The Prodigal God, Christianity Redefined Through the Parable of the Prodigal Sons
by Timothy Keller
My husband and I will be participating in a covenant group in church studying and discussing The Prodigal God written by Timothy Keller. We will however be watching a video a week for six weeks.
But I have always wanted to read Keller's books but haven't got to it and so this will be a good opportunity to do so.
So I bought a copy today. It's a short book and I was halfway through in no time. But I decided not to go so fast and stopped midway.
It is a very good book. Simple but profound. I can imagine there will be loads of thing to discuss, to unpack, to agree and to disagree.
The title of the book itself is thought provoking. We've always known the parable to be The Parable of the Lost Son. But Keller said the focus isn't so much on the younger son but more on the elder son.
Keller was right when he said that the "younger brothers" of those days were attracted to Jesus, but today, "the licentious and liberated or the broken and marginal avoid church. That can only mean one thing. If the preaching of our ministers and the practice of our parishioners do not have the same effect on people that Jesus had, then we must not be declaring the same message that Jesus did. If our churches aren’t appealing to younger brothers, they must be more full of elder brothers than we’d like to think."
And ultimately, it ends up with the magnanimous and prodigal father, with prodigal meaning being recklessly extravagant, having spent everything, which was what the father did.
I really look forward to the sessions beginning this coming Sunday.
pearlie
I read this with a group of friends about 5 years ago. Cannot remember much about it though. I like what you wrote about churches not appealing to younger brothers.
ReplyDeleteThat is what I hate about reading - I forget what I read so quickly. But since I will be talking and discussing this book, I hope to retain some :)
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