Dallas Willard
Works
Books
The Divine Conspiracy
A meditation on Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. The upside-down reality of life in Jesus’ Kingdom.
Definitions
- TODO: Copy in some of Dallas Willard’s most common quotes.
Willard on Knowledge
Knowledge is the ability to represent (think about, talk about, and deal with) a corresponding subject matter as it is, on an appropriate basis of thought and experience. It includes good “authority.” To know Christ is to be in an interactive relationship with him.
- Knowledge is not something we have, but rather something that we can do.
- Knowledge is about accurately relating (what he calls re-presentation) to a topic.
Dallas Willard's Four Great Questions of Life
1. What is Reality?
No matter how hard the truth may be for us to face, it's better to seek out and deal with reality than to pretend. Truth has consequences... but we're blessed ourselves when we seek out what's real and what the truth is. To settle for just believing truth is "whatever one wants" doesn't do the hard work of getting real answers.
2. Who is well-off? What is Blessedness? The Good Life?
This would involve our own willingness to seek after and answer for ourselves: Am I really living? Am I thriving? If not 1. What would being fully alive look like for me? 2. What is keeping me from that kind of life?
3. Who is a really good person?
As a father, I want my own sons to be friends with really good people.. and be really good people. I want them to be really good people. And I want to associate with really good people myself. This certainly assumes I know what to look for in a really good person. I know what kinds of qualities they have, what they do and what they don't do.
4. How does one become a really good person?
This one now gets to the what next of answering these questions. If I know what a good person is and I decide to become a good person: What will I do to become such a person?