What Is Wrong With the World?: The Surprising, Hopeful Answer to the Question We Cannot Avoid

by Timothy J. Keller

Beloved pastor and New York Times bestselling author Timothy Keller offers a hope-filled answer to the question beneath every devastating headline and personal loss: What is wrong with the world?

Everywhere we look, we see brokenness--wars, cruelty, and heartache. We feel it in the world around us and in our own lives. How did it get to be this way?

During his tenure as founding pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City, Timothy Keller explained on a weekly basis how the Bible provides the most comprehensive and sophisticated response to the fundamental questions of life. In What Is Wrong with the World?, based on a series of teachings given at Redeemer, Keller answers the title's pressing question by revealing that the only thing that can account for the world's pain and chaos is what the Bible calls sin. This clear-eyed and ultimately hopeful book reveals how sin is not simply a "bad" thing we do but something much more subtle and complex, affecting our relationships, our thinking, and every aspect of our existence. And only when we recognize sin for what it is can we find the profound, life-transforming answer our souls long for. What Is Wrong with the World? is for anyone who:

Feels overwhelmed at the state of the world
Battles with repeated mistakes and poor choices
Desires more than pat answers to difficult questions
Wonders how to know joy while still acknowledging pain
Wants to understand how God's love gives hope even in the hardest of places
Today's battles across the globe and in our own hearts are not the end of the story. As Keller writes, "If we stand any chance of answering the question of what is wrong with the world . . . we must begin with understanding the complexity and multifaceted nature of sin, and end with understanding the unfailing love of a God who chooses to save us from it. This book will show you how."

Genres: Christian, Theology, Christian Living, Nonfiction, Faith, Religion, Devotional

240 pages, Hardcover

Published October 21, 2025

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Timothy Keller was the founding pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Manhattan, which he started in 1989 with his wife, Kathy, and three young sons. For over twenty years he has led a diverse congregation of young professionals that has grown to a weekly attendance of over 5,000.

He was also Chairman of Redeemer City to City, which starts new churches in New York and other global cities, and publishes books and resources for faith in an urban culture. In over ten years they have helped to launch over 250 churches in 48 cities. More recently, Dr. Keller’s books, including the New York Times bestselling The Reason for God and The Prodigal God, have sold over 1 million copies and been translated into 15 languages.

Christianity Today has said, “Fifty years from now, if evangelical Christians are widely known for their love of cities, their commitment to mercy and justice, and their love of their neighbors, Tim Keller will be remembered as a pioneer of the new urban Christians.”

Dr. Keller was born and raised in Pennsylvania, and educated at Bucknell University, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, and Westminster Theological Seminary. He previously served as the pastor of West Hopewell Presbyterian Church in Hopewell, Virginia, Associate Professor of Practical Theology at Westminster Theological Seminary, and Director of Mercy Ministries for the Presbyterian Church in America.

Reviews

[Matt]

Phenomenally insightful. Based on one of my favorite Keller sermon series from the early 1990s, “The Faces of Sin.” So glad this is now in print.

[Brett Wiley]

4 stars for content but 5 stars for nostalgia. I never thought I would read another new Keller book, but God graced us with this book through his wife Kathy editing a sermon series on sin from the 90s. Each chapter looks at a different aspect of sin, its nature, and what it does in and to us. And, of course, each chapter looks how the gospel can bring forgiveness, freedom, and real change to the effects of sin in our lives. In a world that increasingly avoids the idea of sin, this book brings welcome honesty, conviction, and clarity to what is ultimately wrong with the world.

While the problems we face today are different than those of the 1990s (which is the greatest decade in American history by the way...don't @ me), there is nothing new under the sun. Sin has been humanity's core problem since the garden and Jesus alone can bring the healing, joy, and hope that we all long for.

"If there is a lack of joy in your life today, if the thought of Jesus dying for you does not transfix and transform you, if you're not able draw power out of the thought of what he has done for you on the cross, then you don't understand the enormity and power of sin. You haven't really seen how much of a debt Christ paid for you. You don't know how far he has brought you. You don't know the magnitude of what he has done. And you don't know the seriousness and depth of your sin that led him to do what he did." - Keller

I am forever grateful for this man's legacy and ministry.

