Timothy Keller: His Spiritual and Intellectual Formation, by Collin Hansen. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Reflective, 2023, xii + 306 pages, $22.99.

My good friend,

You (foolishly) asked me what stood out for me in your splendid biography of Tim. That is a bit like asking an aging Swiss what he liked most about his country. In no particular order here are a few of my thoughts.

1) At the level of style, your prose is utterly readable. And your choices of stories and facts—you manage to pack so much in, within the limits of 272 pages, a feat few biographers have accomplished. They either err on the side of information overload or just hagiography. I thought I knew the man pretty well but you showed me aspects of his life I had little or no knowledge about. I think Tim has meant more to me than most friends; and he was a very good friend, though he may have thought it was a one-way street.

2) I share many of the personal and geographical influences which affected him and Kathy. But because I am from France and went to Westminster, these do not exactly match up. I have only encountered the full British influence recently. But several influences do match. I cannot enumerate all of them here. But certainly at the top of the list are John Stott, Ed Clowney, Harvie Conn, Kennedy Smartt, Jack Miller; the cities of Boston and New York (my family includes the founders); also ministries like L’Abri, where I became a Christian, Inter-Varsity Fellowship, which nurtured me and published my books, and the Gospel Coalition, which embodies many of the principles of outreach I believe in. Of course, all the aspects of the influence of Westminster Seminary converge with my own formation (a sixty-year involvement). I could say a lot more concerning the seminary (I thought you did an excellent job of describing the place and its personnel, its strengths and its weaknesses.) I was greatly interested in your descriptions of Gordon-Conwell. What a hard time they are going through!

3) Human stories. (a) Your depiction of Kathy and their “romance” is deeply moving. (b) I loved some of the inside line on Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. Among the many accounts I enjoyed was that of Elizabeth Elliott. For years I struggled with (what I perceived to be) her fatalism. We had some unfortunate personal encounters. What changed my mind is Ellen Vaughn’s Becoming E. E.—she helped me understand what I had not liked about her and gain great respect for her. (c) Your wonderful descriptions of Tim’s soul: his struggles, his passions, his vision. (d) How he got to New York by process of elimination! (e) His disarming humility.

4) From cover to cover the book describes my own vision for the Christian faith. While it is all a bit intimidating (honestly confronting my very limited contributions compared to—ahem—brother Keller) it shows the glories of the gospel in its every aspect. It is for this I am most deeply grateful to you.

William Edgar is a minister in the Presbyterian Church in America and emeritus professor of apologetics and ethics at Westminster Theological Seminary, Glenside, Pennsylvania. Ordained Servant Online, October, 2023.