Popular pastor and author Tim Keller has announced that he’s been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and is beginning chemo this week.
“I have terrific human doctors,” Keller said in a statement. “But more importantly I have the Great Physician himself taking care of me. Though we have had times of shock and fear, God has been remarkably present with me through all the many tests, biopsies and surgery of the past few weeks.”
— Timothy Keller (@timkellernyc) June 7, 2020
In 2017, Keller stepped down from Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Manhattan after 28 years of leading the church. He stayed busy writing, preaching and working with church planting initiatives. Keller also participated in an excellent conversation about faith and science with Francis Collins just last month.
This is Keller’s second battle with cancer. In 2002, he was diagnosed with thyroid cancer and wrote Walking with God Through Pain and Suffering about the experience. Pancreatic cancer is often more aggressive than thyroid cancer (as Christianity Today notes, Keller’s evangelical colleagues InterVarsity Christian Fellowship president Steve Hayner and theologian Dallas Willard both passed after a battle with pancreatic cancer) and Keller is asking for prayers.
