Basic Information : Synopsis : Expectations : Thoughts : Evaluation : New Words : Book References : Good Quotes : Table of Contents : References
Basic Information:
Author:
Timothy Keller
Edition:
pdf from bought hardcopy
Publisher:
Viking
ISBN:
052595435X (ISBN13: 9780525954354)
Start
Date: September 16, 2019
Read
Date: January 20, 2020
213
pages
Genre:
Christianity
Language
Warning: None
Rated
Overall: 3 out of 5
Religion:
Christianity
Religious
Quality: 4 out of 5
Christianity-Teaching
Quality: 4 out of 5
Synopsis:
Timothy
Keller is writing to those who want a reason to believe that Jesus
is the Christ, is God. He has given a series of talks in New York and
has transformed them into a series of chapter length essays. He
covers Jesus’ interactions in a series of relationships.
Expectations:
- Recommendation: Sherri
- When: May 2019
- How come do I want to read this book: In Fall 2019 our House Church will be using it as part of our study
- What do I think I will get out of it? Insights into how Jesus interacted with people
Thoughts:
Introduction
Keller
talks about why he wrote this book. First it was how he came to learn
to love Jesus-by searching for the answers rather being given the
answers. But then he was invited to give a series of talks to
non-Christian audiences. He thought the best way was to introduce
Jesus rather than preach about him.
Keller's notes that in college he was looking for why he was a Christian. In
doing so, he joined a Bible study where questions were asked rather
than being taught. They came to conclusions together. It was through
studying John that Keller started encountering Jesus and his life and
power through the text. He started studying not
just for intellectual stimulation but in order to find God.
In
studying the Bible study it, not gloss over it. Understand it and
search deeper into a passage besides the first things which comes to
our minds.
In
John, Jesus has a tendency to explore the big meaning
of life
questions.
First
five chapters are from talks he gave at Oxford to those who are skeptics. The second five are to the New York Harvard Club.
The
Skeptical Student
Talks
about what you lose by despising things and when you remove
Christianity, you also remove the foundation of Western culture and
morals. The third thing Keller says is that Jesus gives us reason to
believe.
Thurst
of this chapter: Where
should we look for answers to the big questions of life? And where
Shouldn’t
we look for answers?
Keller
takes several thoughts from Luc Ferry as the basis for this chapter.
The
Greeks believed that the universe had a rational and moral order to
it… called the Logos.
I think this Logos while connected to what John starts the gospel as
with the Logos,
the Greeks would not have said they were connected. Later on Keller
says that John deliberately borrowed this term to connect with Greek
thinking. Keller quotes John 1:1-3, 14.
This
Logos
was not a thing, but a person. This seemed ludicrous to the Greeks.
Takes
John 1:43-51 where Nathanael is skeptical about Jesus until he
actually meets him.
There
is a tendency to be bigoted about things, whether from place or
ideas. In doing so, there is a sense of discounting what is the
object of bigotry.
The
idea of each person is made in God’s image is important in
understanding each person’s place in society. This comes from
John’s teaching on Logos.
Keller shows how that in the Bible how God has most effectively dealt
with this world is through those of lesser use to the world. He used
younger sons, barren women, and those who came from places of
no-importance.
The
importance of Christianity is not that you had nice people doing nice
things, but that you had God changing people so they could be better
than they should be. Being nice never
made sense to anyone until people came to understand the Christian
message about the nature of ultimate reality.
In
other words, it is what God does to us is what makes the difference,
not what we do for God.
Keller
postulates that in today’s environment, people do not think they
need something. But when there is the opportunity to fill themselves,
they will come to the place which does.
He
takes the case of W.H.Auden who left the church. But when WW II broke
out, he found was that
novelty and shock of the Nazis in the 1940s was they made no
pretense of believing in justice and liberty for all-they attacked
Christianity on the grounds that to love one’s neighbor as oneself
was a command fit only for effeminate weaklings."
Keller
pushes the idea that if there is no higher being/principle then how
do you just what is ultimately wrong or right? How do you appeal to
a higher standard when genocide hits?
