A Book Report of “The Prodigal God” by Timothy Keller

A Book Report of “The Prodigal God” by Timothy Keller

“The Prodigal God” by Timothy Keller is among popular theology literature on the parable of the prodigal son. Keller aimed to challenge believers on self-imposed standard of morality. Keller’s strong religious background influences his inspiration to write the book.Timothy Keller was born in Pennsylvania(). He attended Bucknell University, Gordon-Conwell theological seminary, and Westminster theological seminary. Keller’s first pastorate was at Hopewell, Virginia, in 1989(.Keller,76) Keller started the Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York with his wife Cathy and their three sons. Up to date, redeemer has helped launch more than three hundred churches around the world. Maxwell draws the title of his book from the parable of the prodigal son from the bible. Thesis

Summary of “The Prodigal God”

In “The Prodigal God” book, Keller’s targets to lay out the essentials of Christianity to both believers and nonbelievers through the parable of the prodigal son. In the first chapter, the writer explains the younger brothers’ rebellion against traditional morality and authority. By comparison, the elder brothers are religious, moralistic, and devote their lives to be respectable. ( Keller, 13-15).Surprisingly, the younger brother and the elder brothers are both rebels who have no genuine love for their father but try to manipulate him. In chapters three and four, Keller focuses on the sin and looseness of the elder religious brothers. Keller describes the elder brothers as people who use their morality to get whatever they want from God ( Keller, 45-47). The writer identifies the elder brothers as selfish people who live good lives doing good deeds not because they delight in them but because it’s a way to control their environment. The solution to such selfishness is the selfless love of Jesus Christ

Major Themes and Concepts

In the book, Keller’s primary concept of the Prodigal Son’s parable based on the elder brother’s reaction. He suggests that Christians should not serve God for the sake of merits or favors. Keller shows the readers through the parable of the prodigal son that the human race is like a group of exiles trying to come home. The father to the sons represents God, who gives sacrificially without requiring anything in exchange. The younger brother rediscovers himself after squandering all his inheritance. When the younger brother in the mud with pigs comes to his senses, he decides to confess his sins to his father. On his way home, he is surprised to see his father running to meet him. The father does not wait for the son to earn his way home, but he takes him back. The elder brother stands for the Pharisees (Keller, 28). The Pharisees conform to rules but with no joy. Keller explains that we should not obey God to get things from him or start to think that he owes us as the elder brother thought.

The central theme that Keller brings out is the importance of Christians serving God with joyful obedience, faithful service, and confidence in our status as his children. Keller shows the need for believers to serve God without hypocrisy. Keller redefines looseness not just as irreligious but also as bitter resentment, joyless servitude, and lack of assurance of God’s love. The lack of confidence is devastating and shows that we do not seek God’s love but other people’s affirmation. Those people with a mentality like that of the elder brother need desperately need to see themselves in this mirror(Keller, 89). The prodigal God is a reminder that through the gospel, we can be free of our younger and elder brother’s behaviors of serving God as a way of manipulating him.

Other essential ideas that Keller explores are the fact that as believers or nonbelievers, we all need God’s grace. In the same case, both the younger rebellious brother and the elder religious brother required their father’s grace. Keller explains that the target of Jesus parable is not for the sinners and nonbelievers only but also for religious people who do all that the bible requires.

Analysis of Presentation and Argument

The title of this book suggests its theme as structured around the parable of the prodigal son but portrays a different understanding of it. People always interpret the parable as it’s about the wayward brother who gets saved by his gracious father. In a real sense, the parable is less about the rebellious young brother but the religious elder brother. The title adequately captures the message and theme of the book as he analyzes the message on the parable of the prodigal son.

Keller uses symbolism and direct speech as a way to paint a clear picture of the real characters of Christians today. Keller has quoted phrases such as, “forgiveness always comes at a cost to the one granting forgiveness (Keller, 94) and, “It is impossible to forgive someone if you feel superior to him or her” (Keller 63). Keller also uses symbolism such as ring and robe. The ring and robe given to the younger son are symbols of the younger son regaining royal status as a true son. The elder son is used to symbolize the Pharisees.

Lessons from the Book

The main lessons from this book are that God loves us unconditionally. Just as the father loved his sons, both the obedient and the rebellious. God also wants us to rediscover ourselves and get back to him just as the younger son did and went back to his father and confessed of his sins. The book also teaches us that we should serve and obey God wholeheartedly and joyfully, not the way the brothers obeyed their father but with a motive of manipulating him. Keller suggests that Jesus is a true elder brother for the believers. A brother who can seek and save his young lost brother and not justifying how good he is to his father.

Jesus taught the parable of the prodigal son to show Christians that salvation does not come by our hard work but by the grace of God. The elder brother was moral and well behaved, unlike the younger brother, who was a rebel. The younger brother got accepted back even after squandering his inheritance because not because he deserved it but by the grace of his father.

Works Cited

Timothy Keller. The Prodigal God. Penguin Books. 2008