I’ve been looking for a book just like this one. Dallas Willard is a writer who has impacted me in profound ways over the last few years. Though he has stretched me and made me wonder how I’d missed a few things, sometimes he strained my brain. I estimate that I was understanding him at about an 80% clip. That 80% changed my life, but I lamented the other 20%. Enter this book and I upped my percentage. I may still not be at 100%, but what a joy I found in the progress this book afforded me.

Just look at the picture on the cover. If that system worked for Mr. Willard, it only proves how far my capacity would be below his! (by the way my only criticisms of this book are that this cover should have been a picture inside the book and the fact that this wonderful book deserved being a nice hardcover). Again, I needed this book. Mr. Keasler did a fantastic job and I kind feel I owe a debt of gratitude to him.

The approach to exploring Willard was brilliant, comprehensive, and ideal. Now that I’ve seen the author’s approach I’m convinced there could be no way to exceed it. Chapter 2 is an effective biographical angle. It shows the uniqueness of Willard and how he found no compulsion to fit into any standard box. It wasn’t, though, a disagreeable persona, but just a man gifted to be a creative independent thinker. I came to understand how Willard’s philosophical background affected him and how his mentor was Edmund Husserl. I loved how the author also incorporated all of Willard’s recoded lectures and sermons to fully flesh out his portrait. He calls Willard’s 5 major books ( I’ve read and loved each of them) the pentalogy. Clearly, they carry the most weight.

From there it’s a theological treat. He constructs Willard’s thinking and then compares it to the most common Christian positions. It was these chapters that most enlightened me. It’s clear to me that Willard is orthodox, but his niche is reminding us of things Christ emphasized that we’ve somehow laid aside or at least obscured.

I guess every subject couldn’t be answered. I still don’t know which prophetic camp to put Willard in. I don’t blame the author for that omission, though, because I’m not sure Willard had a clear one.

If you’ve been blessed by Willard, you will love this book. If you’ve loved Willard but had a few struggles in understanding him fully, you will love it even more.

I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.