Welcome To The Culture War, Tim Keller

“The historical Christian positions on social issues do not fit into contemporary political alignments,” Write The New York Times published a September 2018 opinion piece by Tim Keller, a top Presbyterian pastor. “How Do Christians Fit Into the Two-Party System? They Don’t.” Keller is the pastor of a large New York City church and has always described his approach to evangelism this way. “winsome,” It has been criticised by other thinkers like James R. Wood Aaron Renn First Things Magazine offers a unique approach to this issue “did not denounce secular culture, but confidently engaged that culture on its own terms in a pluralistic public square,” Renn put it this way.

But last week’s An announcement The Keller Center for Cultural Apologetics (a Keller project with The Gospel Coalition) offers hope that Keller may be more actively engaged in the reality and consequences of the culture war.

Tim Keller and the ‘Neutral World’

Keller is rightly a leader of the modern evangelical church. While I haven’t digested every book and sermon of his, I’ve gleaned wise insight on the Christian life in the numerous ones I have read and listened to.

But Keller would be the first to admit he’s not all-knowing — and the way a shrinking Western church should engage the increasingly militant culture around it is Fair game for debate. Keller admits that his approach to cultural engagement and evangelism is not the best. “one size fits all” Approach for each generation and society. He has maintained a cautious attitude towards political alignments throughout his ministry (but not politics).

His NYT op-ed is representative of his approach to politics as a Christian — which, in modern America, means his approach to the culture war. Keller acknowledges that there are moral issues throughout history that require biblical battle lines. However, he cites the care of the poor to illustrate a political issue where both sides can find biblical reasoning. “Most political positions are not matters of biblical command but of practical wisdom,” He said.

Keller made a similar argument last April in a lengthy Twitter thread that included This point:

I know abortion is a sin, but the Bible doesn’t tell me the best political policy to decrease or end abortion in this country, nor which political or legal policies are most effective to that end. Although the current political parties will claim that their policies align most morally with Scripture, we can debate them and churches should not be divided by political disagreements.

It was a point that might have been valid during the Clinton administration. At the time, you could agree on minimizing abortion but still disagree about the best way to make it legal. “safe, legal, and rare.” Today, however, one of the parties proudly took a position that encouraged women to “shout your abortion,” No longer in the shameful corners, but in

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