A Review of Becoming Dallas Willard

If you read this blog regularly you'll know that I'm a HUGE fan of Dallas Willard. As a fan I was eagerly awaiting the release of his biography called, Becoming Dallas Willard by Gary Moon. After waiting for a whole 2 weeks after discovering the release date I contacted the publisher and kindly asked to receive an pre-released copy.

They said “No...” but they directed me to a place where I could submit another request... So I did.

They said yes!

Having plowed through the book I figured it would be right to offer a brief review. First off, I am incredibly grateful to all the people who labored to make the life of Dallas known to the world. It's not an easy job to tell someones story in a limited number of pages, but Moon did a fabulous job with his research. Like any biography Becoming Dallas Willard provides background information from childhood to death, there are even pictures sprinkled throughout to help your imagination. I really enjoyed reading some of the difficulties Willard faced as a boy, they helped me understand why he emphasized certain things later on in his life. For that I am thankful. Throughout his childhood, teenage, and young adult years, Moon did a wonderful job highlighting key occurrences that contributed in young Dallas becoming the Dallas we all know. It was interesting to see the progression, and understand the impact.

I was a bit disappointed in the shift from telling the story of what happened in his life, to telling the story of Dallas' impact as a philosophy professor. Although that part of his life is tremendously important, I feel like the author could've continued telling the personal story while also telling the vocational story (He did in some respects, but it seemed to be lacking). For example, many of us began practicing spiritual disciplines because of Willard's writing. Many of us are also working moms and dads without much free time, and we struggle using the means of grace in our day to day lives. I would've enjoyed hearing about how Dallas' engagement with the disciplines for the spiritual life fit in his life as a young parent, a new professor, a husband, a parent with a less than perfect child, etc...

In other words, I wanted to see more of the normal Dallas who experienced frustrations as a man, parent, teacher, etc, all while training to grow in Christlikeness. As a person who not only admires Dallas, but strives to emulate him in becoming like Jesus, it would've been helpful to hear about the specific hinderances and how he and his family worked through it. That is a tremendous testimony for those who, perhaps, desire to be like Christ, but struggle with normal things like parenting. Again, it is there in general, but I would've loved knowing some particulars. In short, I wanted to hear more about the warts and scars on his life. Had those been more present the brilliance of his life would've shone even brighter. (To be fair, Dallas did not keep a journal, so it would've made it difficult to key into many of his internal struggles.)

I enjoyed reading more about Husserl's impact on Dallas Willard the philosopher, and seeing how phenomenology mingled with theology to help Willard become the man he was. I also liked reading about his struggle thinking he could hang with the intellectual elite of his day. Those are things that any professional can relate to, and it was good to know that one of the smartest men in the field shared those insecurities.

One of my favorite parts was reading about how Dallas met people like Richard Foster, John Ortberg, Agnus Sanford, etc. To us these are/were big time authors, but when they met Dallas they were all just normal people who were seeking after God.All in all I think Becoming Dallas Willard is must read material for those who have been helped by Willard's teaching. It paints an adequate picture of the heart of the man behind the books that had many of us experiencing constant eureka moments.