[Book Review] Renovation of the Heart: Putting on the Character of Christ

I recently had the pleasure of reading Dallas Willard’s book, Renovation of the Heart: Putting on the Character of Christ, and it is going to be amongst the book reviews that I will be sharing with great enthusiasm! In this book, Willard tackles the question of how one can strive to be more like Christ.

A professor of philosophy at the University of Southern California as well as being a Southern Baptist minister, Willard has indulged in considerable analysis and deep reflection over the course of his book.

He addresses the idea of spiritual transformation, and how the internal self is the key ingredient in attempts to attain the Christ-like perfection we seek to emulate. His musings on Christian spiritual growth call for an opening up to God, in crafting a relationship that allows one’s inner self, and as a result one’s external actions as well, to be more in alignment with God.

Willard posits that by relying on God and opening one’s internal being to change and growth, we can seek to transform spiritually in a way that is closer to Christ’s likeness.

He meticulously divides up need for transformation to be centered on six different areas of the being. These include soul, body, social context, thought, will, and feeling.

According to him, truly authentic spiritual growth is not about the external actions, but rather about focusing on inwardly conforming to Christ, and developing an obedience to his teachings in all facets of the inner self. He puts forward the idea that it is self-worship that gets in the way of true spiritual formation, and self-denial is the saving grace that allows for internal renovation.

He delineates the general process for bringing transformation in each of the six areas, a means to getting closer to the likeness of Christ and moving into a much deeper relationship with God. This in-depth exploration of one’s spirituality in terms of their relationship with religion is all about developing a deeper sense of intimacy with God.

In order to attain authentic spiritual formation and growth, Willard talks about how intentional it is to go into the process with the intention of obeying Jesus and accumulating the resources and mettle required for the spiritual formation. While you are indeed the one working to transform your inner being spiritually, this can only be done through dependence on the grace of God.