THE

Prodigal

God

Recovering the Heart of the Christian Faith

TIMOTHY KELLER

dutton

dutton

Published by Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, U.S.A.

Penguin Group (Canada), 90 Eglinton Avenue East, Suite 700, Toronto, Ontario M4P 2Y3, Canada (a division of Pearson Penguin Canada Inc.); Penguin Books Ltd, 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England; Penguin Ireland, 25 St Stephen’s Green, Dublin 2, Ireland (a division of Penguin Books Ltd); Penguin Group (Australia), 250 Camberwell Road, Camberwell, Victoria 3124, Australia (a division of Pearson Australia Group Pty Ltd); Penguin Books India Pvt Ltd, 11 Community Centre, Panchsheel Park, New Delhi—110 017, India; Penguin Group (NZ), 67 Apollo Drive, Rosedale, North Shore 0632, New Zealand (a division of Pearson New Zealand Ltd); Penguin Books (South Africa) (Pty) Ltd, 24 Sturdee Avenue, Rosebank, Johannesburg 2196, South Africa

Penguin Books Ltd, Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England

Published by Dutton, a member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

First printing, November 2008

Copyright © 2008 by Timothy Keller

All rights reserved

registered trademark—marca registrada

library of congress cataloging-in-publication data

Keller, Timothy J., 1950–

The prodigal God: recovering the heart of the Christian faith / by Timothy Keller.—1st ed.

p. cm.

ISBN 978-0-525-95079-0 (hardcover)

1. Prodigal son (Parable) 2. Christianity. I. Title.

BT378.P8K45 2008

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With gratitude to

Edmund P. Clowney

and my other mentors

Contents

Introduction

The Parable

one

The People Around Jesus:

“All gathering around to hear him.”

Two Kinds of People

Why People Like Jesus but Not the Church

two

The Two Lost Sons:

“There was a man who had two sons.”

The Lost Younger Brother

The Younger Brother’s Plan

The Lost Elder Brother

three

Redefining Sin:

“All these years I’ve been slaving ...