‘The Stories We Live By’ explores the flaws of popular stories that leave us feeling hollow and offers a more satisfying hope.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (June 2026) – As rates of depression and anxiety continue to rise, The Stories We Live By: Seven Cultural Myths That Fail Us and the Story That Never Will (Zondervan, Sept. 22, 2026) explores whether the very stories meant to guide us to happiness and meaning are actually leading us to despair and loneliness.
In this new co-authored book, Michael Keller with insight and analysis from his father, pastor and author Timothy Keller, unmasks the hidden cultural narratives that shape our lives, often without our knowledge, to make sense of both the beauty and brokenness of the world.
“Everyday expressions like ‘Follow your heart’ and ‘You do you’ are not throwaway phrases; they are powerful mini-stories of our modern culture that subconsciously inform our choices and actions,” writes Michael Keller. “Nursed on these narratives from birth and barely conscious of them, our understanding of the world and our place in it has been shaped by these stories.”
The Stories We Live By is the culmination of a project Michael Keller and his dad began working on years before Timothy Keller’s passing in 2023. The father-and-son project became even more meaningful to Michael Keller after his father’s death, when he was bombarded with well-meaning cultural platitudes that failed when he needed them most. It was in this season of grief that Michael Keller returned to the notes and papers he and his father had been working on before he died.
“Dad spent his last years thinking through seven narratives that quietly shape how we live—about who we are, what freedom means, what makes us happy, who holds power, where history is heading, what science can tell us and how justice works without a moral foundation,” Michael Keller said. “This book is the result of that work. His last cultural analysis for us.”
As the Kellers note in The Stories We Live By, belief-transmitting stories are everywhere. We are taught them, not formally in a classroom, but by the music we listen to, the films we watch and the social media we scroll each day. These popular cultural narratives shape how we think about ourselves, how we act and how we tell the difference between right and wrong.
The Stories We Live By explores seven key cultural narratives that interlock and reinforce one another to form a larger, cohesive metanarrative that shapes our lives:
- Identity: “You Have to Be True to Yourself”
- Power: “The Only Way to Bring Change Is to Take Power from the ‘Bad’ and Give It to the ‘Good’”
- Freedom: “Live Free. Just Do No Harm”
- Morality: “Morals—Right and Wrong—Are Socially Constructed, and We Should Work for Justice”
- Truth: “Science and Reason Alone Can Tell Us What Is True and Fix Our Problems”
- Happiness: “Do What Makes You Happy, and Don’t Let Anyone Keep You from It”
- Progress: “Be on the Right Side of History, Which Is Always Moving Toward More Liberty and Prosperity and Away from Superstition (Religion) and Oppression”
Michael Keller notes that each story correlates with answers to life’s biggest questions about our very existence and impacts views about societal issues including abortion, politics, sexuality and even child-rearing.
“Cultural narratives are like a pair of glasses we have worn for so long that we’ve forgotten they exist,” Michael Keller writes. “We do not look at the glasses; we look through them. They are invisible lenses that shape everything we see.”
Dedicating one chapter to each cultural narrative, The Stories We Live By examines how these stories are failing us, evaluates their effectiveness and compares and contrasts each with the Christian story. The final chapters are centered around helping readers understand how to apply the gospel story with our family, at work and with ourselves to determine how to engage culture without being consumed by it.
“You can’t simply banish a cultural story like ‘money will make me happy’ by trying to ignore it,” writes Michael Keller. “You must displace it. You must shove it out and replace it with a story that’s more beautiful, more compelling and truer.”
A supplemental six-session curriculum, The Stories We Live By Bible Study Guide, which includes a streaming video, will also release from Zondervan on Sept. 22, 2026.
More information about The Stories We Live By at www.zondervan.com.
About Michael Keller
Michael Keller is the lead pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church Lincoln Square and also the longest-tenured senior pastor in the Redeemer network of churches in New York City. He has spent two decades engaging with one of the world’s most culturally diverse populations. He holds a Ph.D. from Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and M.Div. and Th.M. degrees from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. His writings have been featured in publications such as Christianity Today, The Gospel Coalition, ByFaith magazine and Gospel in Life.
About Timothy J. Keller
Timothy J. Keller (1950–2023) was the founding pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City, cofounder of Redeemer City to City, and the author of numerous books, including The Reason for God, The Prodigal God and The Meaning of Marriage. His 31 books have sold over 6 million copies and been translated into 29 languages.
About Zondervan Books
Zondervan is a HarperCollins company and part of HarperCollins Christian Publishing. Zondervan is a world leading publisher and provider of Christian communications. The company’s products are sold worldwide and translated into nearly 200 languages. Zondervan offices are located in Grand Rapids, Michigan. For additional information, please visit www.zondervan.com.
CONTACT:
Kristin U. Cole, kristin@kccommunications.co
