Dutton and Riverhead are launching a new imprint devoted to books from evangelical Christian preacher Timothy Keller and his Redeemer Presbyterian Church. Keller, who, according to a recent article in New York Magazine draws some 5,000 Manhattanites to hear his sermons every Sunday, has previously published bestsellers with Dutton and Riverhead. On October 20, Dutton released his third hardcover, Counterfeit Gods. The Redeemer imprint will launch its first two titles in 2011 and will only publish books from Redeemer.

Keller started Redeemer in Manhattan in 1989. The New York story said that today, roughly 25,000 people download his sermons every week from the church’s Web site. Dutton publisher Brian Tart said, “There is a reason Tim Keller’s congregation... has grown so rapidly in such a short period of time. Tim has an innate ability to address the issues of the day in a way that speaks to both the core Christian audience and to seekers and skeptics alike.”

Keller has published two books, The Reason for God and The Prodigal God, with Dutton in hardcover and Riverhead in paperback. Reason spent 13 weeks on the New York Times paperback bestseller list.

David McCormick of McCormick & Williams negotiated the deal.