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The Divine Conspiracy: Rediscovering Our Hidden Life In God | 
 enlarge | Author: Dallas Willard
Publisher: HarperOne
Category: Book
List Price: $23.95
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Rating:  138 reviews
Sales Rank: 5411
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 448
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.2
Dimensions (in): 8.7 x 5.8 x 1.6
ISBN: 0060693339
Dewey Decimal Number: 248.4
EAN: 9780060693336
ASIN: 0060693339
Publication Date: April 15, 1998
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Amazon.com Review
Dallas Willard, an acclaimed theologian and professor of philosophy at the University of Southern California, fulfills the longing of many Christians who want to live as true disciples of Christ rather than distant dabblers. 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. But this is not a scolding book. Rather, Willard devotes his efforts to discussing specific and inspiring ways to develop a discipleship to Jesus--not as an act of sacrifice or even one of spiritual luxury--instead, as everyday people committed to the teachings of Christ. "The really good news for Christians is that Jesus is now taking students in the master class of life," writes Willard. "So the message of and about him is specifically a gospel for our life now, not just for dying. It is about living now as his apprentices in kingdom living, not just as consumers of his merits." --Gail Hudson
Product Description
A renowned teacher and writer of the acclaimed The Spirit of the Disciplines, Dallas Willard, one of today's most brilliant Christian thinkers now offers a timely and challenging call back to the true meaning of Christian discipleship. In The Divine Conspiracy, Willard gracefully weaves biblical teaching, popular culture, science, scholarship, and spiritual practice into a tour de force that shows the necessity of profound changes in how we view our lives and faith. In an era when many Christians consider Jesus a beloved but remote savior, Willard argues compellingly for the relevance of God to every aspect of our existence. Masterfully capturing the central insights of Christ's teachings in a fresh way for today's seekers, he helps us to explore a revolutionary way to experience God--by knowing Him as an essential part of the here and now, rather than only as a part of the hereafter."The most telling thing about the contemporary Christian," Willard writes, "is that he or she has no compelling sense that understanding of and conformity with the clear teachings of Christ is of any vital importance to [their] life, and certainly not that it is in any way essential . . . Such obedience is regarded as just out of the question or impossible." Christians, he says, for the most part consider the primary function of Christianity to be admittance to heaven. But, as Willard clearly shows, a faith that guarantees a satisfactory afterlife, yet has absolutely no impact on life in the here and now, is nothing more than "consumer Christianity" and "bumper-sticker faith." Willard refutes this "fire escape" mentality by exploring the true nature of the teachings of Jesus, who intended that His followers become His disciples, and taught that we have access now to the life we are only too eager to relegate to the hereafter. The author calls us into a more authentic faith and offers a practical plan by which we can become Christ-like. He challenges us to step aside from the politics and pieties of contemporary Christian practice and inspires us to reject the all too common lukewarm faith of our times by embracing the true meaning of Christian discipleship. A Powerful, Thought-Provoking
Guide to Living the Life
Jesus Intends for Us "My hope is to gain a fresh hearing for Jesus, especially among those who believe they already understand him. Very few people today find Jesus interesting as a person or of vital relevance to the course of their actual lives. He is not generally regarded as a real life personality who deals with real-life issues, but is thought to be concerned with some feathery realm other than the one we must deal with, and must deal with now.""[A]ctual discipleship or apprenticeship to Jesus is, in our day, no longer thought of as in any way essential to faith in him. It is regarded as a costly option, a spiritual luxury, or possibly even as an evasion. Why bother with discipleship, it is widely thought, or, for that matter, with a conversational relationship with God? Let us get on with what we have to do." "This book, then, presents discipleship to Jesus as the very heart of the gospel. The eternal life that begins with confidence in Jesus is a life in His present kingdom, now on earth and available to all. So the message of and about him is specifically a gospel for our life now, not just for dying. It is about living now as his apprentice in kingdom living, not just as a consumer of his merits. Our future, however far we look, is a natural extension of the faith by which we live now and the life in which we now participate." -- from The Divine Conspiracy
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| Customer Reviews: Read 133 more reviews...
 READ THIS BOOK!! November 29, 2008
After reading this book, I bought additional copies and have given them away and plan to buy more to give away. While I have been a Christian for many years, there were parts of the good news that were obscured for me by our cultural biases and some of the teachings I grew up with. Dallas goes to the heart of the message that Jesus taught about the Kingdom of Heaven and explains it in a way that makes sense. Since reading this book, I have been able to relax into God's plan for my life. God used this book to talk to me directly. My advice to every Christian is to read it.
Richard Foster's Brilliant Mentor and Friend, Dallas! November 22, 2008
I read this and "A Spirit of the Disciplines" right after I soaked-in and practically did back-flips over Richard Foster's now more than 25-years-old inspired masterpiece, "A Celebration of Discipline". Both take the best elements of the grand Quaker tradition and modernize them in an incendiary, soul-shaking way. All of Willard's works are brilliant and touching, but my favorite read....I would go as far as to label it "required".....is "The Divine Conspiracy". Christian Carswell is just a wedding photographer wielding a Nikon D3 and D700 and some nice lenses.
But I came to within a frog's hair of obtaining my Master of Divinity degree from Bethel Seminary in San Diego. In fact, I even MOVED 2800
miles out there and rented an apartment and enrolled. Only the mind-numbing revelation that my wife, whom I adored, had been in a 9-month affair with my best friend (!!!) wrecked my psyche so much that I could not concentrate and so had no choice but to withdraw from Bethel and move back to Virginia. But here's what I'm leading up to: one of a small handful of Christian books that inspired me to the point of being willing at the age of 54 to endure three grueling years of Greek, Hebrew, etc. was this very adored-by-thousands masterpiece. If your soul craves fresh nourishment, buy it!
