A little over a year ago, I received a short email from Tim Keller. He had just returned to NYC after a moth of immuno-therapy. He wrote:
… the festshrift books we received the last day we were in Maryland—were particular moving to Kathy and I. It was something we had no idea was coming at all and so it was indeed an astonishing, joyful surprise. After such a difficult June, the book just seemed like a kiss and an embrace, a gift of free grace. Many of the contributors are some of our dearest friends, but I don’t know every one of them and I don’t have all the email addresses. In fact, I’ve lost yours. (I know I used to have it!) And so could you simply pass on Kathy and my deepest thanks to all of the people involved in this and let them know how delightful this gift was to us?
What is this short email about? It is in response to me shipping the Kellers a box of our book, The City for God: Essays Honoring the Work of Timothy Keller.
The book was actually begun before Tim got cancer. The whole project was a secret, and we had been chipping away at it for a while before his diagnosis was revealed. As you can imagine, it was discouraging to think we might have worked so hard to honor and thank him only for Tim not to ever know. Therefore, we were quite relieved to be able to get it to him in time for him to enjoy it.
The City for God was a labor of love that was the result of a brainstorming session the Square Halo partners had one summer day. We were thinking about what books we’d like to publish. Rather than merely responding to book ideas as they were sent to us from folks, we asked ourselves: if we could do anything, what would we want to make? One idea was to write a festschrift in honor of Tim Keller. He had had a huge impact on the founding of my church, his preaching and planting in NYC had had a huge impact on our daughters, and his contribution to It Was Good: Making Art to the Glory of God was easily Square Halo’s most often quoted.
The City for God is divided into three parts and has a foreword by Russell Moore. The opening section is GOSPEL and it has essays about Character, Rhetoric, Apologetics, Accessibility, and Influence. The middle section is CITY and its topics are Presence, City of God, Prayer, Hope, Creativity, and Jazz. The final section is VOCATION with essays on Work, Both/And, Business, Counseling, Leadership, Mercy, and Legacy.
One of the things I particularly like about the book is that, although it has some “big names,” many of the people who wrote for it are not well known. They are simply people who were impacted by the ministry and vision of Keller, and have gone on to put his understanding of the Gospel into practice within their spheres. And at the end of the day, what could be better for a pastor than to know his flock was advancing the Kingdom of God?
Instead of endorsements like we’d usually collect for the front of the book, for this project I reached out to a number of folks to get “Thank Yous.” Here are a few:
“At strategic moments, God sometimes makes a surprising choice of human instruments (Gideon, David, Saul of Tarsus). In our own time, I can’t imagine a more appropriate choice of a leader than Tim Keller to represent our faith in the fishbowl that is New York City. By temperament, intellect, trustworthiness, and driving spirit, Tim is supremely qualified.”—Philip Yancey
“Tim was my pastor from 1999 until he retired from the pulpit in 2017. I came to Redeemer in New York City at a particularly lean time in my life. His ministry—following Jesus’ dictum to “feed my sheep”—deeply nourished my soul. He engaged my mind, softened my heart, and inspired my imagination. Tim was also God’s instrument for much of the C.S. Lewis work I have been a part of over the past twenty years. My debt to him remains to this day.”—Max McLean
“Tim and Kathy, your life and ministry have had an impact on mine in countless indirect ways, which, in being indirect, testify mightily to the power of your work and faithfulness over the years. Everywhere I go, I am blessed to work with, be edified by, and befriend those who have been shaped and formed by the Kellers. What greater legacy can there be than to influence those who go on to influence others, and so on, into eternity. I thank God for this kind of ministry. I thank God for you both.”—Karen Swallow Prior
We join with all of those who thank God for the Kellers. This book was one way to express that, and hopefully continue the impact of of Tim Keller’s vision and ministry in expanding the city for God.