Review 2025.02.007
Reviewers Note: It is the beginning of 2025 and one of the skills I desire to grow in is that of writing book reviews (having never done this before). I am doing this so I can better hone my writing (and reading) skills as I seek to think more critically about the books I am reading. I am sharing on Goodreads for my own personal development. I know this will be something I am always growing in so if you actually read these, please be patient with me as I develop this skill. I will also receive constructive criticism if you desire to help me become a better writer (and reader). I plan to use this disclaimer for the entire 2025 year.
The Divine Conspiracy by Dallas Willard
448 Pages
I heard really great things about this book from a few people – one of them I know personally and two others that I follow online – so I was excited to pick it up. I have read two other books by Dallas Willard so I was not concerned about the writing style or content.
While the first part of the book wasn’t bad, I did struggle at times to push forward. Then about two thirds of the way through, the book changed drastically for me in a good way. I didn’t want to put the book down after that. I cannot say that it was so profound that I was transformed in the same way other books have transformed me. But I can say that I found myself agreeing with his points and looking for ways to change the way I talk to professing Christians specifically.
One of the passages that really got me:
A major part of this important work is coming to understand what the people we are dealing with really do believe, and not pretending—often with them—that they believe what they don’t believe at all. In a setting where a social premium has been placed upon believing certain things for the sake of group solidarity, we must face the fact that human beings can honestly profess to believe what they do not believe. They may do this for so long that even they no longer know that they do not believe what they profess. But their actions will, of course, be in terms of what they actually believe. This will be so even though they do not recognize it, and they will lose themselves in bewilderment about the weakness of their “faith.” That bewilderment is a common condition among professing Christians today.
I was that person and know many of those people now. And that is scary. Of course, the author didn’t leave us without direction to help these believing non-believing Christians. He shares some objectives that we must work towards in people like this. I’m only going to share the first one because it felt like the most important.
The first objective is to bring apprentices to the point where they dearly love and constantly delight in that “heavenly Father” made real to earth in Jesus and are quite certain that there is no “catch,” no limit, to the goodness of his intentions or to his power to carry them out.
I know that God’s love is what changes people. It brings them from death to life. To get people to this point of love and delight is all but impossible for us apart from a work of the Spirit. Still we are called to walk beside them and point them to Jesus and His love again and again. It can be discouraging but we have to trust that God loves them more than we do.
The author is able to put things into perspective and words that were really powerful to me. I realize upon reflection that the other two books of his that I have read were the same way. That is probably why the people recommended it to me and definitely why I recommend it to anyone interested in deepening their faith in Christ.