Being
skeptical is OK in the short-term. But as a long-range position, it
is self-defeating. The longer you are skeptical, the more skeptical
you become. You stop searching and retreat into your own world of
doubt.
And
here Jesus makes the incredible claim that he is that way. He is the
Logos of the universe, the bridge between Heaven and Earth.
The
Insider and the Outcast
The
issue here is why does the world need rescuing.
The
reason why John put the Samaritan Woman (John 4:7-19) and Nicodemus
together is that John wanted us to treat them together, not
separately. There are things in common between them.
A
big point is that both the religious and the outcast are sinners.
Women-an
outcast because of nationality. Also there is a sense of moral issues
in her background-coming at noon, five husbands, …. Keller notes Jesus is friendly, but dos not allow her to weasel away from her
issues.
Keller
says that even when we achieve our physical goals, we do feel
satisfied. This indicates that we need something beyond what the
physical world offers-a yearning for the spiritual. He gives a quote
from Henry David Wallace which the conclusion is that whatever you
seek after will not satisfy you will be consumed by it.
The
outcome of the conversation with the woman is that he is what she is
looking for.
Then
John goes to the Nicodemus story. Nicodemus is someone who has
achieved and should be satisfied. But Jesus talks to him about what
he is lacking.
One
thing becomes evident is that Jesus works on us at a deeper level of
what sin is. He gets beyond the nice guy a\or do good and looks at
who we are. Keller goes beyond and talks about what do you owe God?
m(I am not sure he really has established this owing thing.)
The
Grieving Sisters
Story
of Martha, Mary and Lazarus out of John 11:17-36. Keller’s point is
that Mary and Martha gets almost the same statements from the sisters
when Jesus arrives too late to heal Lazarus. Jesus responds
differently to the two of them. One almost a harsh rebuke, the other
soft and tenderly. Story shows that he is not just God faking being a
human, but a human and God wrapped up as one.
Throughout
the gospels, Jesus makes claims of being at the beginning of
creation, forgiving sins, being the resurrection. John
Duncan
confronted the question of Jesus was a good teacher by countering
this with what Jesus taught was either a liar, madman or God. CS
Lewis took this as well. My comment to this is as a Christian, I
get too used to his claim. Thus taking a moderate thinking and
action. a Christian should always be radical. should be more like his
master than I am.
Keller
finishes off with the stone being opened in John 11:38-44
Keller
notes that when he commands the stone to be moved, he is at his angry
limits. His take on this is that Jesus was angry at evil, sin and
death, not at the family or God.
Our
relationship to God is much more like a character in a play to
Shakespeare than we have not searched the physical world enough.
Keller goes on and says that there is a parallel to Drothy Sayers and
Lord Peter Whimsy, her main character. She saw how lonely he was and
wrote herself into the story to save him from despair.
The
Wedding Party
In
this chapter, I want to think about how things can be put right in
the world.
Looks
at John 2. Emphasis in those days was more in terms of being a good
person in whatever place you were in: husband, wife, child, father or
mother. Marriage was to establish a place in community. Each
wedding was a public feast for the entire town because marriage was
about the whole community, not merely the couple.
Jesus turning the water into wine was the first of the signs
which Jesus did.
Why
did Jesus use a celebration to do his first sin? Wasn’t there more
important things to be done? Jesus
is saying, as it were, I am the true master of the banquet. I am Lord
of the Feast.
It is a way of saying his coming is a feast of joy.
The
Bible often uses sensory language.
Psalm 34 says to Taste
and see that the Lord is good.
Both senses rather than a proclamation.
We
must understand that we are stained, that we need to be purified,
that we have guilt and shame, and we need to be rescued from it--not
conned into believing it doesn’t exist.
This is the central point of the book, I think. Keller’s point is
that we need to recognize that we do wrong. There is guilt on this.
Now what does it take to legitimately remove this guilt? Keller goes
on and says: One
of the reasons you have all these dreams of working hard to look good
and do well and achieve is because you are trying to prove to
yourself and everyone else, even people who may not be around
anymore, that you are not a bum.
Keller thinks that all people, when they live long enough, even those
whose philosophy denies the need for guilt, eventually feel guilty
about something.
