Stephen Barkley
The always understated Dallas Willard (1935–2013) deeply understood human nature. His work on spiritual formation including The Spirit of the Disciplines and The Divine Conspiracy are classics. Renovation of the Heart is no exception. In Renovation, Willard offers an anthropological perspective on why humans exist in a disordered state and what it takes to truly live out the eternal life offered in Christ.
Willard’s anthropology is complex, consisting of five concentric circles. Starting at the core and working out, humans consist of:
- Spirit (heart/will)
- Mind (thought/feeling)
- Body
- Social
- Soul
Renovation of the Heart defines each of these “dimensions” of human ontology and explores how the process of spiritual formation is realized in each area.
Ten years ago I would have given this book a resounding A+. However, since then, I’ve read James K. A. Smith’s Cultural Liturgies series (see here, here, and here) and trained in Practical Theology. While Willard’s perspective is significant, I couldn’t shake the feeling that he’s missing one significant element: the doing of liturgies (in Smith’s broader sense of the term) that form us. A good example of this is found in his chapter on “Transforming Our Social Dimension” (179). Acknowledging rightly that “[s]piritual formation, good or bad, is always profoundly social,” he goes on to offer four ways to redeem this dimension:
- See yourself as a whole like God does.
- Don’t be defensive in your relationships.
- Love each other genuinely.
- After accomplishing the first three, serve others.
It’s only at the final step that practical action is implied (the specific acts of service are left undefined). This would have been a perfect opportunity to explore the practices that would help us to actually function as an agenda of redemption in our social context. While Willard doesn’t deny the need for practical acts, it feels like a missed opportunity.
In the end, read Renovation of the Heart alongside You Are What You Love for a rich and full perspective on spiritual formation.
Willard, Dallas. Renovation of the Heart: Putting on the Character of Christ. NavPress, 2012.
