[Note: this report was my submittal in the course, ML582: Character, Community and Leadership at Fuller Theological Seminary in 2009 and is edited to reflect his passing]
Willard, Dallas,
2002. Renovation of the Heart: Putting on
the Character of Christ. Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress.
Dallas Willard (1935-2013) was a
professor and former Director of the School of Philosophy at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles where he taught since 1965. Willard lived out his personal philosophy within his teaching, writing and in his strategy for his life: “I know what good work is. I’m going to do it, and I expect God to help me. I will give my life to it. Of course, I will be a prisoner of Christ; that’s what I am.”[i] This philosophy is very much evidenced in his writing and in his commitment to allowing the Spirit to reign and provide
direction in his life. Although not setting out to teach in a secular university, he was led to do so subsequent to
his graduate work. Willard stated that he never self-promoted himself – not seeking a position or a raise – but
considers himself a “literalist in terms of the Bible,”[ii] as it relates to
advancement coming from God.
The thesis of this book is that in the process of
realizing the character of Christ, one may “remove or master” each impediment
to gaining that character (:10-11); and that process should be orderly – not
haphazard or mysterious – to those wanting to overcome human (sinful) nature.
Willard presents five chapters of introductory,
foundation-building elements which examines mankind’s frailty in the human
existence, and provides support for the development of spiritual formation;
including why people often fall short of the ideal of Christ-like character.
An “Interlude” chapter
reflects on the reality of seeking this transformation. It is Willard’s perspective that our own
effort falls short; we are in need of God’s grace. He states that those who are “the greatest
saints are not those who need less grace, but those who consume the most
grace;” God’s grace sustains them (:93-94).
Willard then lays out
through six chapters a process of transformation of: (1) Mind/ Thought; (2)
Mind/Feeling; (3) Will; (4) Body; (5) Social Dimension; and (6) Soul. These areas of one’s self are outlined
earlier in chapter two as distinct areas in which we must allow the Spirit to
work through for our transformation (:38).
In the two concluding
chapters Willard examines how this process of transformation interfaces with
the world and within the local church.
In the world, a contrast of light and darkness presents a picture of the
outcome of personal sanctification, and its effect upon us and the world we are
in (:224). Willard then presents God’s
plan for spiritual formation within the congregation of the people of God with
a focus on being rather than doing.
This book makes me
recall Richard J. Foster’s Celebration of
Discipline. While I read Foster’s
book in 1978 during a period of discipleship, I find Willard’s book is timely
to this era of my life. Through this book
I am able to more fully recognize my shortcomings and how I may have diverted
from disciplines in my life, which were a critical and primary element of my
new life in Christ. I am not surprised
that Foster provides an endorsement for this book.[iii]
Willard puts flesh on
the teaching of sanctification in a way I need to reconsider within my life and
leadership ministry, and grasp that the transforming work of the Spirit “. . .
brings every element in (my) being, working from inside out, into harmony with the
will of God . . .”[iv] C.S. Lewis’ The Great Divorce also comes to mind, as the landscape on the way
to the Kingdom feels unbearably unreachable until one repents through an act of
the will.
[i] Dallas Willard,
“My Journey To and Beyond Tenure in a Secular
University” (Remarks given at the Faculty Forum Luncheon of the C.S. Lewis Foundation Summer
Conference, University of San Diego, 21 June 2003), available at http://www.dwillard.org/biography/tenure.asp,
Internet.
[iii] Richard Foster states, “No one
has thought more carefully than Dallas Willard about the human personality and
how it can be transformed into Christlikeness.” This endorsement is found on the
back cover of the hardcover version of Renovation
of the Heart.
[iv] A summary which quotes the
author is found on the back cover of the hardcover version of Renovation of the Heart.
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