Biografie - Tim Keller

Timothy J. Keller
Timothy James Keller

Nationality:
American
Education:
Bucknell University, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, Westminster Theological Seminary
Occupation:
Pastor, Author, Speaker
Religion:
Christian, Presbyterian (PCA)
Spouse:
Kathy Keller

Timothy J. Keller (born 1950) is an American author, speaker, and the founding pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City, New York. He is the author of several books, including The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism, which garnered awards from World Magazine and Christianity Today and rose as high as #7 on the New York Times Best Seller list for non-fiction in March, 2008.

Biografie

Keller was raised in Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania. He is a graduate of Bucknell University (B.A., 1972), Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary (M.Div., 1975) and Westminster Theological Seminary, where he received his D.Min in 1981. He became a Christian while at Bucknell University, due to the ministry of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, with which he later served as a staff member. He was ordained by the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) and served as a pastor in Virginia for nine years, while also serving as director of church planting for the PCA. He also served on the faculty of Westminster Theological Seminary, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where he and his wife Kathy were involved in urban ministry; and, he continues as an adjunct professor of practical theology. Keller lives on Roosevelt Island in New York City with his wife, Kathy. They have three sons, David, Michael and Jonathan.

Keller was asked by the PCA to start Redeemer in 1989 despite his relative lack of experience and after two others had turned down the position. The church grew from 50 people to total attendance of over 5,000 people each Sunday as of early 2008, leading many to call him "the most successful Christian Evangelist in the city." His target audience consists mainly of urban professionals, whom he believes exhibit disproportionate influence over the culture and its ideas. In his preaching, "he hardly shrinks from difficult Christian truths, [but] he sounds different from many of the shrill evangelical voices in the public sphere." Indeed, he shuns the label "evangelical" because of its political and fundamentalist connotation, preferring to call himself simply orthodox because "he believes in the importance of personal conversion or being 'born again,' and the full authority of the Bible."

Redeemer started a church planting center in 2001 and has helped start over 175 churches of various denominations in the New York City area and around the world, and The New York Times reports that "pastors from around the world are beginning to come in a steady stream to New York City to glean what they can from Dr. Keller and Redeemer." Keller, once the director of his denomination's mercy ministries, has always emphasized Christian service and charity, both in his own church's members and in those the center trains to plant urban churches.
Redeemer, according to Christianity Today, is "one of Manhattan's most vital congregations" and, according to a 2006 survey of 2000 American church leaders, is the 16th most influential church in America.

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