This is such a rich exploration of what it really means to be a disciple of Jesus Christ. It is dense and sometimes pretty cerebral, but I found it to be so meaningful and helpful and convicting and encouraging and hope-filled, too.

Willard spends the majority of the text working his way through the Sermon on the Mount and reframing phrases we often hear thrown about as one-liners. He puts them back in their context - within their cultural/historical moment, within the broader story of Scripture, within Jesus’s overarching themes in this specific sermon. There were a lot of moments where I said, “Yes!” And others where I said, “Oh! That makes so much more sense.” And still others where I thought, “Oof. That goes straight to my heart.”

Willard’s prophetic wisdom is also on display here. He saw where the church was going, and these words, written a quarter century ago, are so relevant for the struggles the Church is having today.

I’m so thankful that I read this…and also that I read it in small, digestible chunks over several months…and also that I’ve had people walking alongside me in this reading to discuss it with.

A beautiful vision of Life in the Kingdom of God. Not just written, but faithfully lived out by Willard himself. His final words are said to have been “Thank You”. I believe he was responding to Christ saying, “Well done, good and faithful servant, Welcome home” and this book is a handbook for that kind of life (and death).

For supposedly being Willard’s magnum opus, I found this book to be uninteresting and lacking depth. Willard’s other books such as The Spirit of the Disciplines are shorter and less meandering while explicating the topic in a more nuanced spiritually rich way. Perhaps this book was groundbreaking for Evangelicals when it was first published, but of all of Willard’s talk about discipleship and spiritual formation, this book felt like skimming fat of the surface and left the more challenging soteriogical questions behind. Willard seemed so concerned with finding a middle ground between two polarities that he failed to provide any new theological argument that strengthened my faith. With Willard being so versed in philosophy and theology, I was surprised that this book was not academic or even remotely philosophical. He would allude to different authors, theologians, or philosophers, but not explicate anything they wrote about the topic. Moreover, his exegesis chapter on Mathew 5-7 fell flat for me and I kept waiting to be enriched, wanting more, only to reach the end dissatisfied and bored. Overall, I would recommend this book to someone, but I think there are others that are more insightful.

This book was incredible- I read it slowly, thinking, digesting, praying, cross-referencing, rereading, etc. I looked at it like a textbook. There were parts I struggled to understand. Overall, what a gift this book is - like a believer's coursework toward growth. Highly recommend!

Recently my Dentist finished this book, which was his first Dallas Willard book. He raved about it saying that Willard was a genius. A few years ago I almost finished it, however I really wasn't ready for it at the time. I challenged myself to reread it. Well, it was magnificent! I had been reading for a couple months at the same time "The Renovation of the Heart" by DW for the second time with Renovare book club and loving it. They went together beautifully. My heart was so very touched this time but also my mind with more clarity than ever before. I would look up every scripture, ruminating on God's truth. It was like a retreat with Jesus. May all who read these
two books be blessed with the revelation of God's truth. Only exception was the last chapter in TDC, it was Willard's ideas of what life after death would be like. I think various ideas could have been discussed but it did not take away from the book in any way.

Update: Even better the second time. I read it with a Calvinist's (I am personally somewhat undetermined) eyes this time, and see why Willard makes some people uncomfortable. I say it's worth getting over it, because this book is SO good. Life changing. Revelatory. I will never look at life, eternity, Jesus, Christianity the same, ever again. I won't be throwing out the baby with this one.
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Not since my first experiences with C.S.Lewis have I been so impacted by a writer, Christian, theologian, philosopher. I really can't recommend this book enough. It has changed me. It has changed my mind. It has clarified and reordered things I thought I knew. It has made more sense of life than I ever expected, both on a philosophical level and, more importantly, on a real life heart and soul level. It has made me love Jesus more, want to know him more, enlivened me to his purposes, given me guidance about how to go on from the reading and actually live it. It has given me a new kind of hope.
The first thing I did after finishing my Kindle copy was buy a paper copy. This is a book I expect to reference my whole life, starting with a second read right now.
It isn't easy reading. Expect some grueling uphill climbs, some disorientation, some re-reading of paragraphs. I'm a fast reader and this one took me a couple of months to get through. Marinate in it. It's well worth it.

Admittedly, I did skip some parts and did read the entire book. But. If you enjoy reading John Mark Comer and others similar to him, pick up Willard who was highly influential to those writers.

I've heard nothing but great things about Willard and in my first read, I was not disappointed. Willard's insight into discipleship and following Jesus is fantastic. I am positive that the two weeks I've read this people have heard me talk about this book at least 30-40 times.

Dallas Willard seeks in this book to show that the Christian life must be lived. The Kingdom life is for life right now and life eternal. He walks through the Beatitudes in the middle of the book and shines a light on their meaning I had often missed. It was both profoundly simple and enlightening- Jesus is not saying you must be a certain way to enter the Kingdom. Rather he is stating that the Kingdom life is open to all types of people and it is received by humility and true belief. He then shows how this belief will result in a changed life reflecting that of Jesus Christ.

Willard's other books will be on my bookshelf shortly. He writes for Christians who want more of Christ's presence in their daily lives. He helps us see that the Kingdom Jesus offered is gloriously close to us all- close enough to taste and touch in flesh and blood. This book was fodder for that type of intimacy with Jesus and I need more books like it in my life.

Some tidbits in here had me wincing as the author is laden with fundamentalist assumptions and presuppositions and/or cultural mores -- that he appears to be oblivious to, all the while evincing a wondrous text.

But this is an epic work that should occupy the reading list of every Christian in America (and non-Christians interested in philosophy or spirituality). In a gracious, humble manner, Willard pokes and prods at the western religion of Christianity and expounds upon what the Jesus Gospel says about how to follow the words and deeds of Jesus. That imposing a legalistic or rule based or external checklist modality is an exercise in absurdity, as is the point of The Beatitudes spelled out by Jesus. That the Gospel more about the inward heart shaping that transforms a blessed child of a heavenly creator to manifest love for fellow brother and sister in Christ. However I am not doing this book any justice with this condensed TL;DR -- read and parse out for yourself!

A lot of the material here resonated with me as it seemed in alignment with other Christian voices I have digested in recent years -- N.T. Wright *After You Believe (Virtue Reborn)*, the writings of Richard Rohr (oddly, and coming at it from a moderately different tilt), etc.…

The chapters on The Beatitudes and The Lord's Prayer are alone 10X+ the value of the cost of the book.

A revolutionary call for discipleship rooted in the Kingdom of God as portrayed in the Sermon on the Mount. So many good insights and exhortations - it led me to reevaluate many things about how I approach my faith as well as inspired in me a calling to pursue a more structured discipleship program in our own church.

The most powerful and transformative book I’ve read on the Christian life in years. It was dense, so the audiobook was helpful, but I’m looking forward to buying a physical copy so I can comb through it and take notes. So. Good.

I really wanted to like this, but the good reviews were more interesting and succinct than the actual book. Disappointing read.