10 questions on prayer with Tim Keller

By Tony Reinke, DesiringGod.org

Pastor and author Tim Keller was our guest this week on the Ask Pastor John podcast. Keller has a new book on prayer, releasing next week, titled Prayer: Experiencing Awe and Intimacy with God.

He talked with us from his office in New York City about this often-neglected discipline, and we served him up 10 rapid-fire questions.

Here’s a lightly edited transcript of the conversation.

Question 1: Prayerlessness

Among Christians today, how widespread is prayerlessness — and what does that reveal about our spiritual health?

We know from empirical secular studies that everyone in our Western society today has less solitude. There is less and less of our days or our months or our weeks in which we are unplugged, when we are not listening to something or talking to somebody or texting. This is due to the pervasiveness of social media, the Internet, and various sorts of electronic devices. In the past, most people couldn’t avoid solitude. But now there isn’t any.

Read more of the interview 

Related article: Prayer: Experiencing Awe and Intimacy with God.