Keller and his ministry [Being Indian & Christian #11]

Tim Keller passed away this week; I also share my blog post in which I talk about the challenges posed by stray dogs in India

Hi friends,

It’s been a few weeks since you heard from me. I have been struggling with sticking to the discipline of writing regularly. Here’s to hoping that I improve.

From January to April, I have been part of a Fellowship Group at church where we were discussing the book Prodigal God by Timothy Keller. This was my first book written by Keller and I loved it! I loved the fellowship, the book, and the discussions we had. We were reminded of the prodigal love of God in a new and fresh way.

Timothy Keller passed away this week. Keller, through the book, sparked in me, a renewed love for God. I praise God for his life and the way God used him in blessing many people — one such person being David Perell.

One of my favourite online writers, David Perell, calls himself closer to an atheist than a believer. I have found his writing extremely fascinating over the past few months. What always fascinated me was the question: what means did God use to make a highly successful person who has lived all his life as an atheist interested in the Bible, to the extent that he is reading, studying, and thinking deeply about it? Turns out, God used the ministry of Tim Keller.

In his newsletter on Friday, Perell wrote:

I’m writing with a heavy heart because one of my favorite writers, Tim Keller, passed away today.

The history and theology of Christianity has been my number one intellectual interest over the past five years, and Keller was my sherpa. Attending his Questioning Christianity lectures transformed the way I think about faith and led me to write pieces like "Why You're Christian" and "The Book You Need to Read." More recently, something like 80% of my YouTube watch minutes over the past three months have been devoted to his videos and lectures.

He's on my Mount Rushmore for people I’d like to emulate in my career. I'll never forget the way he so openly welcomed criticism. He exhibited a rare was his combination of conviction, compassion, and intellectual humility. I met him exactly one time, on the corner of 83rd and Broadway in Manhattan. He didn't just ask for the hard questions. He demanded them. Doing that over the course of a career taught him how to communicate the gospel with exceptional shrewdness.

Read the whole newsletter

Blog Post of the Week

On May 19th, 2023, an 8-year-old boy was mauled to death by stray dogs in Kazipet, Telangana. Three months ago, on February 19th, a 4-year-old boy was similarly killed by stray dogs in Hyderabad. In April, a 65-year-old woman was attacked by dogs outside her house in Srinagar.

The stories go on and on. There are an estimated 6.2 crore stray dogs in India. In addition to direct deaths, stray dogs are also a source of deaths through rabies. According to the World Health Organization, India accounts for 36% of the world's rabies deaths, with estimates ranging from 18 thousand to 20 thousand deaths every year. (Source)

Read More

Useful link

1. Free access to books and audiobooks - archive.org

One of the coolest things I have discovered recently is that you can digitally borrow books on archive.org. All you have to do is create an account and you can borrow books for a minimum of 1 hour (these are indefinitely renewable). These even include books published recently. And some books can be borrowed for 14 days.

While I already knew about copyright-free public domain books being available for download on Gutenberg.org and their audio versions being available on Librivox.org, I did not know that recent books could be borrowed on archive.org.

I enjoyed reading a biography of Henry Martyn by Padwick Constance (Henry Martyn Confessor of the Faith) for a VBS (Virtual Bible School) by IEM, where I shared his story. I’m currently enjoying The Christ of the Covenants by Palmer Robertson in order to better understand Covenant Theology.

2. The Prodigal God by Tim Keller (Book recommendation)

As I mentioned, reading The Prodigal God helped me appreciate the love that God has for me in a new and enjoyable way. I highly recommend the book to anyone considering getting started with books written by Keller.

Buy it on Amazon
or
Borrow it and read it on archive.org

That’s it for this week folks! See you next week!

Cheers,
Caleb

---

Being Indian and Christian is my weekly newsletter in which I try to understand the world (popular culture or news and events from India or around the world) from a Christian worldview. If that's something you're interested in, I'd be honoured if you signed up!