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Timothy Keller Sermons Podcast by Gospel in Life

Why Tell Stories?

Timothy Keller Sermons Podcast by Gospel in Life

Tim Keller

Religion & Spirituality, Religion, Religion & Spirituality:christianity, Christianity, Spirituality

4.815K Ratings

🗓️ 18 June 2025

⏱️ 61 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

If you’re Christian, what is the rationale for being an actor? Why should Christians be actors? How should Christians who are actors or writers or choreographers or directors think about their faith and their work? To answer that, we need to look at the power of stories, at why we connect with and are overwhelmed by strong stories. Let’s consider 1) what a story is, 2) that we attach meaning by connecting things to a storyline, 3) that Christians can find elements of their story in almost any other story, and 4) why we need to understand our baseline cultural narratives. This talk and Q&A was given by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on February 5, 2004. Series: Redeemer InterArts Fellowship. Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

Transcript

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0:00.0

Welcome to Gospel and Life.

0:05.8

Are you struggling to find meaning and purpose in your work?

0:09.5

We spend much of our lives at our jobs, but our work can often be the area where we feel

0:14.0

the most frustration and futility in our lives.

0:17.5

Today on the podcast, Tim Keller helps us understand how the gospel frees us to have hope and joy in our vocations.

0:32.5

This isn't a sermon with a nice, with a climax, you know, moving on.

0:36.7

This is a string of random thoughts.

0:38.1

It's possible you'll get more out of the questions and answers afterwards than whatever

0:41.9

I tell you about now.

0:43.1

But I think you need to know, if you're Christian, what is the rationale for being an actor?

0:49.2

You know, why should Christians be actors?

0:50.8

Why should Christians be actors?

0:52.8

What do actors do, of any worth from a Christian

0:56.3

point of view? That's what I want to talk about. So that's why I mean I have a series of

1:00.9

random thoughts on that. But let me start by getting you something out of the New York Times.

1:06.2

I was intrigued by the fact that Bill T. Jones, the art, the dancer and choreographer, etc., has a new piece that he's putting on based on Flannery O'Connor's, one of Flannery O'Connor's short stories.

1:19.0

Now, what's interesting is, here's Bill T. Jones. He says, this is his interview. He says, I'm angry as hell at the Bush administration. I'm not pleased with the

1:28.0

fundamentalist leanings in this country. And he's sort of ranting and raging as a sort of a normal,

1:33.3

typical New York secular liberal person. However, he was utterly entranced with Flannery O'Connor's

1:40.7

short stories. And he comes right out and says, and he's just overwhelmed. He says, they're the best short stories. And he comes right out and says, he's just overwhelmed.

1:44.7

He says, they're the best short stories.

1:46.6

And he wanted to put him on stage, at least one of them.

...

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