What: The Prodigal God: Recovering the Heart of the Christian FaithAuthor: Timothy Keller
When: Earlier this month
How Long: 133 pages, 1 week.
Where: In my bed.
What I used as a Bookmark: The tag from the Walk In Love t-shirt I bought a few months back.
Why (/Expectations): I had thought it was an interesting title, supposing it was a fresh take on the famous parable. And the speaker at Summer Conference said it would be the best book I read this year, so my expectations were pretty high.
Two Sentence Synopsis: Timothy Keller takes a fresh look at the famous parable, which he renames the "Parable of the Two Lost Sons." Discussing both sons, but paying special attention to the older brother, Keller applies their attitudes to our own attitudes and explains how they relate to the Christian walk. [my bad on 2 epic-long sentences]
My Favorite Part or Quote was: "What makes you faithful or generous is not just a redoubled effort to follow moral rules. rather, all change comes form a deepening understanding of the salvation of Christ and living out the changes that understanding creates in your heart. Faith in the gospel restructures our motivations, our self0understandnig, our identity and our view of the world. Behavioral compliance to rules without heart-change will be superficial and fleeting." (pages 118-119)
How Fun It Was: Not really "entertaining," per sé, but it wasn't boring or unfun.
The Positives: It is a fairly fresh look at the well-studied parable, and Keller does a good job of relating it to readers today. He also skillfully incorporates examples from well-known literature to bolster several of his points.
The Negatives: The first portion of the book, explaining the parable, was a little old for me. That could just be because I've heard a lot of different messages on it recently, but almost the first half was fairly old news.
The Theology, Philosophy, Morality or Application: Impeccable. Keller presents good Biblical exposition and exegesis, and offers a clear and strong challenge for the modern Church to accept the Father's invitation to come and feast.
One thing I learned: Fond memories are no place on which to rest hope. In a quote from Lewis: "the beauty, the memory of our own past—are good images of what we really desire; but if they are mistaken for the thing itself they turn into dumb idols, breaking the hearts of their worshipers." (page 94)
The ending: That is, the last two chapters, were actually my favorites and the most insightful.
Go/Borrow/Buy/Don't: It's definitely worth the borrow, and I'm glad I bought it, but I wouldn't recommend everyone follow suit.
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