[John Pawlik]

This is a book based on a sermon series Keller gave in the 90’s called “the Faces of Sin” and it’s a collection of sermons on sin. It was strange to me at first that this was edited and published posthumously with Kathy Keller’s help, but when I read it I could see why they did. It’s Keller at his best and most incisive. There are some really incredible sermons in this book, especially the first half.

Honestly, if you want to round out your thinking about sin and the remedies for addressing it in yourself and others, this was an edifying and pretty exhaustive treatment of it.

[Livi Hubele]

Keller never misses. Such a good read!!

[Josh Touard]

Excellent. From a sermon series Keller preached in the 90s titled “Faces of Sin.”

I have heard from several people now, though no one who actually holds this position, that Keller is known by some as being “soft on sin.” I guess I can understand the position; while some Christian writers focus their position on sin as committing cosmic treason against a holy God, Keller often chooses to write on sin as idolatry. But what could be more treasonous than rejecting God’s covenant to make one with something else; what could be of greater evil than to give our hearts over to something other than God himself, exchanging God-worship for creation-worship, God covenant-making for creation covenant-making?

Several very good chapters in this book that I would recommend everyone to read.

[Barry]

Another great offering from Tim Keller. I’m not sure, but I get the impression that when Keller died in 2023 he left quite a few unpublished writings and sermons and now his wife is sorting through them to share with us. If so, I’m grateful she’s taking on that work. As expected, there is great insight and Biblical wisdom here, and each chapter is an excellent example of expository preaching.

Here are the chapter headings:

SIN AS PREDATOR
SIN AS SELF-DECEPTION
SIN AS LEAVEN
SIN AS MISTRUST
SIN AS SELF-RIGHTEOUSNESS
SIN AS LEPROSY (PART 1)
SIN AS LEPROSY (PART 2)
SIN AS SLAVERY
HEALING OF SIN: TRUE REPENTANCE
HEALING OF SIN: INTIMACY WITH GOD


Here’s a passage from the chapter “Sin as Leprosy (Part 1)”:

‘The only way you can say, "There are many paths to God," is by saying, "Good works are really what will get you to the top." You have to deny the concept of grace itself. And these beliefs also contain a hidden exclusiveness in them. They attempt to make salvation inclusive, and yet they reject anyone who doesn't fit the speaker's standard of morality, goodness, and truth.
If any "good person" can make it to heaven, what about the morally disabled? What about the person who has made a mess of their life and is now on their deathbed? What about the misbehaving child? Even this seemingly tolerant worldview has a bias toward the strong and the good over the weak and the bad. By contrast, the gospel says that anybody can come—good and bad, strong and weak—as long as they're humble. The exclusivity of Christianity is the requirement of humility.’


And here’s a passage from the chapter “Sin as Slavery”:

‘We know what we should do but we don’t do it.
‘How can we explain that? The Bible's explanation is that human hearts are sinful. But more than that, the Bible tells us that we have become slaves to sin. The Bible says sin is not just an action; it's a power. Every sinful action has a destructive power on the faculty that chose that action. For example, when you sin with your mind, that sin shrivels your mind's rationality. When you sin with your heart, that sin shrivels your heart's emotions. When you sin with your will, that sin dissolves your willpower and self-control.
‘Sin is the suicidal action of the self harming the self.’

[Martin Augestad]

Hadde ikke trodd at jeg skulle lese en ny Keller-bok igjen etter hans død i 2023, men her har kona og andre lagt en bok basert på en taleserie i tillegg til notater han la igjen. Taleserien handlet om syndens mange ansikt, mens boken kalles «What is wrong with the world», noe jeg ser på som et lurt valg, da spørsmålet om hva som er galt med verden er noe flere kan kjenne seg igjen i.

Keller har en egen evne til å treffe meg, og denne boken er intet unntak. Hvert kapittel tar utgangspunkt i en bibeltekst, så skriver han om hva teksten sier om synd.

Noe av det beste med boken er at den ikke bare får frem hvor alvorlig og komplekst synd er, men at han skriver håpefullt om Jesus som den eneste løsningen på alt som er galt med verden.

