My Current Reading List - April 2011

Kings Cross: The Story of the World in the Life of Jesus, By Timothy Keller

A study of the life of Jesus in the Gospel of Mark, based on Keller's preaching to his New York City congregation of post-modern recovering pagans and evangelicals returning from the wilderness. He unites the themes of the message of the Kingdom of God and the Cross, hence the title.

One of his best - and with Keller that is saying a lot.

Unconditional?: The Call of Jesus to Radical Forgiveness, by Brian Zahnd

Deeply moving and challenging treatment of Jesus' command for us to forgive those who wrong us, and his example in doing so himself from the cross. The book would be worth it just for the stories and quotes from Corrrie Ten Boom, Alexandr Solzhenitsyn, Nelson Mandela, and others who have demonstrated the power of forgiveness and the freedom it can bring.


 

Citizen Soldiers: The Us Army from the Normandy Beaches to the Bulge to the Surrender of Germany, by Stephen Ambrose.

Ambrose describes what it was like for the American privates, sergeants and lieutenants fighting the Germans in Europe, using lots of quotes from the "citizen soldiers" themselves. Another great book from the biographer of Eisenhower, and one of the greatest historians of World War II.

 

Jonathan Edwards: Americas Evangelical, by Phiulip F. Gura

Interesting and well written biography of the late puritan period revivalist, theologian and philosopher, widely considered one of the greatest minds in American history. Edwards' works are increasingly influential in today's "young, restless and reformed" movement, so he is more relevant than ever.

Video from Tim Keller’s Visit to Belhaven

Back on February 24th, I mentioned going to hear Tim Keller speak at Belhaven University in Jackson, MS. He was on a book tour promoting the new book Kings Cross. Here's the video from Tim Keller’s Visit to Belhaven (39 minutes):

Avoiding the Arrogance that Assumes...

"But do you know where constant worry comes from? It’s rooted in arrogance that assumes, I know the way my life has to go, and God’s not getting it right. Real humility means to relax. Real humility means to laugh at yourself."
- Tim Keller, King's Cross: The Story of the World in the Life of Jesus, ch. 12


Hat Tip: Justin Buzzard  and Take Your Vitamin Z

What I Heard Tim Keller Say Last Night

"The story of Jesus is not just one of the great stories. Jesus is the underlying reality to which all of the great stories point." - Tim Keller

I got to hear Keller's lecture at Belhaven University in Jackson last night. There was a standing room only crowd, so  I did not stick around for the book signing.  But I did get my copy of the new book Kings Cross and am looking forward to reading it! The book is about the story of Jesus in the Gospel of Mark. The quote above is a paraphrase (I wasn't taking notes because I was standing in the back of the room) from his presentation on why he wrote Kings Cross.

Hey folks, Get the book!

King's Cross Published Today!

Tim Keller's new book King's Cross comes out today! Here's Keller on why he writes:


Introduction to Books & Resources by Timothy Keller from Redeemer City to City on Vimeo.

Keller will be in my town Thursday night (6:30-7:30pm, Lemuria Books at Belhaven College, 1500 Peachtree Street, Jackson, MS) promoting the book. Guess who's going to see him?

Update:  Review of the book at Desiring God Ministries and a  Review by Colin Hansen at the Gospel Coalition

Keller in "The Atlantic"

Have I mentioned lately how much I love Tim Keller's books?  Here's an excerpt from an interview in The Atlantic on How Timothy Keller Spreads the Gospel in New York City and Beyond. This quote is specifically about his new book, Kings Cross, published this week.

What made you decide to write a book about the life of Jesus?

In a way, the reason why I wrote the book is I'm a Christian minister. And a basic job, I think, is to get people to be attracted to Jesus. That's the purpose of the book: to take the continual, almost inexorable, interest that people have in Jesus—it seems like no matter whether people have a positive or negative view of the church, regardless of whether the culture is secular or religious, there is an interest in Jesus. I'm trying to connect with that because I find Jesus very attractive, and I want people to be attracted to him.

And why did you choose to focus on the Gospel of Mark rather than any of the other three gospels?

You're an author, so you'll probably laugh at this: I chose Mark because it's the shortest gospel. But because it's short, it's compressed, and it moves from incident to incident in Jesus' life very quickly. In Matthew, Luke, and John, you have these long discourses, long pieces of teaching, and they're wonderful in many cases, like the Sermon on the Mount. And they raise a lot of questions.

But if you're really just trying to get exposed to all the aspects of Jesus, in Mark you get three or four incidents: Jesus with the dying girl, Jesus with the Pharisees, Jesus with a scholar. You get so many pictures of him per chapter that very quickly you get a very full-bodied picture of who he is. Also there's a sense of immediacy: it's all in the present tense. Sometimes it says, "Immediately he did this, immediately he did that." It's pretty compelling. I always go there, to Mark, if I'm trying to introduce somebody to Jesus. It's the fastest way to give the person a picture.

There's much more, of course, at the link above.

Other helpful Tim Keller links...

• Tim Keller Resources
• Generous Justice
• The Prodigal God
• Counterfeit Gods
• The Reason for God
• Ministries of Mercy
• Gospel in Life Study

No Kind of Religion At All

Oh, I am really going to have to get this book (and soon)!

“In a sermon Dick Lucas once preached, he recounted an imaginary conversation between an early Christian and her neighbor in Rome.

“Ah,” the neighbor says. “I hear you are religious! Great! Religion is a good thing. Where is your temple or holy place?”

“We don’t have a temple,” replies the Christian. “Jesus is our temple.”

“No temple? But where do your priests work and do their ritual?”

“We don’t have priests to mediate the presence of God,” replies the Christian. “Jesus is our priest.”

“No priests? But where do you offer your sacrifices to acquire the favor of your God?”

“We don’t need a sacrifice,” replies the Christian. “Jesus is our sacrifice.”

“What kind of religion is this?” sputters the pagan neighbor.

And the answer is, it’s no kind of religion at all.”

—from Tim Keller, King’s Cross: The Story of the World in the Life of Jesus, p. 48.

Hat Tip: What Kind of Religion Is This?! – Justin Taylor:

Pride or Plee?

Have you ever noticed how saying “I’m so unworthy” can function more as a form of pride than  a plea for deliverance?

"There are two ways to fail to let Jesus be your Savior.

One is by being too proud, having a superiority complex—not to accepted his challenge.

But the other is through an inferiority complex—being so self-absorbed that you say, “I’m just so awful that God can’t love me.” That is, not to accept his offer."

- Tim Keller, from new book on the Gospel of Mark,  King’s Cross (to be published later this month).

Hat Tip:  How an Inferiority Complex Can Be a Form of Pride – Justin Taylor: