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Christianity Today, June, 2009 |

More Than Deep Feelings

Dallas Willard argues that we really can know Christ.

W. Jay Wood | posted 6/09/2009 10:31AM

Imagine that after a routine checkup, your doctor says, "My hunch is that you have cancer and must undergo extensive surgery." Would you feel confident going under the knife based on a hunch? Would your ...

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Jim	Posted: June 18, 2009 8:58 PM


Just a bunch of Pentecostal nonsense. The Holy Spirit may convict us of sin, but He doesn't tell us whether to have Corn Flakes or Raisin Bran for breakfast or to marry Sue or Mary. You people make God into your Magic 8 ball!

David L

Posted: June 13, 2009 10:08 PM

I know Jesus better everyday through the grace of God. It is sad that so often we talk about Christianity as a personal relationship without recognizing it is both personal and corporate, when I see what Christ is doing in my daughter I get to know Christ better. Being daily conformed to Him, receiving him in the Eucharist, and seeing what He has done with sinners over two thousand years is very heartening. It is an awesome thing to know that Christ is in our midst even if our fallen nature, the Liar, and society would have us believe otherwise. Christ is with us! Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia!

A Disciple

Posted: June 12, 2009 12:49 AM


To know Jesus Christ firsthand and personally, all one needs to do is to look into the overwhelming evidence of absolute power present in the death of Jesus Christ on the cross, "according to the Scriptures". AMEN!

Ramm	Posted: June 11, 2009 9:53 PM

I've actually read the book and listened to the audio version. I give the book 5 stars, but the review only gets 3. Wood's critique in paragraph 7 of his review makes me wonder if he actually read the book or merely skimmed through as he rushed to meet a deadline. The quote from Willard in paragraph 7 comes from page 108 of the book where Willard is making a reference, back to the first chapter where he discusses more fully a "working idea" of what it means to possess knowledge. Willard DOES say more about what it means to "represent something" (pg 15) and further fleshes out the definition by (1) providing examples of how knowledge is handled, without question, in various areas of life and (2) by contrasting knowledge with belief, commitment, and profession. Wood's representation of Willard's treatment of knowledge is not as it actually is.

George T.

Posted: June 11, 2009 7:38 PM


Willard is right.Simply and consistently he explains how to know Christ is a spiritual experience.

LADYLORI

Posted: June 11, 2009 5:15 PM

If anyone is as confused by this article as I am (seems somewhat self-contradictory?) I recommend finding out more about Willard through a recent interview--listen on thethingsthatmattermost.org--and by reading an EXCELLENT recent release: "A Faith and Culture Devotional." (Contributors besides Dallas Willard include Randy Alcorn, Chuck Colson, RC Sproul, Scot McKnight, John Eldredge, Frances Collins, Michael Behe and many more.)

LAH	Posted: June 11, 2009 10:10 AM

"People are not confused by the gospel, they are confused by us." (Casting Crowns). Kieth Green once said that going to church does not make us a Christian any more than going to McDonalds makes us a hamburger. Jesus did not go after the religeouse elete or or the highly educated. He went after people who were hungry for truth. This goes beyond mere emotionalism which has plagued the church of this generation. It has brought not only false revivals, but also I believe to be a false fire before God! As for as the pluralism issue, Jesus will put that to rest Himself. But just as dangerouse is the out of control emotionalism in the church that has made a God out of self causing us to be egocentric rahter than Christocentric in our pursuit of God. If Jesus had been ruled by His emotions where would we be today? Think Hard about this one.

Scott Hilborn

Posted: June 11, 2009 7:59 AM

I disagree with Dr. Wood's complaint about Dallas' not discussing Robin Collins' multi-universe theories. As far as I can tell, Dallas has written a handbook for pastors--not for philosophy professors. As a busy pastor, I love the invigoration of the reminder that Jesus and his kingdom are substantial, knowledgable realities. We who preach the gospel have every reason to calmly and confidently stand in this knowledge of truth. I also appreciate Dallas' guts in addressing the possibility of God's regenerating the heart, apart from concrete understanding of the historical Jesus. This is a great book in my opinion!

Dale Fincher

Posted: June 10, 2009 5:54 PM

I love Willard. I think most who made comments on this post don't get Willard enough to even comment. I think because Jay Wood is a philosophy professor, we should expect the more philosophical highlights in his review. In addition, Willard's title is putting his finger on a nerve of why so much spiritual development is lacking in the Christian church: we lack knowledge of how knowledge builds our souls (I have an article on this in Apologetics for a New Generation). Knowledge is imperative to soul-formation. American Christianity has confused faith and knowledge and so has run amuck. In recent Barna survey, it is reported that the overwhelming majority of Christians and Christian leaders believe mature spirituality is based on moralisms. Something is deeply awry. We'd do well to study Willard with an open mind and a notebook and really unpack a much wider Biblical worldview that he has gifted to us in his walk with Jesus.

Jason

Posted: June 10, 2009 6:32 AM

Unfortunately Dallas Willard is more of a believer in Paulianity than Christianity, as the book Jesus' Words on Salvation by Douglas Del Tondo makes clear. US evangelicalism, like so much of western churchianity, has committed itself first and foremost to a man who described himself as a 'Pharisee and the son of a Pharisee' (note present tense), more than 20 years after his 'conversion', of which the book of Acts gives three contradictory versions. Jesus utterly and totally condemned the Pharisees. While Jesus repeatedly stressed that obedience to His commandments is crucial to salvation (think of Matt22:37-40, a concise summary of the Ten Commandments), Paul rejected this as 'legalism', claiming a one-time commitment of belief is all that is required - the so-called principle of 'cheap grace', or 'easy beliefism' so dominant in US churches. But if a King's subjects do not obey Him, what kind of Kingdom is that? Paul nullified Jesus' teachings in many ways, but the churches prefer him.

