Willard, D. (1998). The Divine Conspiracy: Rediscovering Our Hidden Life In God.

Sleepless nights, creeping out of bedrooms, sitting outside Eryn's door saying "shh shh shh" in a fog of deprived sleep seems a long time ago. As I sat at the top of the steps outside Eryn's room I ploughed through Dallas Willard's The Divine Conspiracy; for months I read and re-read the same page with the whole thing of "I'm reading this but thinking about something completely different..." going on. That was 7 years ago and I remember every page was a slog.

I finished the book after what seemed an age - thinking that was good but having no way of knowing because my brain was mush. I promised myself that I would re-visit the book when I reacquainted myself with undisturbed sleep!

For a couple of years now it has been catching my eye on my book shelf crying out "read me, try me again". I rarely re-read books but I picked it up as my over Christmas reading. I've discovered that my brain is still mush!

However, it is one of those books that even if you only connect with 10% of the densely written material it is worth it. The strap line of the book is what caught my eye this time around - Rediscovering Our Hidden Life In God. He challenges the presuppositions of evangelicalism by being truly evangelical! He gets you to think through what is heaven, gives great insight to misunderstanding and through the use of the beatitudes explores what it is to be truly blessed.

I'm halfway through and I wouldn't be surprised if this is the kind of book I will want to re-visit time and time again as I explore fullness of life beyond that of being a 'bar-code' Christian and discover the hope of eternal life as lived out here and now. (Willard 1998)


Willard, D. (1998). The Divine Conspiracy: Rediscovering Our Hidden Life In God. New York: Harperone.

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