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Summary: By grace, we can join the conspiracy and touch the eternal
Review: This book levels the playing field for all of us and extends an almost irresistible invitation to join the Divine Conspiracy. By grace, we can choose to enter the hidden kingdom of God. We can become coconspirators with the Father through Jesus, present with us in his Spirit, and be empowered by God's lavish love to overcome evil with good, as Jesus himself did. We thereby become co-laborers with Him to bring His kingdom on this earth into our present reality. In that reality we begin to see, through glass darkly, our relationship to eternity. We begin to understand our lives as a process of character transformation into an evermore joyful life now and, as preparatory to passing, with wild anticipation, into eternal life when the tent of our flesh is torn down.While to read this book is to have my beliefs and the reality embraced through them revealed and challenged, the challenge is offered with the graciousness I have come to associate with Dallas Willard. He! is a man for all seasons, whose pursuit of life in Jesus has built him into a person with such kindness of presentation that even I can understand and accept. At the same time, he presents concepts with such great simplicity and experiential validity that to challenge them seriously is a more formidable task than most of us would be willing to take on. A life/belief changing must read! Destined to become a classic!
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Summary: Simple yet so essential
Review: Would you like to know: what it means to be blessed, the meaning of life and how Jesus intended for us to live it, how peaceful and loving your life can be without anger or contempt, the real meaning of the beatitudes, why a rich man can enter heaven after all, understand the conditions that are justification for divorce, and what life after death is all about? These and many more aspects of living one's life are covered fully in this book. I believe that anyone who reads this book and takes it to heart will have a life changing experience. Dallas Willard has done a remarkable job in making Jesus' message realistic and understandable. So simply stated and so essential to one's life. I had to read the book twice in order to reinforce my understanding of the message. My only criticism is that it is sometimes ponderous and repetitive and yet somehow such detail and repetition is the strength of the book. My thanks to Micah Newman for leading me to this book. I am forever grateful.
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Summary: The Divine Conspiracy: Rediscovering Our Hidden Life In God
Review: Deep waters so get out your waders and put on your thinking cap -- this is NOT trivial reading. But if you're serious about understanding the Christian life, the Divine Conspriracy is possibly THE book to read. Among many other things, Willard turns the common interpretation of the Sermon on the Mount, i.e., another set of standards we must attain to in order to please God, on its head. Contrary to what we've misunderstood, it is not a narrowing funnel of higher achievements we have to meet, but a real life illustration of who the kingdom is ALSO available to. In New Testament society the meek, the poor in spirit, etc. were looked down upon and considered "less than". Jesus points to these people and says, "No, blessed are these." Willard makes this so easy to see, you just want to sigh with relief. I also liked what he has to say about Jesus being the smartest man in the world. Willard's prose is beautiful and . . . he has a nutty sense of humor as well. You'll like the ending he coins for The Lord's Prayer.
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Summary: An extraordinary book of spiritual insight and wisdom.
Review: I am hesitant to write a review on this book for fear that I am simply not up to the task; no, because I know I am not up to it. This is an extraordinary book of spiritual insight. The most important one I have read outside of the Scriptures themselves. Willard does just what he intends and more - gives us a "fresh" (a somewhat ironic understatement) look at Jesus and His teaching by taking the ancient, sacred truths and, through his gift for understanding and writing, opens our eyes to see them as though for the first time. He reminds me of Muggeridge in this regard. One comes away with what the "good life" and a "good person" really represent. Truly powerful and important. I agree with R. Foster; it is the book I have been waiting for all of my life.
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Summary: Certainly the Best Book I Have Ever Read
Review: My mother bought this book for me about a year ago when she attended a teacher's conference in California. She heard Willard speak and decided that since I was into philosophy, that she would buy it for me. I neglected to read the book until about a month ago. Since then I have found a book that has truly brought back joy into my life as a Christian. It is so easy, in this ungodly world that we live in, to only see your Christian walk as something that only gets you into heaven and forget the fact that Jesus tought us exactly what to do while we are waiting. Willard has constructed here a work that i would place on my shelf of honor along with C.S. Lewis' Mere Christianity and Thomas A'Kempis' Imitation of Christ. This book is truly one of the classics in Christian literature. If you are a Christian already then don't let this great opportunity pass you by. This book will open your mind on how to be a direct apprentice to your King and Savior and bring untold amounts of joy into your life!
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Summary: Venture on 'the kingdom of the heavens'.
Review: Dallas Willard is rightly seen as one of the finest theologians of our day. Philosopher (USC) and philologist, he is a sagacious student and teacher of Christ's invitation to immediate citizenship in The Kingdom Among Us, "the kingdom of the heavens."
