The Divine Conspiracy: Rediscovering Our Hidden Life in God

by Dallas Willard

Book Overview

The Divine Conspiracy has revolutionized how we think about the true meaning of discipleship. In this classic, one of the most brilliant Christian thinkers of our times and author of the acclaimed The Spirit of Disciplines, Dallas Willard, skillfully weaves together biblical teaching, popular culture, science, scholarship, and spiritual practice, revealing what it means to "apprentice" ourselves to Jesus. Using Jesus's Sermon of the Mount as his...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0060693339
• ISBN13: 9780060693336
• Release Date: March 1998
• Publisher: HarperOne
• Length: 448 Pages
• Weight: 1.31 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.6" x 5.5" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

Best Book I've Read . . . Ever

Willard's style is not for the faint of heart. He is a philosophy professor, after all. That makes for a very precise, every-word-counts style. So prepare to take some time to work through this. But here's the deal: You will be MASSIVELY rewarded. 'The Divine Conspiracy' is quite simply the richest book on the spiritual life I've ever read. Willard walks through the Sermon on the Mount in a way that makes it absolutely come alive. After reading this, you realize Jesus was, indeed, 'the smartest man who ever lived.' This book changed the way I look at life and the way I live my life. It would be incredibly difficult for me to string together enough superlatives to do this book justice; so I won't even try. Just know that a careful reading of this book is likely to transform you in incredibly significant ways.

Wonderful, provocative, disturbing and refreshing

The Divine Conspiracy has to be the best book I have ever read of its kind. I so appreciate the uncluttered view of Christ and His claims, the deconstruction of so many widely-held assumptions about people, God, eternity and the precious nature of every individual. I find myself giving the book as a gift to many of my dearest friends. Try it!

"The Divine Conspiracy" changed my life!

Dr. Dallas Willard has peered into the glorious canyon of the heart and mind of God - and in his book he tells us not what he has read about, but what he has personally seen. Thus, this book was not written by a scribe but by a prophet. It smacks of another dimension that is all around us, also known as the kingdom of the heavens. We learn we're made for this "other" world, that our souls long for it, and that we're never at rest until we're fully oriented in this invisible, but real, dimension. This explains why most people live lives of "quiet desperation". The whole point of the book is that humans were made for a superiour hidden reality and that Jesus uniquely stands as both the Gatekeeper and Guide because, as a fact, only Jesus has experienced this hidden country. In his role as Sacrificial Lamb he lets us in the Gate, but in his role as Master Teacher, he is our Guide to living life - here and now. We learn that for years we've ignored Jesus' role as our Life Teacher. Is it any wonder we don't really know how to live? Is it any wonder our world is so messed up? And, in Jesus' absense as Life Teacher, we had to learn from someone - our blind world - on how to live, its principles, its habits, its lifestyle...and we have paid dearly. Dr. Willard eloquently pleads that we start learning how to truly live and that only Jesus has demonstrated standing in history to teach us. Fortunately, Jesus is still taking students, also known as disciples. We learn the call to make disciples in the Great Commission is in essence simply an invitation to learn how to live right - how to live in God's invisible country which is already here - and which is our true home. After reading it for the third time (something I've never done before), I realized how homesick I am (my own life of 'quiet desperation' - though I have good family and job, etc.) for my true home, the one which I was given a soul for -- yet the home I've been ignorant of even though I've been "located" in my home all the time...I was just blind to it as a reality. THIS is why Jesus said to "repent": as to WHAT constitutes ultimate reality: is it this world as we know it through our five senses or is it a multidimensional world, a kingdom of heavens as Jesus called it, and its corresponding rule and power. Jesus knew, then and now, that humans died to God and his kingdom in the Fall. Humans have been shut off from understanding and entering into this ultimate reality. For those who've had enough of a world that is dead to God - a world humans were never designed for, then the Divine Conspiracy can help shed the scales...maybe for the first time. Thanks be to God that His Son Jesus is still calling...calling us to himself, calling us home today. This is a call that can be fulfilled before we physically die too. This was precisely Jesus' intent. This is truly Good News. Thank you Dr. Willard for sharing with us what you've