Dallas Willard

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Articles & Essays by Dallas Willard

Book Excerpt from The Divine Conspiracy

What is the Curriculum for Christlikeness?

Published March, 1998 • Featured March 24, 2023

We are not told pre­cise­ly how to become like Jesus. Yet if we observe the life and teach­ing of Jesus, we can see that there is a way. In this excerpt from The Divine Con­spir­a­cy, Dal­las unpacks some of what that train­ing in Christ­like­ness involves.

Book Excerpt from The Spirit of the Disciplines

Authority in the Context of Mutual Submission

Published May, 1999 • Featured January 20, 2023

In the king­dom of God, sub­mis­sion is ​“a call for help” and author­i­ty is offer­ing ​“depth of expe­ri­ence and Christ­like­ness” as an act of sub­mis­sion and servanthood.

Essay

Being Christian in a Pluralistic Society

Published January, 1992 • Featured November 10, 2022

In this vin­tage yet time­ly piece, Dal­las Willard reflects upon the chal­lenges and ben­e­fits of plu­ral­ism, and how Chris­tians are posi­tioned ​“to show the true excel­lence of the Way of Christ.”

Book Excerpt from Hearing God

Empowered by God to Do What We Want

Published October, 1999 • Featured August 31, 2022

Dal­las Willard explains how we come to share God’s desires and join in God’s work.

Book Excerpt from Renovation of the Heart

Goodness from the Depths of Our Beings

Published December, 2021 • Featured April 6, 2022

Some selec­tions from the first two chap­ters of Ren­o­va­tion of the Heart describe the var­i­ous dimen­sions of the human self and explain how God’s lov­ing influ­ence can form and trans­form us from the inside out.

Interview

Following Jesus and Living in the Kingdom

Published April, 2002 • Featured May 21, 2021

In an insight­ful inter­view, Dal­las Willard address­es imbal­ances some­times present in evan­gel­i­cal and charis­mat­ic con­texts and points us toward life in the King­dom of God.

Article

Blessed to Bless

Published December, 2013 • Featured May 21, 2021

Rumi­nat­ing on the theme of bless­ing, Lin­da Chris­tians shares some help­ful pas­sages from Dal­las Willard’s book, Liv­ing in Christ’s Pres­ence.

Book Excerpt from The Divine Conspiracy

Passing Through the Stage Normally Called “Death"

Published January, 1998 • Featured March 5, 2021

What exact­ly hap­pens when we die? Dal­las Willard offers a vision of hope and beau­ty of our life in the age to come.

Article

Acknowledging God in All We Do

Published July, 1998 • Featured October 14, 2020

“Dis­ci­ple­ship means learn­ing to acknowl­edge God in all we do,” writes Dal­las Willard, ​“and it takes a lot of learning.”

Book Excerpt from The Divine Conspiracy

Entering the Ultimate Reality

Featured May 7, 2020

You are invit­ed to con­sid­er the ​“avail­abil­i­ty of a life in con­stant con­ver­sa­tion with God” through the work of Dal­las Willard and Frank Laubach.

Book Excerpt from Life without Lack

The Most Important Thing About You

Featured March 2, 2020

From Life With­out Lack, Dal­las Willard invites us to think cor­rect­ly about two fun­da­men­tal things: minds and people.

Book Excerpt

The Heart Knows Its Place

Published December, 2003 • Featured January 26, 2020

Ren­o­varé Board Chair James Cat­ford shares with us some med­i­ta­tions from Dal­las Willard’s Hear­ing God Through the Year that have touched him.

Essay

Dallas Willard on Teresa of Avila's Interior Castle

Published December, 2003 • Featured January 19, 2020

“This book and this author,” Dal­las Willard says in regard to Tere­sa of Avi­la’s Inte­ri­or Cas­tle, ​“imme­di­ate­ly announced them­selves as a unique pres­ence of God in my life.”

Book Foreword

The Simplest and Most Effective Way of Mind Renewal in Christ

Published January, 2010 • Featured November 6, 2019

Dal­las Willard brings us back to the basics, assert­ing that ​“the sim­plest and most effec­tive way of mind renew­al in Christ is mem­o­riza­tion of Scrip­ture: large pas­sages of it as well as indi­vid­ual verses.”

Book Excerpt from The Great Omission

In-Depth Answers to Ten Big Questions About Spiritual Formation

Published October, 1999 • Featured October 4, 2019

In the fall of 1999, a small group of Chris­t­ian teach­ers — includ­ing Dal­las Willard, Richard Fos­ter, Eugene Peter­son, and Gayle Beebe — retreat­ed in Col­orado togeth­er to prayer­ful­ly reflect on the mean­ing and prospects of Chris­t­ian spir­i­tu­al for­ma­tion today.

Article

Live Life to the Full

Published April, 2001 • Featured August 8, 2019

Dal­las Willard helps us under­stand the syn­er­gy between God’s trans­form­ing grace and our active coop­er­a­tion: ​“You have nev­er seen peo­ple more active than those who have been set on fire by the grace of God.”

Book Excerpt

Finding Christ in Our Work

Published December, 2007 • Featured June 25, 2019

How can our every­day work become divine work? Dal­las Willard says, ​“It requires a life that is spir­i­tu­al through­out, full of mean­ing, strength, and joy.”

Journal/Magazine Article

Blind Science Vs. Blind Faith

Published October, 1994 • Featured April 30, 2019

In the name of both sci­ence and reli­gion, often poor­ly rea­soned mic-drop state­ments are used to end argu­ments. Dal­las Willard pro­pos­es a bet­ter way, one where ​“pre­pared and thought­ful peo­ple devote them­selves to the hum­ble exam­i­na­tion of facts and evi­dence rather than to defend­ing their positions.”

Essay

The New Testament Picture of Discipleship

Published December, 2009 • Featured April 23, 2019

In Jesus’ day, a dis­ci­ple would be with his rab­bi con­stant­ly — ​“hear­ing, observ­ing and imi­tat­ing” him until the stu­dent would begin to take on the qual­i­ties of the mas­ter. Dal­las Willard shows how Jesus’ dis­ci­ples embraced this mod­el and we can con­sid­er the impli­ca­tions for our lives today.

Book Excerpt from The Allure of Gentleness

The Christian Response to the Problem of Pain and Evil

Published December, 2014 • Featured March 26, 2019

Dal­las Willard digs deeply into evil’s coex­is­tence with the uncom­pro­mis­ing good­ness of God. It is a very Lenten thing to remem­ber that ​“God is always where the suf­fer­ing is” and that there is ​“some­thing beyond the pain.”