Generous Justice

How God's Grace Makes Us Just

By: Timothy Keller

Narrated by: Tom Parks

Renowned pastor and bestselling author of The Prodigal Prophet Timothy Keller shares his most provocative and illuminating message yet.

It is commonly thought in secular society that the Bible is one of the greatest hindrances to doing justice. Isn't it full of regressive views? Didn't it condone slavery? Why look to the Bible for guidance on how to have a more just society? But Timothy Keller sees it another way. In Generous Justice, Keller explores a life of justice empowered by an experience of grace: a generous, gracious justice. Here is a book for believers who find the Bible a trustworthy guide as well as those who suspect that Christianity is a regressive influence in the world.

Keller's church, founded in the eighties with fewer than one hundred congregants, is now exponentially larger. More than six thousand people regularly attend Sunday services, and another twenty-five thousand download Keller's sermons each week. A profile in New York magazine described his typical sermon as "a mix of biblical scholarship, pop culture, and whatever might have caught his eye in The New York Review of Books or on Salon.com that week." In short, Timothy Keller speaks a language that many thousands of people yearn to comprehend. In Generous Justice, he offers them a new understanding of modern justice and human rights.

©2010 Timothy Keller (P)2022 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

"Keller shows us how a...spirit–one of generosity coupled with justice–can thoroughly alter not only a person but, ultimately, society as a whole.... Many gems are to be mined from Generous Justice."–The Washington Times

"Generous Justice is the best book I've ever read about putting Christian faith into action.... Were all Christians to respond to Keller's understanding of Biblically based justice, it wouldn't simply result in more social programs, food and shelter, and health care for the needy. It would result in a world defined by shalom, a comprehensive peace, a world in which human beings flourish."–Beliefnet.com

"This is the most biblically informed and intellectually careful (read the footnotes!) 'social justice' book I know of. Justice skeptics and justice proponents alike will learn from Generous Justice."–Kevin DeYoung, TheGospelCoalition.org

A Convicting Listen

If you want to be challenged in your faith and how you are living it out, this is the book for you.

Every Christian must read

I can’t believe this was written over 10 years ago. I found myself so many times nodding yes and brought back to the heart of our Father which is full of compassion and justice.

Excellent book!!!

This book has been incredibly helpful to the Racial Reconciliation Network in Washington State, where we are developing cross-racial church partnerships to do justice. This is an essential tool!!!

Great book that deserves a new recording

Tim Keller presents a careful argument and some thoughtful insights to the topic of justice.
I’m not actually done with the complete work, but I am very distracted by the recording quality. The reader has a “sing songy“ style that leaves the ends of many of his phrases garbled. Not clear to me if it’s the recording Itself, or the reader style. But I find myself having to listen, overly carefully, and fill in the blanks when the phrasing is muddled.
Audible, please re-record this work!

Inspiring and convicting

This opened my eyes and heart to our call to serve “the least of these” in new ways.

A beautiful response to the need amidst cynicism from many

Keller does an incredible job of pointing out the reasons why we do not do justice. Among them, a necessary response to those who would indefinitely engage in evangelism at the expense of doing justice was fitting.

It is important to note that Keller affirms the same as was concluded in the Lausanne issue paper 21: the two go hand in hand.

Keller begins and ends the book in much the same way. He begins by demonstrating that our conviction to help others begins by understanding how much we have been helped, namely, salvation. He ends the book by demonstrating that Jesus is not at all unfamiliar with injustice. He made himself low, and we will do justice if we do the same.

I also really enjoyed the way Keller laid out varying levels of justice and how the church is best for some, business for others, and the individual for others.