Det eneste jeg savnet var at han også kunne skrevet noe om naturlig ondskap - hvorfor også skaperverket er preget av syndefallet og hvordan Bibelen viser at Jesus er løsningen også mtp det.

[Diddou]

I loved it! A refreshing and in-depth read.

[Bill Pence]

Tim Keller, who died in 2023, preached the sermons on which this book is based in the 1990s as a series under the title “The Faces of Sin.” His wife Kathy writes that each chapter of the book ends with a prayer because Keller was aware, as all mature Christians are, that we deceive ourselves most concerning our own sinfulness. Each chapter in the book illuminates a specific aspect of sin – such as predator, self-deception, leaven, mistrust, self-righteousness, etc. - and explores how we might be saved from it.
Keller writes that the supreme question that each of us asks ourselves time and time again: What is wrong with the world? What is wrong with the human race? He tells us that we will never be able to resolve our personal problems, let alone the rest of the world’s problems, unless we possess a full comprehension of sin.
The sermons translate to book form extremely well. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, one of my favorites I’ve read this year.
Here are twenty helpful quotes from the book:
• Without a full understanding of sin, you won’t have the grounds for the optimism necessary to remain hopeful in the midst of life’s harsh realities.
• Our own worst sins look much smaller to us than they do to anyone else.
• All of us need people who can see in us what we cannot see in ourselves. This is crucial because if we leave our sins unaddressed, they will grow larger than we could ever imagine.
• Sin is most powerful when we don’t even see it, when we’re not troubled about it, and when we’re offended by the idea that we’re a sinner in the first place. This is when the predator is most effective—it takes us over from the inside, from the motives of our heart.
• No matter what form it takes, sin flourishes when ignored.
• When we deny that we’re sinners who deserve nothing from God yet have been given everything when Jesus died for us, we deny the very idea of grace and blame both our problems and our lack of faith on God.
• The person who thinks themselves religious but doesn’t functionally, in practice, place their trust and hope in Christ doesn’t actually have their roots in God at all.
• Whatever your mind draws hope from, that is your religion. It’s your ultimate concern.
• Through religion or irreligion, from obedience to disobedience, we all resist God as Savior and Lord. We all fall short and have to be saved strictly by grace.
• The gospel says that anybody can come—good and bad, strong and weak—as long as they’re humble. The exclusivity of Christianity is the requirement of humility.
• One of the great conceits of the modern world is that we think we’re searching for God, but the reality is that we aren’t. We are not searching for God. What we’re searching for is satisfaction.
• The somebody became nobody so that we nobodies could become somebodies. That’s the gospel.
• Not all addictions are sin, but the Bible shows us that all sin is addiction.
• When you live for anything more than you live for God, that is a sin that creates an addiction. You will find that the more you get the object of your desire, the more you need it and the less satisfying it is.
• Unless and until you understand true repentance, the gospel will remain only an implicit, untapped power in your life.
• One of the godliest and greatest figures in the history of the world, was capable of life-exploding sin. And so are we. David needed repentance, and so do we.
• Here’s what sin does: It plants land mines all throughout your life. Maybe yours haven’t blown up yet. That’s great. But they will blow up if you don’t deal with them. Repentance is the process of minesweeping your own heart. If you think you don’t need to sweep for mines, you are almost guaranteeing that your life will blow up.
• Circumstances might shape our sin, but they never cause our sin. Sin is always and only caused by our own inner desires.
• We only ever sin because we’ve lost the joy of our salvation.
• Repentance is not reserved for isolated, demoralizing events or for when we blow up our lives. Repentance is a regular, lifelong practice.

[Alicia]

Eeekkk! I think this is my first written review on Goodreads!

What’s Wrong with the World by Timothy Keller was profoundly convicting in a way I wasn’t fully prepared for but deeply needed. I didn’t grow up with a clear understanding of sin or how deeply it affects both the world and the human heart. I was first really introduced to that reality in college, and now, walking through a particularly complicated season of life, this book resonated with me on a much deeper level.

Keller doesn’t allow the reader to remain distant or merely intellectual. Again and again, I found myself having to pause, go back, and read the passages of Scripture for myself. What followed was uncomfortable but holy; genuine reflection, conviction, and humility.

