In their booklet “Gospel-Centered Ministry,” TGC co-founders Don Carson and Tim Keller describe how the redemptive story of Scripture, or biblical theology, culminates in Jesus Christ and his gospel. And from Christ, that gospel then guides us in how we live every aspect of our lives.

I’ve never seen a book do this work more effectively than Christopher Watkin’s Biblical Critical Theory: How the Bible’s Unfolding Story Makes Sense of Modern Life (Zondervan Academic). It’s simply one of the best books I’ve ever read. Not that the book is simple, at nearly 700 pages. It’s profound in its depth of insight drawn from observation of culture as well as close reading of Scripture. Watkin doesn’t try to explain and defend the Bible to the culture. He seeks to analyze and critique the culture through the Bible.

Tim Keller wrote the foreword for Biblical Critical Theory. And in this special season of Gospelbound, we’re exploring in depth several key influences that appear in my book Timothy Keller: His Spiritual and Intellectual Formation (which officially released yesterday!). If you’d like to go further in-depth with Watkin, you can sign up for his 8-week, interactive reading group, offered through the new Keller Center for Cultural Apologetics. You can also sign up for TGC23, September 25 to 27, when Watkin and I will lead a session together on “Tim Keller’s Legacy and Thought Process.” You’ll save $20 when you use the code ZONDERVAN20.