The Spirit of the Disciplines: Understanding How God Changes Lives

Dallas Willard

Oct 2009 · Sold by Harper Collins

About this ebook

How to Live as Jesus Lived

Dallas Willard, one of today's most brilliant Christian thinkers and author of The Divine Conspiracy (Christianity Today's 1999 Book of the Year), presents a way of living that enables ordinary men and women to enjoy the fruit of the Christian life. He reveals how the key to self-transformation resides in the practice of the spiritual disciplines, and how their practice affirms human life to the fullest. The Spirit of the Disciplines is for everyone who strives to be a disciple of Jesus in thought and action as well as intention.

Ratings and reviews

Dallas Willard begins his book from the fact that Christianity is far back from accomplishing what Christians believe about how they should be. Theoretically we know the characteristics of a Christ follower, but none of us, or very few, are really doing what they say. The Spirit of Discipline tries to respond to the question: How God changes lives? In this respect, the author builds a theology of spiritual growth, and challenges the reader to think his spirituality in practical terms. Also the line of argumentation shows on every step why we Christians fail on living a christlike life. The theology of spiritual growth is based upon the way we see our salvation, not as a moment in our life history, but an entirely life process. This is a result not only of the death of Christ, but also of His life. Christians should be Christ followers in regard to His life. The everyday life is where spirituality is expressed, and it has a great connection with our body as the locus of our life. When God created man, He endowed him with a body, which is the source of our perceptions and life experience. The statement “there is no life outside the human body” is the essence of the spiritual life. What we do with our body, to our body and for our body influences our entire being. That’s why the true spirituality is not outside the human body, nor only a part of our life, but the whole of our life. The body is not to be seen as a source of sin, but a battlefield where the old tendencies to sin and the new life in Christ fight against each other to take supremacy over the body. The way in which we prepare our body to accept the divine ruling is the discipline, the spiritual disciplines. These are not the purpose, having value in it selves, but the training for us to develop connections between our body and the Holy Spirit. The life of Jesus and the life of Apostle Paul are two examples on how this discipline has practical purposes. Christians usually think that some practices of our Savior, or of Paul’s life are not applicable in our days. We wonder why there are no direct interventions of God in our work like in the apostles’ time, but we do not follow apostles’ example in everyday living. The theology of Paul is a theology of the body. We can find in Paul’s teaching a three steps process on how our body becomes the place in which the law of God is accomplished. First, we are baptized in Christ, liberating us from the power of sin. Second, we make a distinction between our body and the sin tendencies inside it, reckoning that this is not our body that pushes us to sin. Third, we submit our members to righteousness, in which we consciously exercise our body to obtain a real automatism of doing the will of God. Our fail to accept some ascetic disciplines for our life is due in large portion to the historic misconception and malpractice of ascetics. The monastic movement put the wrong accent on spiritual discipline especially in order to obtain divine grace and forgiveness. On such background, the Protestantism took away the importance of spiritual discipline for spiritual growth. Discussing some of the most important disciplines for spiritual life, the author systematizes them in two categories: disciplines of abstinence and disciplines of engagement. All of them are necessary to develop a basis for spiritual growth, the firsts making space for the seconds. Each person must decide what disciplines are fitted to his experience, because every individual has his own tendencies and sins to fight against. The author then wants to clarify that poverty, as it was practiced along Christian history, is not a spiritual discipline. He makes distinction between possessing, using and trusting in riches. The last chapter tries to envision a different world in which Christians have accomplished their calling to be like Jesus. This will be the establishment of the Kingdom of Grace on earth. Evaluation: The book succeeds to point a good and practical theology of spiritual growth. It affirms the right place of the human body in the plan

For a college professor, Willard believes some embarrassing silliness. He is a poor writer, too. However, he wrestles with real problems in a novel and practical way. If you're not born again and thumping the Bible, prepare to sift some nonsensical language.

Sometimes the philosophy gets heavy going. But the Lord used this book to speak to me (and to my congregation) about the next steps in His relationship with me. I suspect He is not through yet. If you want to do those things that Jesus did that make it possible to keep all His commands, this book will challenge you.

About the author

Dallas Willard was a professor at the University of Southern California's School of Philosophy until his death in 2013. His groundbreaking books The Divine Conspiracy, The Great Omission, Knowing Christ Today, Hearing God, The Spirit of the Disciplines, Renovation of the Heart, and The Divine Conspiracy Continued forever changed the way thousands of Christians experience their faith.