by Timothy Keller, with review by John Yany

“Prayer is the only entry way into genuine self-knowledge. It is also the main way we experience deep change—the reordering of our loves. Prayer is how God gives us so many of the unimaginable things he has for us.”

A poignant quote from Tim Keller’s book, Prayer: Experiencing Awe and Intimacy with God. I went through this excellent book with the men and women who serve on our youth team at Parkside Green, and it was a stretching and growing experience for us. 

It is not your typical small handbook on prayer (or your typical small book by Tim Keller on anything). Keller’s thoughts in this book span five main aspects on prayer: desiring prayer, understanding prayer, learning prayer, deepening prayer, and doing prayer. 

He does a masterful job of marrying theory to practice, explaining and expounding on the Lord ’s Prayer,  while also wrestling with tough issues of mysticism in prayer. Keller also helpfully and succinctly shares the wise thoughts of Augustine, Luther, and Calvin on prayer.  

But…here is why I’d like to recommend this book. We’ve all experienced the ups and downs of a prayer life. Some of us have wrestled with the right and left of our prayer lives (the emotional struggles and the theological conundrums of what is and what it could be). Thankfully, Keller deals with all of that. But what I most love about this book is its balanced approach. Your usual book on anything has a bias, and it will fight to the index with that bias, but watch how Keller approaches the intricate subject of prayer. He begins the book in the introduction by presenting a theological “problem” more or less. Here it is: there are two kinds of views on prayer. One camp says, “Pray prayers that are more ‘communion-centered’, i.e., praise/adoration.” Another camp says, “No, don’t make that too much of your focus. The times are evil. The world is crumbling. Let’s pray more ‘kingdom-centered’ prayers.” Interesting tension. Keller tackles it like this, “This book will show that prayer is both conversation and encounter with God” (pg. 5).

In the same breath, Keller writes, “Prayer…is both awe and intimacy.” To Keller, balance is key. I believe this to be a very healthy approach as we come to prayer. In fact, I would argue it to be a wonderful approach to how we view doctrine in Scripture. The human tendency is to pick one side over the other in all of our endeavors to understand and know God. We approach prayer and say, “I bet praying and desiring God’s nearness is the most biblical way.” Or we say, “No, we should not be selfish like that and instead must pray solely for his kingdom to advance.” 

Sadly, this is the tendency of many of us (and not just on the subject of prayer). We are inclined to pit one exhortation of Scripture against the other. Instead, Keller encourages us to not fall into that faulty logic. The Scripture embraces awe and intimacy, conversation and encounter, presence seeking and kingdom seeking. Why should we not do the same? Why don’t you stop at Books by the Park to pick it up, grab a coffee, and read the book for yourself. I hope you will wrestle alongside this wonderful pastor as he helps us all learn to pray, “Hallowed be your name,” while not excluding “Your kingdom come.”

You can pick up your copy of Prayer at Books by the Park. For more book recommendations to help you build your personal library, please visit our website.

About the Author

Timothy Keller was born and raised in Pennsylvania and educated at Bucknell University, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, and Westminster Theological Seminary. He was first a pastor in Hopewell, Virginia. In 1989 he started Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City with his wife, Kathy, and their three sons. Today, Redeemer has more than five thousand regular Sunday attendees and has helped to start more than two hundred and fifty new churches around the world. Also the author of Encounters with Jesus, Walking with God through Pain and Suffering, Every Good Endeavor, The Meaning of Marriage, Generous Justice, Counterfeit Gods, The Prodigal God, Jesus the King, and The Reason for God, Timothy Keller lives in New York City with his family.

About the Reviewer

Originally from Cairo, Egypt, John Yany is a graduate of Moody Bible Institute with a degree in Music and Missions. In the fall of 2012, he came to Parkside Church Bainbridge as an intern, then joined the pastoral staff full-time in the summer of 2013.  He currently helps coordinate the youth and music programs for Parkside Church Green, and has a strong desire for young people to know and love Christ more.