Prodigal God

The Prodigal God: Recovering the Heart of the Christian Faith by Timothy J. Keller

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Tim Keller delivers a gut punch with his 2008 quickly-becoming-a-Christian-classic Prodigal God. Keller provides insights into Jesus’ parable of The Prodigal Son that have been hidden in the text and often overlooked for centuries. With so much focus on the brother who ran off and squandered his Father’s inheritance, there’s another character, equally as distant from the Father’s heart though never physically leaving home–the elder brother. The heart of the matter, for Keller, is this: “Jesus tells us that both the sensual way of the younger brother and the ethical way of the elder brother are spiritual dead ends. He also shows us there is another way: through Him. And to enter that way and to live a life based on his salvation will bring us finally to the ultimate party and feast at the end of history.”

Whether your story has included outright rebellion against God through sensual living, or whether your struggle is spiritual pride and apathy, Prodigal God will challenge you in the best ways possible. I know it will help pull you closer (as it did for me) to the heart of the Father who never gives up on his kids.



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