Keller
argues that even people like Eichmann are not sub-human, but fully
human. Each of us are capable these acts such as concentration camps.
Hannah Ardendt says that Eichmann was the banality
of evil.
Keller
connects the changing of the water into wine as with Jesus’ death.
He says in response to Mary that his hour
has not come. The word hour in John resonates with his death. The
water in the jars are for purification. The wine is what he drinks at
the Last Supper. Keller goes on and says this points to that Jesus
consistently was thinking about his own death, not going about to be
a good example.
Sidney
in A
Tale of Two Cities
by Charles Dickens is brought up a a substitute for correcting a
wrong.
The
middle part of this chapter is weak, but he really comes on strong
with giving us an understanding that Jesus was sipping death at the
wedding while everyone else was sipping wine he had created.
The
First Christian
Chapter
is how Christians should participate in making the world right. He
wants to right the confusion
about what Christian faith means.
John 20:1-18
Christian
faith is both impossible and rational. The impossible part is without
intervention, faith does not come into play. He says that
belief in the person and work of Christ does not come naturally to
anyone.
He
quotes from The
Last Word
by Thomas Nagel about how religion is to be feared. Nagel says that I
want atheism to be true,... I hope that there is no God! I don’t
want there to be a God…[And
then Nagel concludes]
I am curious, … whether there is anyone who is genuinely
indifferent as to whether there is a God.
Is
belief in God wish fulfillment. Keller points out that atheism may
also be wish fulfillment. CS Lewis points out that a sick man may
wish for the rising sun. This is the belief that there will be a
rising sun in the morning. Does that mean there is no sun? We all
have something invested in the answer to, is there a God? We cannot
be objective. You can doubt God’s existence, but by the same
standard, you can doubt the doubts as well.
This
leads us to the conclusion that without his help, We
are not even capable of truly wanting Jesus without his help.
Keller
goes on and say that faith is rational. He states that Christianity
is much more than being rational; this does not make it less.
...faith
is based on evidence, and right before us we have some of the most
important evidence the Bible offers us.
What Keller does not work through is why trust the Bible.
People
of that time did not believe in the resurrection of the body. Greeks
and Romans felt that to be pure you needed to be separated from the
body. The Jews believed in a last times resurrection, not of an
individual human, who lived in their midst. Consequently the
disciples were not expecting a resurrection.
Once
you have cancer, it will focus you on the meaning of life.
Christian
faith does not go down as there is more evidence. Keller says that
evidence which engages rationality boosts faith. Faith is not hoping
for something to be true, but building on evidence that it is true.
You
can’t get to real faith without reason.
Christianity
rests on it being true, not relevant, or feels good, or exciting, …
...If
its not true, in the end it won’t be practical and relevant.
Real
faith is always personal.
Why
did Jesus chose Mary, a woman, not one of the leadership? An outcast?
Faith
is both the cause and content of grace.
No
two people come to faith the same way.
Annie
Dillard: I’d
been my whole life a bell, but never knew it until I was lifted up
and rung.
The
Great Enemy
Keller
talks about how to encounter Jesus today. This is the theme of the
final five chapters. In this chapter he talks about overcoming evil.
Jesus
was baptized and then tempted. Why are they related? These two events
are connected with the word then.
Keller notes that After
great blessings and success came trial and temptation.
Keller,
like CS Lewis in The
Screwtape Letters,
uses the word undulations
to describe the Christian life. There are high and low points. We
cannot live a perfectly consistent life. So our life will be a
serious of getting things right and trying to work out of a hole
which are faults lead us into. But Lewis points out that even with
that, these undulations is part of God’s plan to make us ready for
the kingdom.
Jesus
was tempted and suffered hardship. If he did then we will. But a
thoroughly human example is Job who lived an exemplary life. He lost
everything and still maintained his desire for God.
As
a note: when we see someone struggling, it may not be that they are
the cause.
Keller
says that the Bible can can explain the nuanced, multidimensional and
complexity of evil more than science. I am wondering, does science
evaluate evil? Wouldn’t that be outside of its sphere?
We
as 21st century American’s misjudge and underestimate the power of
evil, particularly in our lives.
