The Divine Conspiracy
- by Dallas Willard
OK, to be honest I'm not quite finished with the book yet. I'm a pretty avid, reader, and interested in the book and the subject matter, but I'm having trouble just breasing through this one. And not because it isn't good. It's a pretty challenging book. It's dense. I find myself reading passages and then just stopping to think them through. It isn't difficult to read, or overly academic, it's just thick with ideas and application. Williard's premise for the book is to approach the Christian woldview from the perspective of the teachings of Jesus. Jesus message in the Gospels is the proclamation of "The Kingdom of Heaven" (or the "Kingdom of God") Williard fleshes out Jesus' description of what it means to be a part of this Kingdom and how this should be the description of the Christian life. Williard approaches the beautitudes and the Sermon on the Mount with the assumption that they are pretty straightforward teachings, though revolutionary, that should be taken pretty much at face value - with an understanding that they should be taken as a whole progression of thought, not as indivdual "sayings" or "laws". He stresses that we have to accept the context that the teachings are given to us in. The context of a story, set in a particular time and place. Any interpretation of Jesus must take into account that His teaching held great meaning for and admiration from the people of Jesus' day and the crowds of people who followed and were captivated by Him.
One of Williard's strongest points is that many evangelical groups who claim to read the Bible "as it is" or to interpret it "at literal, face value" simply do not do this with the teachings of Jesus. Instead they mean we should take "at face value" the instructions of Paul to the churches or the theological positions in the epistles or Hebrews, but not the Sermon on the Mount! Evangelicals have devised all sorts of theological hoops to explain the hard to accept teachings of "turn the other cheek" and "walk the extra mile". The beatitudes are often categorized as the moral code that will be in place when Jesus returns or during the "Millenial Reign" or some other craziness. As if the fact that Jesus is giving these teachings to crowds of followers in the 1st century isn't part of the equation. Williard even goes as far as to suggest that in our emphasis of the second part of the New Testament, and on the work of Jesus (death and ressurection) we have lost His message. That message of "entering the Kingdom of Heaven" is the one that Williard tries to reclaim and revive. His aim in doing so is to reveal that God's message is much bigger than "salvation from sin" or "heaven when you die", but it is an all encompassing message of hope for today, power to live a new way, a God who is moving and working in His creation now, and an invitation to be a part of the work of God and to participate in the "Kingdom among us".
It's a rewarding read, very rich in personal application. It's also a challenging read, calling Christians to a bigger view of the message of the Gospel and a bigger participation in that message. If Williard has a fault, it's being too comprehensive. Sometimes he overstates His case for a new understanding or interpretation, when a simple suggestion would do. His understanding of "The Kingdom" teachings and how they relate to the Human psyche is very deep. In fact, sometimes he lost me. He seemed to leave the text behind and move into speculation about Human pyschology or the details of spiritual reality. No doubt, his speculations are very interesting and worth thought, but sometimes they seemed to undermine the areas where his observations are much more grounded, and might lead more skeptical readers to dismiss his broader point. But, Williard isn't writing for the skeptic. He writes for the church. Specifically, the American church that increasingly finds itself in a society where the majority claim a belief in God and even in Jesus - and yet that belief seems to have little effect on our society's actions. Williard places the blame squarely on the church. A church who has lost or abandoned the teachings of Jesus about life in the "kingdom of Heaven", for a "heaven when you die" gospel. As Williard sees it, the logical conclusion of a message that "acceptance of Jesus" mostly has to do with securing your afterlife and has little to do with your current life is a church that gives lipservice to Jesus and yet has no change in lifestlye. If we expect the church to change, we must change our message, and Williards presenation of the message of Jesus is one worth reading
