Dallas Willard on Spiritual Formation... 8/9

whether 'lip service piety' amounts to holiness, will probably remain an area that will continue to dog the church for as long as it already has done'

Transformation of the Soul

Willard's chapter on the soul is basically his conclusion. It is the coming together of all the elements he has explored, it is the culmination of the transformation of the thought life, of feelings, of the will and character, of the body and of the social dimension. In short the transformation of the soul amounts to what is running your life.

Willard calls the soul the 'deepest level of life and power in the human being' (pp 175) and introduces the term antinomian - which means against the law - in terms of what the transformation of the soul might look like. Pointing to religiosity he highlights the danger should we think that 'holding the law, and obedience to the law' is the answer to transformation of the soul.

Holiness I guess is the key word here, expressed through sanctification and consecration. A well worn track in SA tradition, however whether 'lip service piety' amounts to holiness, will probably remain an area that will continue to dog the church for as long as it already has done. Perhaps there is danger of reducing holiness to mere religion which is symptomatic to the disaster for spiritual formation that occurs when holiness ironically becomes an irrelevance to the life of Christ.

The transformation of the soul amounts to a life formed in Christlikeness that is not about cosmetic gritted attainment, but is about a deep sense of holiness that flows naturally from an inner life that is 'at home in God'. To arrive at that point whether through crisis or process - frankly who cares! - is to truly experience transformation of the soul.



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Dallas Willard on Spiritual Formation... 1/9
Dallas Willard on Spiritual Formation... 2/9
Dallas Willard on Spiritual Formation... 3/9
Dallas Willard on Spiritual Formation... 4/9
Dallas Willard on Spiritual Formation... 5/9
Dallas Willard on Spiritual Formation... 6/9
Dallas Willard on Spiritual Formation... 7/9

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