Morality
does not lead to prosperity. Examples: Jesus and Job.
Keller
says there are three things when facing up to evil:
- Who is the enemy?
- This is dependent on you world view. If you think of dualism, then you cannot decide which is the enemy since they are both equal. Also there is no sign of defeating that which humans consider evil.
- There is is monism where all is one thing. Both evil and good.
- Keller says that modern culture seems to borrow from both of these views. The outcome is that we apply behavioral reasoning to what would be considered evil outcomes. It is because of the person’s upbringing, so that person is not at fault. But When we find someone truly monstrous, we are at a loss for an explanation.
- Christianity is neither of the above. We have an evil entity called the devil. But his evil is not equal to God’s goodness. He is neither perfectly evil nor of equal power to God.
- Christianity says there’s more evil than you can account for in the world just from the cumulative effect of wrong individual choices. And you can attribute some of that evil to actual demonic forces.
- Where is the front?
- Doubt
- What is our best defense?
- To know truth
The
Two Advocates
Jesus
intercedes for us.
Keller
says that for three years, Jesus taught the disciples that he was to
die for their sins (and all humans). But that lesson was not
understood.
Jesus
was send an advocate for us-the Holy Spirit. This is a person, not a
life-force. Also called comforter, Helper, or Counselor.
The
other advocate is Jesus himself.
I'd
argue that unless you know that Jesus was the first Advocate, you
won't understand the work of the Holy Spirit as the second Advocate
at all
Keller
notes that each of us have a sense of right and wrongness-even if it
is different from anybody else's. When we feel we are not treated
fairly, we will argue from our standard of fairness, not somebody
else's. what's
natural can be wrong only if there is a "super-natural"
standard by which you could judge it.
Keller’s
point is that Jesus is more than a supporter of us or a good moral
teacher. He is there to advocate for us. In court, what the judge
sees is your lawyer and what the lawyer has to say. you're
lost in your advocate you are in your advocate.
It is Jesus pleading your case. It is not just Jesus saying be
lenient on this person, but that Jesus’ client is guilty but that
Jesus has paid the price of his guilt already.
You
want to make a case that is not based on how the court feels at the
time but is open and shut according to the law.
The
first Advocate is speaking to God for you, but the second Advocate is
speaking to you for you.
Sometimes
a person thinks that by living in Jesus’ time on earth, we would
know Jesus better. But from the record of the disciples, that is not
the case. Why? Keller says that it is the Holy Spirit who is showing
us who Jesus is.
… right
here and now, through the Holy Spirit, you can see Christ and know
his presence and his love better than the apostles could in that
moment in the upper room. If
you're a Christian, it's likely that you're not living as if this is
true.
Convicting
The
Obedient Master
Jesus
obeyed God perfectly for us.
Keller
indicates this is not time between events, the time on the Mt of
Olives is a time where we see Jesus his wanting to be closest with
His Father and yet seeming the farthest, look at him in prayer, not
at the disciples who were not ready for the trauma of the night.
The
agony of this time was one which he thought he would die. This did
not start when he reached his knees, but even as he was walking with
his disciples.
Speaking
of Stephen’s death: They
[Ignatius
of Antioch and Polycarp] argued
that Christians suffered and died better than pagans.
But Jesus here is not facing death with a bright and beautiful face,
but one of agony. this
was a different death than anybody else ever faced before or since.
The
essence of sin is "I do not want to have God in my life."
he
was walking into the garden, he would have started to pray, and
suddenly-for the first time in all of eternity-he would find the
lines of communication severed.
I wonder if this meant that at this point there was no backing out
for Jesus. There was no calling down armies of angels, but he was
left abandoned?
Keller
talks about Jesus’ active (healing, teaching, …) and is
passive(death on the cross) work.
The
Right Hand of the Father
Jesus
left earth so that he could reign over all for us.
- Puzzling to the disciples who witnessed it.
- Puzzling to us
What
difference to us that Jesus ascended?
What
is an ascension? Not just returning to heaven. More of a seating on
the throne, like a coronation. Not just a change of elevation. But
the rightful monarch taking his place.