"The Divine Conspiracy" may be one of the most powerful and accessible works of exegesis written in the past century. As Richard Foster has said of the book, it may, in some sense, stand with even the great works of Augustine of Hippo and Thomas Aquinas. Such praise seems too lofty until one has ventured into Willard's exposition. The book is rigorously and beautifully organized, and astonishingly broad in scope. To be sure, this has more than a little to do with Willard's logic and language skills, but mostly it is because he does such a wonderful job of examining and explaining Christ's teachings, particularly focusing on the so-call Sermon on the Mount. (After previewing Christ's manner of teaching and describing the topography of the location, Willard refers to it as The Discourse on the Hill). Willard wisely leads the reader toward the mysterious profundity of the Discourse by first explaining the serious inadequacies of the "sin management" poles of the Christian "right" (Bible-thumpin', bumper-sticker faith) and "left" (the exclusively material, social gospel). This alone is a highly important treatment, but Willard is only prefacing a journey into deeper waters. Before traveling into the Discourse, the author's significant philological insights illuminate certain poor translations of scripture and, most particularly, what rightly was (and is) meant in language concerning a God of/in "the heavens", and "the kingdom of the heavens." The final preface to his examination of Christ's teachings is an argument as to why these teachings beg our attentions. Jesus Christ, "the master of molecules", is uniquely seen as the most intelligent man to have ever lived on Earth. He was "nice" essentially because he was "brilliant." (If he was truly who he and his followers say he was, how could we think otherwise? His knowledge of nature would transcend the 'uncertainty principle' and Einstein's energy/matter equation, and his knowledge of the human mind [i.e., heart, will, psyche] must be unmatchable.) The strength of this view grows greater upon closer examination and, upon reflection, it is rather odd that few have thought of Christ in this way. Having laid this sound foundation, the author at last turns to the wisdom and beauty of the Discourse itself.
This reviewer found a point or two of disagreement with the author (as is nearly always the case, regardless of subject), but the book as a whole is simply too beautiful, wise and true for me to capture in my own words. I will cite passages from the text which will speak for it better than I obviously could. This of rejecting obsession, anger, and the violence done within one's selfish "heart":
"And in every situation we have the larger view. We are not passive, but we act always with clear-eyed and resolute love. We know what is really happening, seeing it from the point of view of eternity. . . We can be vulnerable because we are, in the end, invulnerable. And once we have broken the power of anger and desire over our lives, we know that the way of Christ in response to personal injury and imposition is always the easier way. It is the only way that allows us to move serenely in the midst of harm and beyond it." (p181)
And this having to do with withdrawing from condemnation, "that you be not judged":
"Now a moment's reflection is all that is required to make one realize how terribly powerful condemnation is. It knifes into vulnerable areas at the core of our being. That is why it hurts so badly and at the same time why we rely upon it so heavily. The decision to step aside from it, neither giving it nor receiving it, is a major turning point in one's life. If, as Christians say, we are really 'different' as followers of Christ, this is a point where it should be most obvious. We would not condemn, nor would we 'receive' condemnation directed upon us. Of course more than half of the battle with condemnation is won once we have given up anger and contempt. Condemnation always involves some degree of self-righteousness and of distancing ourselves from the one we are condemning." (p221)
"This explains why discriminating against people because of the kind of person they are, their identity, is so hateful and destructive. It also explains why the gospel of the kingdom has such transforming power in human life." (p222)
A visionary and transforming book to be meditated upon -- take your time with it.
Rating: 
Summary: Deep Truths in an Easy to Read Format
Review: I like Dallas Willard. He couples philosophy with theology and offers a Christian voice of amazing depth to our sometimes shallow world. However, like other deep thinkers he can often be hard to read. . . . BUT, . . . this book is not like that. In this book Willard hits a literary home run by coupling depth with clarity. So far, this is my favorite of all of his books.
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Summary: Everyone should read
Review: ...for points to consider; whether you're Christian or not.
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Summary: Deserving of all praise
Review: This is a vastly rewarding book. I have already started re-reading the last two chapters where Willard gives the best advice I've ever come across on how we are to "live in the Kingdom." You will be challenged by The Divine Conspiracy - it is not an easy read. However, it is also generous, gracious and quite possibly life transforming. It has been a blessing to me and is now my number one recommended book.
Rating:
Summary: quite good
Review: Why does it take the most brilliant theologians to point out the simplest truths? Willard's main point is that if we really believe Jesus is God, why don't we believe he's smart enough to teach us a thing or two? He encourages us to enlist in an advanced course on Life and the Living Of It taught by the Son of God himself. How simple is that? The middle of the book is an excellent exposition of the Sermon on the Mount (here called the Discourse on the Hill) with that goal in mind. Some of it I don't buy, but most of it is truly profound, well thought-out and presented. The end of this book is a treatise on discipleship. It divides the gospel -- and in such, the ends of discipleship, into two parts: 1. Believe that God is good, loving, and not messing up your life, and 2. Give up your old habits and learn some new ones. Basically, though he never says so, an exposition of "Repent and believe, for the Kingdom of God is near." Who should read this book?
1. Those tired of religious fluff and warmed over sermons put in writing and published. (Willard is so much meatier. The bibliography alone is a treasure chest.) 2. Those who are studying, have studied, or want to study the Sermon on the Mount. I was leading a summer study on that passage as I was reading this, and it was immensely helpful. 3. Those who are thinking about discipling others in one form or another, but aren't sure how to go about it. The last third, while not terribly practical, lays down excellent guidelines for discipleship that will give you direction and purpose. One more note: Willard seems to translate the Bible himself for use in his scriptural examples. The results are fantastic, strong and direct quotes. I know nothing about greek or translation, so I can't comment on their reliability, but they certainly make me wish Mr. Willard would take on a full translation. It would be fantastic.
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