I recently interviewed Tim Keller.

During that interview, I asked this question:

Moore: I have read four of your books (The Reason for God, Counterfeit God, Every Good Endeavor, and Walking with God Through Pain and Suffering). Though they are very different books, I noticed that all four cite Andrew Delbanco’s, The Real American Dream: a Mediation on Hope. Why is that book so formative to your thinking?

Keller: It is a terrific analysis of contemporary American culture, put into the context of American history. Delbanco says that American cultural history has had three phases—each one centering on one high priority. He lists them: “God. Nation. Self.” I don’t think you can improve on the simplicity and penetration of that analysis.

I don’t think his book is necessarily more formative than any other book to my thinking, but it is so broadly applicable—to psychology, vocation, politics, sexuality, religion, or whatever. That’s why it’s hard not to cite it, no matter what the subject.

Now that I have finished Delbanco’s book, I concur wholeheartedly.