The Divine Conspiracy - Dallas Willard

In this book Dallas Willard presents the life of the Christian as a disciple of Jesus. He attempts to mediate between evangelical and liberal perspectives and provide an approach to the Christian life brings out what both perspectives have missed. While containing occasionally nuggets, this book (from my perspective) misses the mark at several points.

First, in the noble attempt of rescuing a view of Christianity that sees faith and salvation as separated from life and actions, he defines salvation’s primary concern as conformity to a way of life (Willard likes to refer to it as "...the eternal kind of life..." or "fullness of life"). Willard makes broad and sweeping stereotypes of evangelicals (or the Christian "right") when he says, "[they say that] being a Christian is a matter of having your sins forgiven…That's it." And again, "[evangelicals would say that] getting into heaven is the sole target of divine and human efforts for salvation." With this as a premise, he juxtaposes the liberal and evangelical positions and offers as an alternative a way of life as embodied in Jesus' incarnation. He claims we are able to enter continuity with this life by conforming to the patterns for life provided by Jesus. The dimensions of humankind as sinners deserving God's wrath and the mediating work of Christ in this regard are by and large marginalized (although cursory mentions to it are made). That which should be center stage implicitly becomes secondary.

Secondly, the empowering work of Spirit is almost completely lacking from his concept of the Christian life. This results in a life that nearly any "spiritual" person (I say "spiritual" in the popular sense) can imitate.

Thirdly, Willard appears to use poor exegesis. When basic rules of exegesis are violated in familiar passages (thanks to D.A. Carson’s Exegetical Fallicies), it raises doubts in my mind about the other passages in which he departs from traditional interpretations on the basis of his own personal translation.

Although there is a serious lack today of authentic Christians who imitate Jesus with their lives, to make salvation from sin anything less than the central purpose of Jesus' incarnation, life, and death takes us to a very dangerous place, indeed. The power to live life as a disciple of Christ is not found in by simple conformance to a pattern given us, but is derived from the empowering work of the Spirit.

Willard does, however, accurately identify a weakness in contemporary evangelicalism. Many Christians today view salvation from sin as the end all of the Christian life and Christ's incarnation and call to discipleship are ignored, overlooking passages such as 1 Corinthians 11:1 and 1 Peter 2:21.

Great Exchange: Justification by Faith Alone - Phillip Eveson

The term "Justification" has become a hot button in today's evangelical movements. The concepts of imputed righteousness, the atonement, regeneration, and sanctification were once firm foundations on which Protestant theology stood. The "discovery" of the New Perspective (NPP) by Sanders, Stendahl, Dunn, and Co. (and more recently Wright - with his brilliant, engaging, and accessible writing style) has brought a new understanding to the forefront of biblical scholarship, threatening traditonal understandings of these doctrines. This has especially gained traction within the Reformed community and has been highly influential in the emergent church movement.

This book is worth reading for the two chapters on the NPP alone. In these two chapters, Phillip Eveson gives an even handed summary of the NPP as espoused by N.T. Wright (Chapter 9) and raises six problems with the NPP and seven corresponding dangers (Chapter 10).

Eveson is fair, and gives credit where credit is due. The NPP has made some valid criques, however Eveson states his position succinctly when he says, "In their effort to correct a false view of Judaism they have moved to far in the opposite direction."

The rest of the book is really wrapped around these two chapters, providing a standard, but well stated teaching on Justification (both Biblical and Historical) and some practical application for today.

My only critique is that Eveson may have been a little to hard on fellow evangelicals who have attempted to establish ecumenical ties.

The book is an excellent and accessible read about an issue that has greatly impacted today's church. If you need a quick overview on the NPP, this is the book for you.

The Gospel of the Kingdom - G. E. Ladd

This book is an easy read and gives a great overview the Kingdom of God. Terms like Kingdom of God, Kingdom of Heaven, and Gospel of the Kingdom have been interpreted differently by many different theologians, but Dr. Ladd unifies these terms and gives a wonderful explanation of what it meant back in the time of Christ and what it's ramifications are today. While he is a little more literal in his interpretation than I might be (today he probably would fall into a progressive dispensationalist framework), the book overall is a wonderful summary of what it means to be part of the kingdom of God.

The chapter on kingdom righteousness was both informative and exhortational. His breakdown of Matthew 5-8, although short, was direct and really helped me to understand what Christ was saying in a way that much longer books haven't.

The last chapter on "When will the kingdom come in fullness?" is a great challenge to evangelism.

Overall, I'd give this book a 4 out of 5. The only detractors are a) he's a little to literal and b) some of his statements aren't explained and proven to the extent that I'd like. But those are both just personal preferences. Great book - a great primer on the kingdom of God.