There was a moment where I could only describe my response as learning to truly hate my sin but not in like a hopeless or condemning way, but in a way that drove me toward repentance and grace. It stripped away self-justification and left me laid bare before God. I don’t know how else to explain it except to say the Holy Spirit was clearly at work haha.

This is not a light or casual read for me at least. Keller writes with clarity, theological depth, and pastoral wisdom, inviting the reader into deep self-examination while never losing sight of the hope found in Christ. I’m grateful for how this book humbled me, challenged me and ultimately pointed me back to the gospel… again and again. Gosh and people think Keller is “too soft” on sin. Reminds me I’m in need of Christ more than ever!

[Shannon]

This sermon-series-turned-book on the topic of sin was a solid 4-star all the way until the end, when the last two chapters rocketed it up to a life-changing read I'll reference again and again.

Up until then, it was still a great book. One of Tim Keller's strengths, for me, is how he shows that Old Testament people, who for me can feel too ancient and foreign to be relatable, are very human, struggling with the same heart we all have. He's also great at picking up those little threads in the OT that seem weird at the time...but actually are pointing to Christ. The Naaman chapters were standouts in this regard, probably worth the whole book to read.

But the last two chapters, teaching repentance using Psalm 51 and Thomas Watson's Doctrine of Repentance, were stellar. Succinct and wise, they shifted my thinking in subtle but immediately effective ways. They were hard-hitting, but caring and pastoral. I'm going to make copies of the last chapter and hand it out to anyone who tells me they're struggling with besetting sin. Seriously.

[Maria Miller]

“We follow Jesus because he’s the One who taught us that the repenting soul is the triumphant soul, that to lose our lives is to find our lives, that we behold his grace and glory in the dark valley, not on the mountaintop. Let us find his light in our darkness, his joy in our sorrow, his grace in our sin, and his riches in our poverty. This is the way to be healed of our sin.“

[Chris Hatch]

It's hard to think that a book on sin could be good, but this one was, without a doubt. The ten chapters were taken from sermons preached by Keller and as I read one per morning, it felt like he was preaching to me. It's an easy read, but it isn't easy - be ready to be convicted again and again.

[Lee]

What is wrong with the world?
I am.

[Peter Yock]

When Tim Keller died, I grieved for a whole range of reasons - one of them being that I have habitually read his books for spiritual refreshment while on annual leave. As I finished his book 'Forgive', I felt like I had come to the 'end of an era' that had lasted for many years.

So when I heard that some of his sermon series would be released as books posthumously - edited by Kathy Keller, no less - I was ecstatic.

And this IS a good book. But... it didn't feel quite the same. I'm not sure if it's because it was 'sermons-turned-into-a-book' (by someone other than Tim himself), or whether it felt like the same thoughts I've heard before and just re-shuffled into a new format... I can't put my finger on it.

It IS a good book. But I suspect his posthumous books will never be as good as the ones that came from his own pen.

[Miandra]

I loved What Is Wrong with the World? I thought Keller’s way of looking at sin was so interesting. Less as a list of bad things we do and more as something underneath our lives that shows up in all these different ways. Each chapter looks at a different face of sin, like mistrust, slavery, self deception, and addiction, and how those things actually play out in us.

Three pictures especially stuck with me. The first was the tree planted by water. Where we put our roots determines whether we can actually withstand drought. If my roots are in circumstances, people, success, or anything else that can disappear, eventually I’m going to dry up. But God is the only source that doesn’t run out. His mercies really are new every morning.

The second was Israel in the desert. God had led them out of slavery, was sustaining them every day with manna, and was taking them toward the Promised Land, and they were still thinking about the fish they had back in Egypt. Keller uses this picture of our patterns of sin and how willing we can be to go back to something that enslaves us because it feels easier, more fun, more comfortable, or more enticing in the moment. Sometimes eating the manna every day and continuing to follow God just feels harder or more boring. But over time, following God faithfully is what actually leads somewhere good and that is ultimately fulfilling. The manna was taking them to the Promised Land. The fish they were craving were back in slavery.

