Reg
06-24-2008, 10:23 AM
Read this at the cottage. What an amazing book. IMHO it tells it the way it is. This is not a book for the novice in Biblical understanding. It is thought provoking and deep in it's content. It is pregnant with significant statements. I had to reread many to get their full understanding.
Renovation of the Heart: Putting on the Character of Christ
by Dallas Willard (Author) http://www.dwillard.org/biography/default.asp
From Publishers Weekly
Willard (The Divine Conspiracy), a professor of philosophy at the University of Southern California who is also a Southern Baptist minister, here tackles the central Christian question of how to be more like Christ. He claims that the church's failures throughout history are a result of Christians' reading biblical passages that adjure them to Christ-like perfection and then trying to reach that perfection by behaving more perfectly. Instead, he argues that believers should allow God to transform them internally so that their actions, though never quite perfect, will at least be more aligned with God. Willard delineates six areas of such transformation thought, feeling, will, body, social context and soul and delineates a general process toward transforming each. The book's chapters are divided into very short subsections, which, especially in the first four chapters, are inchoate as Willard struggles to explain exactly what the "heart" is and why it is important. Though trained as a philosopher, he does not explicate philosophical discussions over, for example, human nature, settling instead for saying that "we cannot deal with [them] here." Such a position contributes to the book's early incoherence and to a consistent lack of support, and, therefore, power. However, many evangelicals will appreciate his fresh and less guilt-ridden approach to Christian spiritual growth. The book is heavily Bible-based, provides discussion questions and includes a chapter on spiritually transforming congregations as well as individuals.
http://www.amazon.com/Renovation-Heart-Putting-Character-Christ/dp/1576832961/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/103-8347544-1076626?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1214318491&sr=1-1
Here are some quotes from it that stood out for me......
Pg 36 "The ideal of the spiritual life of the Christian understanding isone where all the essential parts of the human self are effectively organized around God, as they are restored & sustained by Him..."
The human self is then fully integrated under God."
Pg 44 "Evil thrives on confusion." (1Cor 14:33)
Pg 85 "Any successful plan for spiritual formation, whether for the individual or group will in fact be significantly similar to the AA program."
Pg 101 "Individuals who have a poor self-image of themselves are caught up in self-rejection and have no defense against group pressures. They do not see themselves as objects of God's loveand they have no place to make a stand........
To manipulate images - and thereby people - is the work of the propogandist & advertisers. Unfortunately, it is often done in the name of Christ to achieve desired results....."
Pg 122 "Feelings are, with a few exceptions, good servants. But they are disastrous masters."
Pg 125 "Carefully keep the pathway open to the house of reason & go there regularly to listen."
Pg 127 "The mongoose of a disciplined will under God & good is the only match for the cobra of feeling."
And this came to me as I was reading.....
"Many of us are so concerned about justifying ourselves that we have lost the capacity to love."
Here are some more of his books. I plan on getting "The Divine Conspiracy". It looks like another winner.......
"......Likewise, he scoffs at consumer Christians who are simply banking on admittance to heaven as their payoff for attending church. Or worse still, those who use Christianity to advance their political agendas rather than their spiritual ones....."
http://www.dallaswillard.com/
This is a good read to get an understanding of how he thinks...
Rethinking Evangelism
"A LOT OF PEOPLE SUSPECT THAT NOT ONLY IS the world shifting in some significant ways, but assumptions of what it means to do evangelism in that world are shifting, as well......."
"The church has always sought to control who's "in" and who's "out." It has tried to hold a monopoly on salvation. But in my view that judgment does not belong to the church at all......."
"I personally believe there are going to be people outside the mainstream church in heaven,....."
http://www.holytrinitynewrochelle.org/dallas15452.html
Renovation of the Heart: Putting on the Character of Christ
by Dallas Willard (Author) http://www.dwillard.org/biography/default.asp
From Publishers Weekly
Willard (The Divine Conspiracy), a professor of philosophy at the University of Southern California who is also a Southern Baptist minister, here tackles the central Christian question of how to be more like Christ. He claims that the church's failures throughout history are a result of Christians' reading biblical passages that adjure them to Christ-like perfection and then trying to reach that perfection by behaving more perfectly. Instead, he argues that believers should allow God to transform them internally so that their actions, though never quite perfect, will at least be more aligned with God. Willard delineates six areas of such transformation thought, feeling, will, body, social context and soul and delineates a general process toward transforming each. The book's chapters are divided into very short subsections, which, especially in the first four chapters, are inchoate as Willard struggles to explain exactly what the "heart" is and why it is important. Though trained as a philosopher, he does not explicate philosophical discussions over, for example, human nature, settling instead for saying that "we cannot deal with [them] here." Such a position contributes to the book's early incoherence and to a consistent lack of support, and, therefore, power. However, many evangelicals will appreciate his fresh and less guilt-ridden approach to Christian spiritual growth. The book is heavily Bible-based, provides discussion questions and includes a chapter on spiritually transforming congregations as well as individuals.
http://www.amazon.com/Renovation-Heart-Putting-Character-Christ/dp/1576832961/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/103-8347544-1076626?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1214318491&sr=1-1
Here are some quotes from it that stood out for me......
Pg 36 "The ideal of the spiritual life of the Christian understanding isone where all the essential parts of the human self are effectively organized around God, as they are restored & sustained by Him..."
The human self is then fully integrated under God."
Pg 44 "Evil thrives on confusion." (1Cor 14:33)
Pg 85 "Any successful plan for spiritual formation, whether for the individual or group will in fact be significantly similar to the AA program."
Pg 101 "Individuals who have a poor self-image of themselves are caught up in self-rejection and have no defense against group pressures. They do not see themselves as objects of God's loveand they have no place to make a stand........
To manipulate images - and thereby people - is the work of the propogandist & advertisers. Unfortunately, it is often done in the name of Christ to achieve desired results....."
Pg 122 "Feelings are, with a few exceptions, good servants. But they are disastrous masters."
Pg 125 "Carefully keep the pathway open to the house of reason & go there regularly to listen."
Pg 127 "The mongoose of a disciplined will under God & good is the only match for the cobra of feeling."
And this came to me as I was reading.....
"Many of us are so concerned about justifying ourselves that we have lost the capacity to love."
Here are some more of his books. I plan on getting "The Divine Conspiracy". It looks like another winner.......
"......Likewise, he scoffs at consumer Christians who are simply banking on admittance to heaven as their payoff for attending church. Or worse still, those who use Christianity to advance their political agendas rather than their spiritual ones....."
http://www.dallaswillard.com/
This is a good read to get an understanding of how he thinks...
Rethinking Evangelism
"A LOT OF PEOPLE SUSPECT THAT NOT ONLY IS the world shifting in some significant ways, but assumptions of what it means to do evangelism in that world are shifting, as well......."
"The church has always sought to control who's "in" and who's "out." It has tried to hold a monopoly on salvation. But in my view that judgment does not belong to the church at all......."
"I personally believe there are going to be people outside the mainstream church in heaven,....."
http://www.holytrinitynewrochelle.org/dallas15452.html