TGC Co-Founder Tim Keller Dies at 72

With great sadness we mourn the loss of Timothy Keller, 72, who died on May 19, more than three years after he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.

Keller co-founded The Gospel Coalition (TGC) in 2005 and served as vice president and then vice chairman of the board. As a board member until his death, Keller continued to offer counsel and direction for TGC in promoting gospel-centered ministry for the next generation. 

Keller served in pastoral ministry for four decades, including as the founding and longtime pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Manhattan. He also served as the chairman and co-founder of the church-planting network Redeemer City to City. His many bestselling books—including The Reason for God, The Prodigal God, and The Meaning of Marriage—have influenced the faith of millions across the world.

“Today the Christian world is in mourning, for one of our great leaders has departed this life,” TGC interim president Sandy Willson said. “Tim Keller was a once-in-a-century sort of person. There is no pastor I know, in the last 100 years, who did what Tim Keller did to take the Reformed faith to the street, to the church, and to the academy. He will be remembered among this generation’s most effective Christian pastors, apologists, and evangelists. Tim not only made the most articulate arguments for the Christian faith; he also demonstrated our faith with his humble and gracious spirit and his relentless passion to see the lost come to know the Lord he so loved. He planted the most amazing church New York City may ever have seen, he planted thousands of other churches globally through Redeemer City to City, he co-founded The Gospel Coalition, and he inspired an entire generation to love and serve the Lord. We all grieve for Kathy and the dear Keller family. And we all rejoice for the unmitigated delight that is now Tim’s, as he looks upon the beautiful face of his Savior, whom he has faithfully served.”

Upon hearing of Keller’s passing, TGC co-founder Don Carson said, “Like an Old Testament prophet, Tim didn’t hesitate to address the culture and the nation and to call for justice as well as for contrition. He was jealous for the glory of God. He was quick to see how the trajectories of Scripture, the structure of biblical theology, drove thoughtful readers, again and again, back to the gospel.”

In the early 2000s, Keller played a significant role in the revival of Reformed theology commonly called “new Calvinism,” chronicled by Collin Hansen, TGC vice president of content and editor in chief, in his 2006 book, Young, Restless, Reformed (Crossway). 

“Tim’s loss is not only felt as our leader but especially as our friend and example,” said Hansen, who recently published Timothy Keller: His Spiritual and Intellectual Formation (Zondervan, 2023) and is the executive director of TGC’s newly launched Keller Center for Cultural Apologetics. “He would no doubt encourage us to look to Christ for comfort and share the good news of the gospel with urgency for our lost world. We grieve with his many friends and urge Christians to join us in prayer for his wife, Kathy, and sons, along with their families.”

In 2021, Keller spoke on a podcast with Hansen, Kevin DeYoung, and Justin Taylor about his experience with terminal cancer and how it has focused his spiritual life. 

“I think the way I handle imminent death,” Keller said, “is by fighting my sin and getting deeper communion with God. That’s certainly how John Owen did it, as you know. His Meditations and Discourses on the Glory of Christ, the last thing he wrote, was basically how he was dealing with his imminent death. And that’s what I’m trying to do too.”

Keller often shared tidbits of Owen’s 17th-century wisdom on Twitter, including this quote from Owen’s commentary on Hebrews: “We are never nearer Christ than when we find ourselves lost in a holy amazement at his unspeakable love.”

Keller’s “holy amazement” in this life was contagious and catalytic—and will bear fruit for the kingdom long after his death. We rejoice that our dear brother is now in the presence of Christ, more aware and amazed than ever before of his unspeakable love.

For media inquiries or quotes from TGC leaders about Tim Keller, please contact Brett McCracken at [email protected]