Timothy Keller

His Spiritual and Intellectual Formation

By: Collin Hansen

Narrated by: Collin Hansen, Timothy Keller, full cast

Read by the author.

The untold story of the people, the books, the lectures, and ultimately the God who formed and shaped the life of the late Timothy Keller.

Millions have read books and listened to sermons by Timothy Keller. But who impacted his own thinking, and what shaped his spiritual growth and ministry priorities? With full access to Keller's personal notes and sermons—as well as exclusive interviews with family members and longtime friends—Collin Hansen takes listeners behind the scenes of one of the 21st century's most influential church leaders.

For the first time, Hansen introduces listeners to Keller's early years: the home where he learned to tell stories from the trees, the church where he learned to care for souls, and the city that lifted him to the international fame he never wanted.

This unique biography will allow you to:

• Understand the principles and practices that allowed Keller to synthesize so many different influences in a coherent ministry.
• Take the best of Keller's preaching and teaching to meet emerging challenges in the 21st century.
• Develop your own historical, theological, and cultural perspectives to shape your leadership.

Bonus audio includes:

• Tim Keller’s sermon “Truth, Tears, Anger, and Grace,” delivered by Keller following the 9/11 terrorist attacks on September 16, 2001
• The first message Keller delivered for a public conference of The Gospel Coalition in 2007: “Gospel-Centered Ministry”
• The famous sermon “The Girl Nobody Wanted,” Keller’s famous sermon about Jacob’s marriages to Rachel and Leah
• “The Lord and the Word,” an influential 1973 lecture delivered by Edmund Clowney, Keller’s only personal mentor
• The inspiring address delivered by Elisabeth Elliot, “The Glory of God’s Will,” at the 1976 Urbana missions conference attended by Tim and Kathy Keller

©2023 Collin Hansen (P)2023 Zondervan

His story was very interesting

Some of the facts he shared about the church and its beliefs and teachings and the importance of doctrine

Phenomenal

Worth every single minute of listening. Wonderful book! Definitely going to listen to it multiple times

Keller and his influences

The story of the men and women who shaped Keller both in-person and through their writing and preaching. It is both an engaging biography of the man himself and a wealth of names and books to add to your future reading list.

Insightful and helpful

The ability to see influences behind Dr. Keller and Kathy Keller encouraged me to consider my own. May others choose to dig deep into source material and referenced authors as have I.

Very Interesting

I plan on listening again, there is so much information and insight in this book

Encouraging read

This was a well researched and encouraging explanation of the spiritual formation of Tim Keller who has been an important spiritual leader to me and I know many others as well.

The Fuller Story of Tim Keller

This book focuses on a spiritual and intellectual giant, showing how he grew. In the process it demystifies Tim Keller both by tracing the continuity of his curious and capacious mind since childhood and accentuating the various sources of the ideas for which he became well known. I simultaneously felt free from wanting to become like Tim Keller—because I don’t have his intellectual hardware or powers of recall—while wanting to become like him—in his admiration and assimilation of the ideas of giants greater than himself.

This is an inspiring look at a life made both humble and confident by the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Fascinating journey in Christ

Must listen to this fascinating story of how Tim journeyed in Christ and grew into the man of God he is.

Keller, a gifted gift of and to Christ’s church

Grateful for Tim & Kathy Keller’s faithfulness to pass on Jesus’ teachings in such a powerful way. I received a bootleg copy of the contents of his book, “Preaching”, while in another format long before the Kellers published any books. It was paradigm shifting for me and a bit unsettling at first. However, learning to see Christ Jesus in all of Scripture has been a daily comfort for well over 20 years now. Thanks, Colin, for writing his story so that we can appreciate Tim and Kathy even more.

Love Tim’s humility and living out 2 Tim. 2:24-25 so we’ll!

Collin, thanks for doing such a great work on this. I really enjoyed listening to you read this book. I wish more authors would read their own books.

Tim has been a great theological hero since 2006-2007 when I first discovered him through a Desiring God conference called “The Supremacy of Christ in a Postmodern World.” Since then I’ve read/listened to many of his books and hundreds of his sermons. I was pleased to discover that Kathy Keller had childhood connections to Penn Hills, PA (my current residence) and Pittsburgh (my hometown).

This was a great read/listen looking forward to the next biography from Collin.