Review originally posted at Reformissionary: http://www.stevekmccoy.com/reformissi...

When I heard that Dr. Keller was publishing Counterfeit Gods (OUT TODAY, October 20th) many months ago I was pumped. Pumped because I like nearly everything he says and writes and one more thing is a good thing. This book has exceeded my highest of expectations, especially after Dr. Keller's excellent talk, The Grand Demythologizer, at The Gospel Coalition this spring.

In Counterfeit Gods, Keller defines idolatry for us...

It is anything more important to you than God, anything that absorbs your heart and imagination more than God, anything you seek to give you what only God can give.” (xvii)

Or as Keller gets from De Tocqueville, idolatry is "taking an 'incomplete joy of this world' and building your entire life on it." (p xi)

Keller says that anything can be an idol, idols are often the best things in life, and that all idols will disappoint/lead us to despair because we've lost an "ultimate thing."

Keller deals with some of the biggest idols in individual chapters: love, money, success and power. He also talks about hidden idols that are harder to spot like idols in our culture and religion.

The angles Keller takes toward each idol is worth noting. Just as in The Prodigal God Keller takes a familiar biblical story and explains it in a fresh way, here he retells stories like Abraham and Isaac, Nebuchadnezzar, Jonah and Jacob afresh. His insights to familiar Scriptures are one of Keller's greatest gifts to the Church and very helpful in Counterfeit Gods.

As you would expect if you have read or heard Dr. Keller before, this book is thoroughly Gospel-centered. Jesus is our great hope in the middle of a world of idols, and a heart of idols.

Jesus must become more beautiful to your imagination, more attractive to your heart, than your idol...If you uproot the idol and fail to 'plant' the love of Christ in its place, the idol will grow back. (p 172)

I have been reading this book in pieces as I have been preaching on idolatry this autumn. I've referenced it numerous times. A few quotes I've used...

We never imagine that getting our heart's deepest desires might be the worst thing that can ever happen to us. (p 1)

If we are not willing to hurt our career in order to do God's will, our job will become a counterfeit god. (p 14)

The idol of success cannot be just expelled, it must be replaced. The human heart's desire for a particular valuable object may be conquered, but its need to have some such object is unconquerable. (p 93)

The normal response to our sense of powerlessness is to deny it, to find people to dominate and control in order to live in that denial. (p 124-125)

I have to be honest...Counterfeit Gods has brought some serious conviction in my heart. A part of it is the sermons I've prepared with the book as a foundational resource (though I haven't preached through this book). But mostly it's been the words of Keller, who knows how to take biblical truth and deliver it to the heart in practical and profound ways. My idols have been exposed.

Counterfeit Gods will be sitting on our church book table, given to those in leadership, and recommended to any number of people. It will have great benefit for both Christians and non-Christians. I can't recommend this book enough. Buy it and read it. ( )

Counterfeit Gods by Timothy Keller is a gripping exploration of the human heart and the ways we substitute false gods for the True God. Keller masterfully weaves together contemporary concerns, spiritual and psychological analysis, and biblical narrative to show us that while sex, romance, money, success, and power are good things in themselves, they make poor masters. When we give our trust, love, and service to these things, they destroy our lives. But this foray into the labyrinths of the human heart is not only gripping, it is convicting. Keller exposes not only our surface idols, but our deep idols - our cravings for significance, comfort, security, and approval. These are the desires that drive us to give our affections to false lovers, place our trust in alternative saviors, and swear our allegiance to other lords. But Keller never leaves us without hope. This book is as liberating as it is convicting, as Keller confronts us again and again with the good news of God's love for sinners, displayed in the cross and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Keller may be one of the more important Christian thinkers and writers of our day. His ministry experience in New York City has equipped him with a unique ability to speak to both the secular and the sacred dimensions of our lives at the same time - and to show us how intertwined these dimensions really are. Keller addresses both skeptics and believers and demonstrates a broad grasp of not only biblical studies and theology, but also literature, sociology, philosophy, psychology, and the arts in his writing. In chapters exploring the relevance of biblical stories from Genesis or the Gospel of Luke, we also encounter insights from Ernest Becker and Friedrich Nietzche, illustrations from Madonna, Andrew Carnegie, or the film Chariots of Fire, and commentary from Robert Alter and other Jewish or Christian biblical scholars. This liberal use of sources, plus Keller's engaging yet succinct writing style, make this a very enjoyable read.

There is also a practicality to this book. Keller is not just a great theologian, he is a pastor. And he writes with the heart of a skilled diagnostician of souls. He begins the book with a discussion of the idol factory of the human heart, and ends by showing us how to find and replace our idols. He not only exposes the cancers that are eating us away, he applies the scalpel of the gospel with surgical skill. Like Jesus himself, Keller knows how to both wound and heal. ( )