Carlson

Posted: June 09, 2009 10:53 PM


When I believed in Genesis 1:1 with all my heart - "In the beginning, God...," everything else in the Scriptures about Jesus Christ became easy and logical. But there are many things that cause me to wonder why events happened as they did, and I simply leave all those in a 'need to know' box that will be answered in a few nanoseconds after passing into Heaven.

Gregory Peterson

Posted: June 09, 2009 8:50 PM

I'm reminded of the medieval rabbi who said, more or less, if memory serves, "If I could know God, I would Be God." That God is unknowable, I thought, was a fundamental of monotheism. On the other hand, as Jesus, orthodoxy says, was not only all God, but also fully human...still, how can we really know someone who's reportage is from ancient, amateur sources written some time after he had physically left the planet, so to speak. The earliest sources are probably from Paul, after all, with the Gospels likely being written even later. I'm reminded of knowing my Grandfather, an ambitious, first generation pioneer educator, school founder and politician, who died when I was only a year old. What do I really know? Bits and pieces, imagined and extrapolated from limited data...half remembered anecdotes that may or may not actually have been of him, but not as he truly was in his prime of life. I would like to know more, but would I like what that could be?

hatji

Posted: June 09, 2009 6:29 PM

Perhaps I am naive on this matter, but I can only say that on the day of my salvation, 46 years ago, in a Baptist Church, I did not pray what is commonly called "The Sinner's Prayer." They offered it, but I did not pray it. I did not understand law work, grace work, or any of what we call the basic facts of sin, salvation, and righteousness. And yet I believed in Christ- believed because I knew I needed to believe. From that moment I have not turned back. Not because of my own goodness, but because of his faithfulness. I did learn the doctrine and much more, and am still learning, like all of us. Now I am 62 and a missionary in a Muslim dominated country for 26 years. Much is still a mystery to me, and I have a lot of questions. None of them, however, tempt me to leave the faith I once embraced and the One who has embraced me through His love.

Roger

Posted: June 09, 2009 6:28 PM


I was right on this book until the author mentioned the bit about "Christian pluralism" (a contradiction of terms) and universalism. That ruined for me.

profschiler

Posted: June 09, 2009 4:24 PM

Willard indetifies the fact that the book caonnt deal with everything and also requires some thought by the reader. That addresses the objections of the reviewer on one hand and the simplistic comment made by "David" on the other hand. Willard recognizes that certain things are known by evidence, not mathematical proof. They are thus known as a probability. Yet he also deals with the non-believer in bringing up such evidence. When Willard says that there is no remotely plausible evidence for some other origin of the universe, he does not say no one has that opinion. He says that, in his view, the opinion is not plausible. The book is careful. It may be more careful than the readings of those who criticize it! But I am sure that he would welcome such discussion.

Rick Vann

Posted: June 09, 2009 4:13 PM

I don't find Willard's defense of pluralism, as reported, particular compelling or convincing. Certainly Christ died for all and this will come out in the time appointed. But there is no salvation now or ever without a faith response to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Only those who are born of the Spirit have the revelatory knowledge of Jesus Christ and witness of the Spirit although I don't discount that the cross has power to heal and to save beyond the present age.

internetelias

Posted: June 09, 2009 3:13 PM

Wow! I want this man's book. I'm so delighted to know Willard has encountered the Christ. I've shared some of my encounters with the precious Jesus...only to be called a blasphemer, delusional, and so forth. But I truly do not mind those things. I 'know' what I 'know'. Because I fellowsip with Him, trust Him, and depend on Him completely, my heart only loves and prays for those who despitefully use me...so to speak. And, oh yes, Mr. Willard, we indeed can know Christ and the Father as personally as Peter knew them. Great post! Thanks. internetelias.wordpress.com

Peter S

Posted: June 09, 2009 3:12 PM

Conversion and transformation go hand in hand. Conversion without transformation is tantamount to putting a filthy dish into water and pulling it out dirty, but pronouncing it clean. Having been cleansed, we are continuously made clean through the washing of the Word. Having been fed, we hunger still. Having had our thirst quenched, we thirst for more the Living God. All this because of an ongoing desire to know Him more intimately; the way a lover wants to know the object of his love more intimately. What a divine mystery is this relationship between the Creator and His creation!

David

Posted: June 09, 2009 2:33 PM


Not only do I know Jesus Christ... he knows me!!! Why do we try to make this SOOOOOO hard?

Patrick Gann

Posted: June 09, 2009 12:07 PM

I suspect I would loathe the apologetics in this book, based on the very sober and balanced review provided here. But I am very interested in the devotional aspect. Also, high-five for the "Christian pluralism" theology. --- "knowing" vs "believing" vs "hoping" vs "wishing" ... on any given day, I have no idea where I stand with most tenets of Christianity. But rarely would I count it as "knowing."

Robberson

Posted: June 09, 2009 11:45 AM

I particularly like this quote ""Groups and their institutions tend to confuse what they need to teach with what one must believe in order to be saved." Why? For instance, over last 2,000 years those who are blind, deaf and dumb thus impervious to the various dogma's etc. are not excluded from Salvation. Faith is a Grace, an undeserved gift from God, and when He gives it the form/method is up to Him. Of course one needs to "open" the gift but that's another issue.

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