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The Spirit of the Disciplines: Understanding…
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The Spirit of the Disciplines: Understanding How God Changes Lives (original 1991; edition 1990)

by Dallas Willard

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingMentions
2,369166,432 (4.11)1
Willard provides us with an overview of Christian discipleship, coming at it from various angles. The reason we practice spiritual disciplines is no different than the reason an athlete trains and practices. We use disciplines to train ourselves so that our connection with God is established and maintained and so that living in the way of Christ comes naturally (automatically?) as we go about our lives.

Willard's view of discipleship is wise in that he emphasizes the need to address the whole person -- mind, body and spirit -- in the path of discipleship. He avoids the tendencies of some to reduce Christian discipleship to mere training of the mind. This has been a tendency of mine anyhow and I found his more broad emphasis to be helpful.

There is a discussion regarding various specific disciplines. They are divided up between disciplines of abstinence and disciplines of engagement. Each gets a brief description with recommendations regarding their use.

Willard is known for his sometimes dry writing style and it certainly comes through in this work. I say this because the chapter titled "Is Poverty Spiritual?" near the end of the book is easily worth the price of the book on it's own. If you find yourself getting bogged down in the middle of the book, skip ahead to this chapter.

Those looking for an overview of spiritual disciplines will find wise and helpful advice here but be warned, Willard makes very little effort to enterain his readers along the way and some will find him difficult to stay with. ( )
1 vote JTracy | Mar 8, 2012 |
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An engaging book that sparked interesting conversation for our book group. It was interesting to see how passages dealing with materialism made comfortable people squirm. ( )
  rebwaring | Aug 14, 2023 |
This author basically argues, that it is not hard for Christians to be like Christ, as long as you develop the habit of disciplining yourself with "spiritual disciplines." He says these spiritual disciplines are like basic athletic trainings that an athlete has to go through in order to achieve high performance on the competition field (a.k.a. becoming Christlike in everyday life). The disciplines he lists are (but he says there may be more): Solitude, silence, fasting, frugality, chastity (he says married people may also be moved to practice chastity from time to time to focus on prayer, the way Paul described in one of his letters), keeping good deeds a secret, sacrifice, Bible study, worship (a.k.a. see God as worthy), "celebration" ( a.k.a. enjoy our life and our world in conjunction with our faith), service, prayer, fellowship, confession of sin to brothers and sisters, and submission. He emphasized that although frugality is a spiritual discipline, poverty is NOT a spiritual discipline, and devoted an entire chapter to explaining why. (The key is in how you use your possessions, not how much you possess.)

He says we practice these disciplines not "because" we are Christlike. Instead the disciplines are tools. They are the means, not the end. So the author says if you are already doing well without the disciplines, not need to trouble yourself :P But if you find it difficult to be like Christ, you should make a plan to take up spiritual disciplines (which and how many to take up is up to your discernment of your spiritual needs and condition), rather than doing nothing. Actually the majority of the book deals with why Christians shouldn't just do nothing. (In contrast, only one chapter deals with describing the actual spiritual disciplines.)

The author argues Christians shouldn't be content with just receiving God's forgiveness, but should also seek to live a new life. Although works don't save you, Christians are not enjoying fullness of salvation unless they also enjoy a new life. So Christians should take actions that help them live that new life. I feel the author's strongest argument for why the disciplines will work to achieve that is that Jesus practiced them, and the New Testament disciples practiced them. I thought this book is interesting because although the churches I've attended all value discipleship for new believers, there are a number of spiritual disciplines he listed that I've never seen taught (e.g. solitude, silence, frugality....) ( )
  CathyChou | Mar 11, 2022 |
The Spirit of the Disciplines: Understanding How God Changes Lives. This article is essentially Willard's summary of the book: http://www.dwillard.org/articles/artview.asp?artID=57

It's a false dichotomy, that Christians too often accept, that there are inward spiritual things we do and outward, physical things that aren't spiritual. It's an ancient problem in our thinking, going back to first centuries where people denied that Christ had an actual physical body like ours. We don't like to think of him doing "common" things like eating, working, scratching an itch. The human body is part of the Imago Dei. Exercising our faith requires physical deeds done in a physical body, so we can eliminate the idea that physical deeds can't be spiritual or worshipful, or even part of salvation-- "salvation is a life." We exercise proper dominion over creation with the power God has put into our bodies properly combined with the infinite power He provides.

