Hearing God: Developing a Conversational Relationship with God by Dallas WillardMy rating: 1 of 5 stars
The target audience would be novice readers as the depth of theology is kept at an accessible level and the material is easy-to-read. I picked this book because many other authors I've read quoted from Willard, and guessed that he must be a giant in this area of theology. However, I did not enjoy the read as much as I thought I would; I did not find the content engaging or soul-piercing. I wish that the content wasn't expanded, because many chapters provided for a rather tedious read; it may be better for a heavy dose of brevity/editor's hand to be utilised, also by cutting out excess material, shrinking the 300 pages to 200. Unfortunately, in this instance, bigger is not always better.
While Willard may have intended the book to read like a biblical-theological executive summary, I felt that the bible was used as a proof-text or eisegetical aid to elaborate/illustrate his points. I was uncomfortable with the brief and numerous quotations of Scripture texts/narratives were used to support his substantives. At times Willard quotes from other famous theologians, but another weakness of the book is the lack of personal anecdotes and illustrations. If I could use Randy Clark and Bill Johnson as examples (this is not meant as an endorsement of all of the latter's teaching), their books are engaging and exciting because of the numerous stories and testimonies that illustrate a principle they are trying to teach - regrettably, these are lacking in this title. I read other reviews with amusement (the gripe was that the later chapters were theoretical) but I am in agreement that Willard somehow seems to be communicating a topic that he does not personally have a personal experience in.
I cannot recommend this book because of all the abovementioned flaws. Instead, I'd recommend Kevin Deyoung's Just do Something or Bruce Waltke's Finding the Will of God.
View all my reviews
No comments:
Post a Comment