Kingdom Apprenticeship

A Groundbreaking Analysis of Dallas Willards Theology of Spiritual Formation

Dallas Willards formational theology begins with the claim that the aim of God in human history is the formation of a community of loving persons apprenticed to Jesus—and ends with the promise that such apprenticeship prepares us to share in Gods governance of the cosmos.

This apprenticeship to Jesus is the path to human flourishing, the renewal of the church, and the healingof the world.

In Kingdom Apprenticeship, Keas Keasler offers the first comprehensive study of Willards theology of spiritual formation. He argues that while the three Ds of disciples, discipleship, and disciplines made Willard famous, his formational theology is much deeper than that. Willards unique grammar of transformation is grounded in ordinary life, for it is in our present reality that we are trained to participate in Gods eternal purposes.

Mining Willards philosophical works, theological writings, recorded lectures, and unpublished papers, Keasler shows:

• Willards theology serves as a practical curriculum for spiritual growth, offering a remedy for the character crisis we see in thechurch and in society.
• Apprenticeship to Jesus is both for growth in Christlikeness and preparation for reigning with God in the fullness of his kingdom.
• Spiritual formation is not secondary or supplementary to Gods mission; it isits very strategy.

Against the drift of modern theology into abstraction, Willard calls the church back to a clinical theology—one aimed at the transformation of character through an interactive life with God. Formation and mission, contemplation and action, inner renewal and outward vocation—all are inseparably linked in Willards vision.

Kingdom Apprenticeship offers a fresh and urgent call: to recover apprenticeship to Jesus as the heart of the Christian life—andthe hope of the world.