This past Thursday morning, with Kathy, his partner in ministry and wife of 48 years by his side, Timothy James Keller, 72, the most influential evangelical of that last quarter century, died at his home on Roosevelt Island in New York City. Following his diagnosis of stage-four pancreatic cancer just under three years ago, Keller said, “There is no downside in me leaving, not in the slightest.” One year ago, now deep into the challenges treatment brought, Keller tweeted, “If the resurrection is true, then everything is going to be alright.”
Timothy Keller, the first-born child of William B. and Louise A. Clemente Keller was born and grew up in Allentown, Pennsylvania. He was educated at Bucknell University, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, and Westminster Theological Seminary. He served as the pastor of West Hopewell Presbyterian Church in Hopewell, Virginia and as Associate Professor of Practical Theology at Westminster Theological Seminary, and Director of Mercy Ministries for the Presbyterian Church in America.
Keller rose from humble beginnings to become the model pastor, church planter, and Christian apologist for a generation of evangelicals and Christian ministers of many stripes across North America and beyond. Two of his many books, The Reason For God (2008), and The Prodigal God (2008) have sold over 2 million copies.
Never one to seek recognition or fame, his books, podcasts, conference talks, interviews, debates, panel discussions, and on-the-ground leadership as founder and pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church (PCA) in Manhattan, brought international notoriety those closest to Keller say
