beware my brethren, this man and anyone or any group (read coalition) who promotes his thinking or his work.
5 Pt. Salt 
“My Jesus came to save sinners not redeem culture (the latter is an impossibility)” When you say He did not come to redeem culture what do you mean? If the Gospel is applied to every area of life, then cultures can’t help but be redeemed/changed. You might mean something completely different when you say cultures can’t be redeemed .. that is why I ask.
Good question. The answer is simply that the Bible (final authority in all things, right?) says the world and it’s ‘culture’ is passing away. Here’s a fuller treatment on that subject.
Hey Joel, you gotta do a WHOLE lot better than this “fuller” treatment on serious charge like the one you’re making. You make your own claims about what the Bible says or doesn’t say without even a single specific reference cited much less explained, either to support your claims on where Keller goes wrong, or to support your own views which you seem to think are the only right ones. Additionally, you ask your readers to reject ALL that Keller and his “coalition” have to say as if they are lock, stock, and barrel, heretics. (I’ve seen you say or at least imply similar things in other posts. too). Are you really willing to say that all those guys fit the heretic category? It sounds a lot more to me like you sincerely think that the only person who gets it right all the time is you. Is that really the impression you want others to have?
Absurd. For each point made in the post, I cited the page number, all from the same book. Clearly stated. Your charge, Clark, is asinine in that apparently, either you did not even read the post thoroughly (if you had you would not have made the charge of no references) or you have not done due diligence in researching Tim Kellers teachings. My stars, brother, I try very hard to cite and document these things. Clearly, you commented defensively. For the record, no, I do not think I get it right all the time. Then again, I don’t swallow everything I read by respected men without testing it by the Word of God either. You need info on Keller and what this man is teaching. If you truly have a desire to know the truth, read it:
1. 5 Reasons to be Cautious with Tim Keller’s Theology
2. Is Tim Keller Promoting Roman Catholicism?
3. The Gutless, False Gospel of the Dangerously Influential Tim Keller
Social gospel liberalness.
[30] When you send forth your Spirit, they are created,
and you renew the face of the ground.
(Psalm 104:30 ESV)