Salvation is more than just mental ascent to forgiveness of sins through Christ. The NT leaves no room for that attitude and early Christians were more interested in the life of Christ and not just his death. (The cross didn't become a common symbol of the faith until after 400 A.D.) Redemption is about more than just our souls at the end of life, but about our bodies and our actions here and now. When we who are dead in our sins are connected to the Spirit, we become alive and our bodily actions are evidence of this.


Asking "What Would Jesus Do?" in a given situation sets a person up for failure because it focuses on a single act rather than the training behind the act. It's like forgetting a professional baseball player spends grueling hours training physically and looking over scouting reports to train for a pitch he finally sees-- because all we see is him swinging the bat. Jesus spent hours and weeks out of sight in prayer and fasting, and 30 years of his life we have little knowledge about, to train for those specific moments of which we do have a record. If you want to be like Jesus, then train like Jesus, don't just try to act like him "in the moment."

Willard references and recommends Foster's book on discipline (my review). This book is a much more theological underpinning of Foster's book. What are spiritual disciplines? Essentially they are activities that put us more in touch and fellowship with God.

There are some inward and outward disciplines, similar to Foster's list. Solitude for the purpose of being fully with people when you are with them is one. Study is, of course, important. He would not lead a group in spiritual exercises without requiring focus on memorization of Scripture.

Fasting.Since it is clearly an expectation of those who want to depend on God in both Old Testament and New Testament, this is something I need to start practicing.

Frugality is a discipline. Willard gives a lengthy explanation of this, delineating frugality from an intentional poverty. He pushes back against a modern interpretations of Scripture which exalt poverty, noting that poverty is not a guarantee of blessing or a way to receive grace, that is not a right interpretation of Matthew 6. "The worst way to help the poor is to be poor," he says. Willard gives a brief history of the development (and diversity) of thought on wealth among Christian teachers. He is quite critical of John Wesley's lament about how wealth ruined his Christian converts. He promotes the idea of redeemed business-- shouldn't we want Christians in positions of great influence on the management and distribution of wealth? We should want Christian businesses to succeed and to grow for that purpose, the more one has the more he has to give. This does not mean that Christians should inherently love their wealth, but rather that they should exercise frugality all the more-- anything that comes between themselves and their love of God is an idol that should be discarded.

Willard spends some time toward the end defending his positions, he seems himself pushing back against hundreds of years of errors mainly due to Western philosophy. He's not arguing for a completely aesthetic faith, but one that has aesthetic qualities. I don't really do the book justice as a whole in this review, so I recommend checking out the linked article about or just read the book.

This is a 5-star classic that I wish I'd read years ago, but probably wasn't ready to read it.
( )
  justindtapp | Jun 3, 2015 |
I enjoyed this book, and some of my favorites quotes include:
"Christianity has not so much been tried and found wanting, as it has been found difficult and left untried." G. K. Chesterton

"to think that following Jesus consists of loving our enemies...while living the rest of our lives just as everyone around us" DallasWillard

"'teaching them to do all things whatsoever I have commanded you' the Great Omission from the Great Commission" Dallas Willard ( )
  dannywahlquist | May 14, 2013 |
Willard provides us with an overview of Christian discipleship, coming at it from various angles. The reason we practice spiritual disciplines is no different than the reason an athlete trains and practices. We use disciplines to train ourselves so that our connection with God is established and maintained and so that living in the way of Christ comes naturally (automatically?) as we go about our lives.

Willard's view of discipleship is wise in that he emphasizes the need to address the whole person -- mind, body and spirit -- in the path of discipleship. He avoids the tendencies of some to reduce Christian discipleship to mere training of the mind. This has been a tendency of mine anyhow and I found his more broad emphasis to be helpful.

