My final question to Keller during our phone interview was his take on the spiritual temperature of the nation. What sorts of yearnings does he see and sense, and how can Christianity, properly understood, speak to those yearnings?<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the perplexity I see is that people want to have a foundation for making moral statements, but at the same time, they want to be free, and so they want to talk about the fact that all moral statements are culturally constructed,\u201d he told me. \u201cAnd so when somebody pushes a little bit on their life, they\u2019d say, \u2018All truth and all fact, all facts and all moral statements, are culturally constructed.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
As Keller pointed out, they\u2019re creating, at least philosophically, a kind of relativism, though of course no one actually lives like a relativist. All except sociopaths believe in certain deep truths about right and wrong, human nature, justice and a good life. \u201cWhat we need is a non-oppressive moral absolute,\u201d in Keller\u2019s words. \u201cWe need moral absolutes that don\u2019t turn the bearers of those moral absolutes into oppressors themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n
Keller concluded our conversation with a sentence that summarizes his consequential life: \u201cI actually think the Christian faith has got all the resources you need.\u201d<\/p>\n
Read it all<\/a>.<\/p>\n Well said: \u201cI tend to think a fully formed Christian is somebody who finds Christianity both rationally and intellectually credible, but also emotionally and existentially true and satisfying.” \u2014 @timkellernyc<\/a>https:\/\/t.co\/EsFevgPXJk<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Andrew T. Walker (@andrewtwalk) December 5, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n