The Divine Conspiracy

The Divine Conspiracy

Author: Dallas Willard

I really liked reading Dallas Willard, and I spent several weeks after this book listening to talks by him. I especially liked some of the talks he gave at Stamford for the Veritas Forum. Topics such as Nietzsche vs. Jesus, science vs. religion, or the disappearance of moral knowledge. All pretty interesting.

One standout point from the book that stuck with me is Dallas Willard’s perspective towards Jesus. He describes how many people see him as nice, or inspirational, a good man, or something along those lines. But in that niceness, He is perhaps a little naive. He doesn’t know how things work in the real world. And His teachings and recommended way of living is certainly not relevant for modern humans. But Willard spends much of the book trying to counter that, and argues that Jesus is the smartest person to ever live. He dedicates a good chunk of the book to breaking down his sermon on the mount. He covers a lot of misconceptions about it, and how Christians have misinterpreted or twisted it. He talks about his perspective on the true meaning of Jesus’ words, and how to live them out.

He says one of his favourite questions he gets on university campuses when he lectures, is why he chooses to follow Jesus. And the response he gives is “Who else would you recommend?”. That question pretty well sums up the point and purpose behind his writing in this book, which is making the case for following Him.