There is a discussion regarding various specific disciplines. They are divided up between disciplines of abstinence and disciplines of engagement. Each gets a brief description with recommendations regarding their use.

Willard is known for his sometimes dry writing style and it certainly comes through in this work. I say this because the chapter titled "Is Poverty Spiritual?" near the end of the book is easily worth the price of the book on it's own. If you find yourself getting bogged down in the middle of the book, skip ahead to this chapter.

Those looking for an overview of spiritual disciplines will find wise and helpful advice here but be warned, Willard makes very little effort to enterain his readers along the way and some will find him difficult to stay with. ( )
1 vote JTracy | Mar 8, 2012 |
Incredible insight into not only the practice of the spiritual disciplines but also the motivation to practice them. Plus a practical look at how real life impacts the practice of the disciplines. Chuck ( )
  charleswood1 | Aug 26, 2009 |
The second book I've read now by Dallas Willard, the first being The Divine Conspiracy. He continues to bring fresh perspective, this time in dealing with the spiritual disciplines.

Key quote = “We have one realistic hope for dealing with the world’s problems. And that is the person and gospel of Jesus Christ, living here and now, in people who are his by total identification found through the spiritual disciplines. Why? This faith and discipline yields a new humanity.” ( )
  kdavidw | May 27, 2009 |
An excellent work on the importance of the spiritual disciplines in the life of a disciple of Christ. Willard provides thorough and complete arguments for the disciplines in the realm of a grace-filled life as opposed to in a life led by legalism. Willard will challenge you to develop the habits of Christ in your everyday life. A must read for anyone desiring a more meaningful and purposeful walk with Christ. ( )
  aep00a | Jul 23, 2008 |
Excellent for in-depth discussion. Not "easy reading" but meaningful and foundational to serious study of spiritual disciplines. ( )
  Barrick | Feb 16, 2008 |
In his preface, Willard says that "this book is a plea for the Christian community to place the disciplines for the spiritual life at the heart of the gospel." That is, to be a Christian is more than merely believing and confessing a set of propositions about God, Jesus, and salvation; it is to be like Jesus and to practice the righteousness he requires. Willard indicts the church in America for failing to help believers actually become like Jesus in thought, word, and deed. Christians need explicit training in how to express in their bodies the essence of Christlikeness in the moment-by-moment of each day through the practice of spiritual disciplines.

Willard provides clear definitions of several of the classic disciplines, benefits they can bring to a church and individual believers, and practical ways of doing them. He devotes a substantial chapter to the question of poverty as a spiritual discipline, asking the question, "Is Poverty Spiritual?"

One thing Willard does well in all his writing is provoke critical self-examination without laying on a guilt trip. The result is often, for me, either repentance, spiritual enlightenment or both. The book contains chapter endnotes, a full bibliography, and name, subject, and scripture indices. ( )
1 vote deanc | Aug 9, 2007 |
I need to give this book a second shot. I gave up half way through last time and I'm not sure if it's because I'm a bad Christian or if it was just bad timing. I just found it dry and uninspiring. Maybe I was just expecting something else. ( )
  rybeewoods | Jan 14, 2007 |
This is a good introductio to Christian Spiritual disciplines; amazingly alliterated and all beginning with "D"! ( )
  temsmail | Dec 22, 2006 |
While I certainly believe that there was much good in this book and it deserved the renown that it got at the time, I believe there are much better books that are done on these sorts of topics. Although it may have been a precursor to the aforementioned books, I believe that it was less focused. Overall, though, I think there's much wisdom in it and I probably just should have read a different book of his first. ( )
  jd234512 | Aug 22, 2006 |
If Dallas wrote it you should read it. Some say Chapter 2 is worth the price of the book. ( )
1 vote beanbooks | Dec 16, 2005 |
An intriguing look at the Spiritual disciplines. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
  joannaholbrook | Nov 2, 2005 |
Eric
  humsafar | Nov 8, 2012 |
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