Dallas Willard was a pastor, philosopher, scholar, and prolific author. He could also be considered a seeker, a man who sought to know Jesus and put disciplines in place to help him grow in Christlikeness.
What Is Dallas Willard Known For?
Through the influence of Thomas à Kempis, Richard J. Foster, John Calvin, Andrew Murray, and Christian autobiographies, Willard championed the belief that spiritual disciplines, such as prayer, fasting, silence, and solitude, weren’t reserved for pastors, elders, or the most devoted believers. For example, in The Divine Conspiracy, he wrote, “The Bible is, after all, God’s gift to the world through his Church, not to the scholars.”
We learn from Willard that spiritual disciplines are for every believer to embrace, practice, and teach, not pie-in-the-sky to-dos created to evoke guilt.
Williard also believed that sound doctrine, when coupled with appropriating God’s grace for all of life, spurs us to train our whole being. It equips us spiritually, mentally, and physically, much like Paul referred to in 1 Corinthians 9:26-27 when describing self-discipline concerning transformation:
“So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others, I myself should be disqualified.”
So, how do we apply sound doctrine to the mundane daily grind? This question governed many of Willard’s decisions, even when he had to pursue answers by stepping outside his comfort zones.
Key Events in the Life of Dallas Willard
Willard’s early life involved loss, grief, and rejection. At two years old, he lost his mother, and shortly after, his father remarried a woman uninterested in raising his four children, especially a toddler.
Still, God provided bright moments of hope during the darkest times. According to Gary W. Moon’s biography, Becoming Dallas Willard: The Formation of a Philosopher, Teacher, and Christ Follower, his family faithfully attended small rural Baptist churches. Willard’s Sunday School teacher, Eva Rowen, and pastor Ross Carter left an indelible mark on his life. He credited Sunday School for playing a big part in his coming to know God at nine.
As a young man, Willard was a Southern Baptist pastor struggling to define and promote spiritual growth for himself and his flock. He felt ignorant of God and the workings of the soul, so he attended graduate school at the University of Wisconsin. During that time, he believed God told him that if he stayed in the churches, the university would be closed to him. If he remained at the university, the churches would be opened to him.
He acted on that belief, becoming a teacher at the University of Wisconsin. He remained there for five years before accepting the position of Associate Professor at the University of Southern California. He later became their Professor of Philosophy and stayed for 40 years.
In 1988, Willard became a founding member of Renovare, an organization established by Richard J. Foster, author of Celebration of Discipline: The Path to Spiritual Growth. Other early members included Bill Vaswig, James Bryan Smith, and Marti Ensign.
Over the years, Foster’s vision for a community of people desiring to live the with-God life (Foster defines this life as “powerful and self-sustaining”) continued to flourish through Renovare Covenant retreats, large international conferences, and the publishing of the Renovare Study Bible. While Renovare promotes the spiritual development believers should seek, some critics point out that the organization’s ecumenical leanings create a struggle to focus on solid theology. For these critics, the problem is that it is nearly impossible to reconcile basic tenets of the faith between multiple denominations.
While Renovare’s ecumenicism may have its limits, Willard saw himself as a bridge between denominations, focusing on the commonality of desiring to live a spiritual life, practicing prayer, fasting, holiness, and obedience instead of the difference.
In 1984, his first book, Hearing God, was published. Over a dozen books followed, from popular books on Christian spirituality to academic texts on the philosophy of arithmetic.
August 2012 marked the last day of his tenure at USC. He was soon diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and he passed on May 8, 2013.
What Made Dallas Willard a Unique Teacher?
Willard’s extensive knowledge in theology, science, and philosophy produced unique opportunities for him to teach in religious and secular settings. Still, his gentle, non-aggressive demeanor drew immense respect and excitement for his teaching.
Varun Soni, Dean of the USC Office of Religious Life, had this to say about Willard’s teaching:
“He was the ultimate scholar-practitioner. He bridged the divide between philosophy and theology and showed us all how to bring together our spiritual and scholarly lives in a meaningful way.”
What Can We Learn from Dallas Willard?
We can learn many lessons from Willard, some of which are:
- View spiritual disciplines as an invitation to grow in Christlikeness, not a heavy club weighted by guilt.
- Seek always to hear God’s voice with a readied heart to obey. When God spoke to Willard about using his gifts at the University, he recognized his “voice” and obeyed.
- Be honest about personal spiritual weaknesses but don’t stop there. Willard set out to understand and correct his life’s lack of spiritual discipline by God’s grace.
- See our gifts and talents as His to disperse, avoiding the labels “secular” or “religious.”
- Remember that even spiritual disciplines can become idols when we place more value on the “how” rather than the “why.”
Quotes by Dallas Willard
1. “The world can no longer be left to mere diplomats, politicians, and business leaders. They have done the best they could, no doubt. But this is an age for spiritual heroes—a time for men and women to be heroic in their faith and in spiritual character and power. The greatest danger to the Christian church today is that of pitching its message too low.” – The Spirit of Disciplines: Understanding How God Changes Lives
2. “When Satan undertook to draw Eve away from God, he did not hit her with a stick, but with an idea. It was with an idea that God could not be trusted and that she must act on her own to secure her own well-being.” – The Kingdom Life: A Practical Theology of Discipleship and Spiritual Formation
3. “We don’t believe something by merely saying we believe it, or even when we believe that we believe it. We believe something when we act as if it were true.” – Renovation of the Heart: Putting on the Character of Christ
4. “Our failure to hear His voice when we want to is due to the fact that we do not, in general, want to hear it, that we want it only when we think we need it.” – Hearing God: Developing a Conversational Relationship with God
5. “What is truly profound is thought to be stupid and trivial, or worse, boring, while what is actually stupid or trivial is thought to be profound. That is what it means to fly upside down.” – The Divine Conspiracy: Rediscovering Our Hidden Life in God
Best Books by Dallas Willard
Choosing the best Dallas Willard book is like choosing a favorite psalm. However, here are some excellent ones to explore:
1. The Divine Conspiracy. It’s considered his masterpiece by many readers. This book speaks of the vibrant Christian life experienced when we follow Jesus and lean on His grace and teachings for daily life.
2. Hearing God. This book reflects on what it means to seek God’s guidance for specific circumstances in daily life. Believing that God desires to communicate with us transforms how we relate to Him and why we should pursue a conversational relationship with Him.
3. Renovation of the Heart. Willard delves into the meaning of spiritual formation with refreshing takeaways, especially for those who believe the power of personal transformation lies in a formula. In this book, he shares how a proper view of God’s grace, the working of the Holy Spirit, and a desire to identify as Jesus’ disciple leads to true transformation.
4. The Spirit of Disciplines. If you desire to be a disciple of Jesus in word, deed, and action, this book helps everyday believers learn how to put the disciplines required for spiritual transformation into practice.
5. Life Without Lack: Living in the Fullness of Psalm 23. Willard offers a fresh, powerful perspective on living out Psalm 23 daily by experiencing God’s comfort, peace, and life without fear. Study questions are also included, ready to teach and equip a small group.
In closing, this quote sums up Willard’s heartbeat for all believers:
“You’re a soul made by God, made for God, and made to need God… What is running your life at any given moment is your soul. Not external circumstances, not your thoughts, not your intentions, not even your feelings, but your soul.” – Soul Caring: Caring for the Most Important Part of You
Photo Credit: Portland Seminary/Flickr
This article is part of our People of Christianity catalog that features the stories, meaning, and significance of well-known people from the Bible and history. Here are some of the most popular articles for knowing important figures in Christianity:
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