This
is where Jesus shows both his divinity and humanity. He takes His
place as God but in the form of a man. The ascension releases Jesus
from the physical constraints of being human, particularly being in a
certain time and in a certain place. Consequently he can minister and
be with us everywhere. We do not need to worship at a certain spot.
This
means practically three things:
- Jesus is available to us
- You ascended from before our eyes and we turned back grieving, only to find you in our hearts. St Augustine(Unverified)
- Jesus controls all things
- Jesus intercede for us
- Jesus is making everything work together for your good means that not only are bad things part of his plan but also little things.
- You are forgiven
The
Courage of Mary
Jesus
left heaven to die for us.
Keller
is looking at Mary because Mary is like us in her response to Jesus.
Keller
points out that the name of Jesus is literally God
saves us.
Not that God sent a guide. Differentiates Jesus from other
messengers.
To
the Hebrews, God was not an impersonal force that is part of all
being but a unique, personal yet infinite, immanent yet transcendent,
eternal Creator who existed before and above all other beings
Those
who say that all religions are alike do not show enough respect to
listen to the distinctive voice each religion brings to this world.
Among
young secular adults it is common to adopt this belief that all
religions are roughly the same.
wonder=deologistico,=to
use logic, to reason with intensity
This
news certainly did not fit in with what Mary knew-because the message
meant a human being would be divine. The idea that the God of Mount
Sinai would become human was impossible to the reason and repugnant
to the moral sensibility of the Jews
Mary
gave voice to her doubts
when
you ask a real question, it makes you somewhat vulnerable.
When
confronted with Christ, the hardest thing to do is to give in. You
can't know the cost of following Jesus ahead of time. Mary’s cost
is that she is either a heritic or had unlawful sex-either way is
punishable by death.
Mary
breaks into worship when confronted by Elizabeth. The other thing
which drives Mary is the need for community.
Evaluation:
Timothy
Keller’s objective is to write an understandable, compelling
narrative about who Jesus is. He goes through the life of Jesus
talking about various incidents which highlight aspects of Jesus’
life on earth as well as his ascension into heaven. Keller writes in
a clear and understandable manner. So if one is interested in a good
overview of Jesus, this one will not lead you astray.
New Words:
- Primogeniture (chp 1): the right of succession belonging to the firstborn child, especially the feudal rule by which the whole real estate of an intestate passed to the eldest son.
- Trilemma (chp 3): a situation in which a difficult choice has to be made between three alternatives, especially when these are equally undesirable.
- Conversations with Jesus Christ from the Gospel of John by Marilyn Kunz and Catherine Schell
- A History of Philosophy by Luc Ferry
- The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism by Tim Keller
- For Better by Tara Parker-Pope,
- After Virtue by Alasdaiir MacIntyre
- Christian Reflections by CS Lewis (The essay “The Seeing Eye” is references)
- Three Gospels by Reynolds Price
- Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien
- The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky's
- Iliad by Homer
- A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
- The Last Word by Thomas Nagel
- The Resurrection of the Son of God by NT Wright
- The Death of Satan: How Americans Have Lost the Sense of Evil by Andrew Delbanco
- The City of God by Augustine
- Mere Christianity by CS Lewis
- Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris
- Death of a Salesman.by Arthur Miller
- The Great Divorce by CS Lewis
- Christ's Agony by Jonathan Edwards
- Systematic Theology by Louis Berkhof
Good Quotes:
- First Line: I was raised in a mainline Protestant church, but in college I went through personal and spiritual crises that led me to question my most fundamental beliefs about God, the world, and myself.
- Last Line: You can, too.
- Real faith is always personal. Chp The First Christian
- I’d been my whole life a bell, but never knew it until I was lifted up and rung., Annie Dillard, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek
- When you ask a real question, it makes you somewhat vulnerable. Chp 10
- Introduction
- The Skeptical Student
- The Insider and the Outcast
- The Grieving Sisters
- The Wedding Party
- The First Christian
- The Great Enemy
- The Two Advocates
- The Obedient Master
- The Right Hand of the Father
- The Courage of Mary
- Acknowledgements
- Notes
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