The Divine Conspiracy: Rediscovering Our Hidden Life in God November 16, 2008
"Is Jesus part of your daily life--here and now? Or, by failing to take him seriously, have you relegated him to the realm of the `hereafter'?"
In this book, Dallas Willard handles a topic many of talk about, but few have up and running in their lives. The biggest problem we have with discipleship is that we really don't know - have knowledge about, that is - what it looks like.
But Willard is confident that with some knowledge our faith can be strengthened and feelings that have a limiting effect on us can be mastered, instead of our masters. We can develop a practical plan to help us become more Christ-like.
Here are Willard's main points:
* Christians for the most part consider the primary function of Christianity to be admittance to heaven.
* Faith that guarantees a satisfactory afterlife, but lacks impact in the here and now, is "consumer Christianity" or "bumper-sticker faith.
* We must step aside from the politics and pieties of church-ianity and embrace true Christian discipleship.
* "[A]ctual discipleship or apprenticeship to Jesus is, in our day, no longer thought of as in any way essential to faith in him. It is regarded as a costly option, a spiritual luxury, or possibly even as an evasion. Why bother with discipleship, it is widely thought, or, for that matter, with a conversational relationship with God? Let us get on with what we have to do."
* Being a disciple of Jesus is the very heart of the gospel.
The Christian life is about living in the present as Jesus's apprentice in Kingdom living. We were never intended to only be consumers of His merits. We are invited to take part in a conspiracy - a divine conspiracy - with God as He invades this present darkness.
If you're looking to make some difficult decisions or want to unburden yourself of habits that hold you back, read this book. Soak in its concepts and take on its challenges. It's both compelling and attractive.
 Part of book mission September 8, 2008
0 out of 14 found this review helpful
When I received the book I started reading immediately and it went so well that today when I read to page 132 and wanted to go to page 133 there was no page 133 the following page was 277 and then later on page 277 repeated I do not know why there are pages missing but I want my money back.
Magnificent July 17, 2008
I am not sure how to write a review for a book that I will reference for the rest of my life. I had great expectations for this book before beginning it and they were all met. This book is about the Sermon on the Mount and so much more - discipleship to Christ.
Willard opens with the idea that Jesus (and therefore God) was/is brilliant. Not in the abstract "of course he is, duh, he's God" but in a wow, Jesus really knows humanity, the world, good and evil, etc. He speaks of the kingdom of God as central to Christ's life and message and says it's sorely absent today, which has changed in the 10 years since the book was written as I hear about the kingdom with great frequency. Nevertheless, his exposition of what it and ruling means is terrific.
There is an overemphasis on atonement in current Christian thought, at the popular level. It has become a "gospel of sin management" and Jesus is the ticket to heaven. Challenging both this conservative view and the liberal social gospel view, Willard explains what the good news is all about.
He then launches into the topics of us having spirits and God being everywhere in the world. The heavens (plural) are closer to us than we think as we walk about in them (like the air we breath) so we literally live and move and have our being in God. Willard coins his own version of the kingdom of God as the Kingdom Among Us.
Then begins the examination of the Discourse on the Hill (Sermon on the Mount) by looking at the Beatitudes - not as prescriptive but as descriptive of reality in God's kingdom. They are the way things are, not necessarily the way we should try to live. They really are good news for those in such conditions.
Jesus has respect for the Mosaic law and sees it as good. With the kingdom of the heavens breaking into time and space, disciples are called to live beyond the mere behavioral stipulations of the Old Testament. Yes, actions are important. Having a heart conformed to God's is even more important and Jesus' aim in the speech. The primacy of anger and contempt is identified as stemming from a wounded ego and central to all human conflict.
Reputation and wealth are strong temptations for almost all of us. However, they are deceptions that are not fulfilling in the end. Only God will satisfy the heart.
He does say that prayer is primarily about the request - something I wonder about as I have been thinking lately of prayer as less requesting and more receiving. Willard walks through the "Our Father" or "Lord's Prayer" a phrase at a time, examining what Jesus was getting at anew. His own translations and wordings really rejuvenate the scriptures.
The notion of Jesus as teacher has slipped away from us. His goal, in being his disciples, is for us to become and to be like him. It's about our identity and the living of our lives. How would Jesus live the life we have? rather than How do we live like Jesus?
In the eighth and ninth chapters, the book slows a bit, returning to the rather uninspiring "read your Bible, pray, meditate on God." Believing is about being in touch with reality - a perspective that makes disbelief sound abnormal and belief normal or expected, contrary to many people's thinking. He challenges our thinking about change in that change on demand is not necessarily the change God is wanting to make in our lives and very may not know about the change until a far later time. I liked the idea of needing to be content to be alone and doing nothing. This is a strong challenge to my day to day living.
Willard closes the book with "the restoration of all things" and our existence in heaven, co-ruling with Christ. To try to bring heaven to earth of our own will is foolishness. Think about what you would put yourself in charge of - a city, two cities, ten cities? - and start thinking about how you live in light of this. Our unending life is primarily for God's pleasure as it is the only way we can know him more fully, beyond the limitations of our present state of being. There will be bodies for all, though not necessarily physical, and there will be social relationships - strongest of all with God.
I will have to read this again, no doubt.
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