And then Keller’s description of sin as addiction tied so much of it together for me. We take good things and ask them to do what only God can do, and then we need more and more from them while becoming less and less satisfied. This book helped me see even more how sin permeates every aspect of life, but also how much hope there is in the gospel because of that. Even throughout our sin, God still loves us. He sees how these patterns interact in our lives, and through his grace there is also this ongoing redemption story as we learn to repent, adjust our path, and follow him again. He is still there with us through all of it, like Keller shows through the story of King David.

[Flynn Evans]

A phenomenal spiritual successor (or predecessor, depending on how you look at it) to Counterfeit Gods.

[Emily Hess]

Probably the best Tim Keller book that I have read. Simple and concise, yet very powerful, convicting, and thought provoking.

[Jack Smith]

Insightful, encouraging, challenging. The church misses Keller greatly.

[Emily Parker]

Good read, very convicting!

Good, convicting read about the way we live life.
The notion of “we need to want God more than anything else” is something I need to carry with me.

[Edina Gentz]

This book was exactly what my heart needed during this season. It humbles you when you most need it. Some quotes i found interesting are:

"We have an infinite capacity to lie to ourselves. If we don't like the truth, we develop ways not to know it."

"It's amazing how fast the unthinkable becomes thinkable after we find ourselves doing it."

"When I do something bad, I repent. When i do something good, i'm going to repent again. I'm going to say 'Do you think, oh foolish heart, that you accomplished that? That was a gift of grace"

"It's God's way of telling us, "If you sin, my dear children, there will be consequences, maybe far-reaching ones. But you are never, ever, ever moved to plan B. I am so wise and so sovereign, and I love you so much that I will weave even your failures into plan A. I will continue to work through you-even in greater ways than before—after your sin. Don't you dare sin. It wrongs me, and it will hurt you, and there will be consequences. But at the same time, don't you dare think you can ever destroy my plan for your life. There is no plan B."

"Don't ever ever tell yourself "Circumstances made me do it."Circumstances might shape our sin, but they never cause our sin. Sin is always and only caused by our own inner desires.""

"Repentance is the process of minesweeping your own heart. If you think you don't need to sweep for mines, you are almost guaranteeing that your life blow up."

"Perhaps the most confounding problem humans have is our ability to do evil because we find a way to view it as good."

"Whatever answer you uncover - whatever it is you say to yourself about if only I had that - that is what becomes your slave master. And it destroys your will."

"If you feel like nothing after you lose something, it means that the thing you lost was your everything. It was your functional salvation."

"Every grudge wants to be murder. Every lust wants to be adultery. Every envy wants to be robbery. Every self-pity is an idolatry of something you're sure will save you - something more important than God."

[fleegan]

This is a great book about sin and how we too often don't even know how to think about it. The way Tim Keller writes is so readable for anyone, so don't let the complicated topic of sin keep you from reading this. This isn't a preachy book. And best part of all, he never points to the sins of other people. His goal is to get us to examine our own lives.
It's very short, very readable, no filler just straight to the point. 10/10

[Connor Curtis]

Excellent book all about sin and the different manifestations of it in our lives! This book is a collection of some of Tim Kellers sermons that his wife edited after his death and I could not recommend it enough. Tim Keller takes simple ideas such as sin being like leaven, leprosy, and slavery and communicates so clearly about it. I loved the ending about how we have true repentance and intimacy with God. Could not recommend enough!

[Austin Saunier]

sin (according to the Bible and in this book explained by Keller from a sermon series in the 90's) is a predator, self-deceiving, leaven, mistrust, self-righteousness, leprosy, slavery, and yet there is healing of sin: with repentance and intimacy with God

officially my new favorite Christian author

[Laura]

How could 6 hours of Tim Keller's sermons and notes be anything but 5 stars?! Well put together and something I should probably return to at some point. Would be better to read on paper where I could highlight and notate and things..

[Jon Hausler]

It’s weird reading a posthumous Keller book, but the last two chapters on killing sin and repentance are gold.

[Sydney Boyd]

Ugh so good.

[Nathanael Johnson]

So good for growing in understand of the nature and nuances of sin, what true repentance looks like, and learning to rest in God’s grace and chesed, unfailing love.

[Wagner Floriani]

So insightful. Keller is a wonderful diagnostician of the heart.

[Ryan Ross]

So amazing. I really hope Kathy will edit more of Tim’s sermon series into books.