Becoming Dallas Willard

ECPA Christian Book Award Finalist; Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Finalist

Everyone who met Dallas Willard was impressed by his personal attention, calm confidence, wisdom, and profound sense of the spiritual. But he was not always the man who seemed to live on a different plane of reality than the rest of us.

Dallas absorbed some of the harshest and most unfair blows life can land. His mother died when he was two, and after his father remarried, he was exiled from his stepmother's home. Growing up in Depression-era, rural Missouri and educated in a one-room schoolhouse, he knew poverty, deprivation, anxiety, self-doubt, and depression. Though the pews he sat in during his early years didn't offer much by way of love and mercy, Dallas, instead of turning away, kept looking for the company of a living, present, and personal God.

In Gary W. Moon's candid and inspiring biography, we see how Dallas's love of learning took him to Baylor University, the University of Wisconsin, and the University of Southern California, where he became a beloved professor and one of the most versatile members of the philosophy department as well as a personal mentor to hundreds of pastors, philosophers, and average churchgoers.

"I knew Dallas Willard very well. He supervised my dissertation at USC, and upon graduation in 1985, he and Jane seemed to adopt my wife and me as their children. Those who did not know Dallas in person can get a good sense of him from his lectures and writings. But what has been a gnawing omission is the details of his life made available to the public—until now. Gary Moon's incredible book Becoming Dallas Willard fills this void and more. It is a first-rate, accurate, honest, timely, and riveting biography. If you enjoy Dallas's lectures and writings, you need to read this book. I am so thankful to Gary for doing such a careful and painstakingly accurate treatment of the life of the greatest man I ever met."

-- J. P. Moreland, distinguished professor of philosophy, Talbot School of Theology, Biola University; author of Love Your God With all Your Mind

"I will treasure this book for the rest of my life because Dallas is truly present in it."

-- Aaron Preston, associate professor of philosophy, Valparaiso University

"This is the best book I've read in a while—no exaggeration! I heartily recommend it, but with a warning wrapped in a prayer: get ready to weep, both in empathy for your friend's suffering and in gratitude for the beautiful life God fashioned through it. The eyes are the window of the soul. Jesus' ancient followers remind us that tears are a gift that cleans the window and allows light to flood the inner self. I'm a little brighter inside for having read this book. My prayer is that our Father may grant you the same gift through these pages."

-- Daniel Napier, associate professor of theology, Austin Graduate School of Theology

"Gary Moon has provided a detailed and intimate depiction of the life of Dallas Willard from his inauspicious beginnings in rural Missouri to his full stature as a philosophical and spiritual thinker of extraordinary intelligence, wisdom, and clarity. In addition to sharing numerous and often heart-rending stories of Dallas's accomplishments, setbacks, and defining experiences, Moon describes the development of Willard's philosophical and religious thought and how it informed, and was informed by, his experiences and actions. What emerges is a well-rounded description of a man whose humility, immense knowledge, commitment to truth, and dedication to the well-being of others left those whose lives he touched forever improved. This is the story of a good man, and we are indebted to Gary Moon for telling it."

-- Walter Hopp, associate professor of philosophy, Boston University

"An exceptional thinker and person whose work and example had a profound influence on so many, Dallas Willard was one of the truly wise men I have known. Gary Moon has written an engaging biography of this philosopher, university professor, and religious thinker who, though an ordinary man of the people, had an extraordinary impact. Moon weaves together the intriguing details of Willard's life, career, ideas, and writings to present an engaging portrait of a philosopher who made a real difference in our understanding of our times, in the lives of his students, for his many readers, and especially for those of us who were fortunate enough to know and work with him."

-- Brendan Sweetman, department of philosophy, Rockhurst University

"The Willard wit and charm appear on nearly every page of this edifying book. Those who knew Dallas well will learn more besides, much of it truly captivating. Gary Moon manages to weave what is anecdotally interesting with what is spiritually compelling, and the whole thing is layered with philosophical richness without which there would be no Dallas Willard. "

-- R. Douglas Geivett, professor of philosophy, Talbot School of Theology, Biola University

"I think many people will surprised, encouraged and, yes, pained by Dallas's journey. Still, this is a story that will prolong his important legacy."

-- Keith Matthews, Azusa Pacific University

"Only a man of Gary Moon's astute perspective, intellectual acumen, and spiritual insight could write a biography that accomplishes what most don't. Becoming Dallas Willard combines Dallas's ordinary but compelling life events with a thoughtful grasp of Willard's intellectual journey through spirituality, philosophy, and psychology. This is a rare accomplishment for a biographer, but reading this story has a third benefit beyond knowledge and understanding, which is the ability to change us as readers. Moon's words can move us so deeply that we are not just reading a book, but participating in our own personal transformation. This is an amazing biography for a time such as ours."

-- Roy M. Carlisle, acquisitions director at Independent Institute

"'Dallas was a wonderfully disruptive presence in the world,' may be the best description of the man whose theology has helped all of us understand and experience God and his kingdom in clear, hopeful, and magnificent ways. But Dallas's humanity was, to me, as strong a draw to him as his mind. Gary has managed to capture both the brilliance and the brokenness of Dallas, and I think the weaving of those two threads together is what God used to shape this most unique and winsome of men. This story is ministering to some of the most broken and wounded parts of my soul."

-- Nancy Ortberg, CEO of Transforming the Bay with Christ

"C. S. Lewis once wrote, 'no possible degree of holiness or heroism which has ever been recorded of the greatest saints is beyond what He [God] is determined to produce in every one of us in the end.' In Becoming Dallas Willard, Dr. Gary Moon presents in narrative a developing portrait of a modern saint, a man who both believed and lived the sober truth that real change is possible for all of us. Gratefully, Gary does not write a hagiographic account of one great man's life that awakens desire to become a truly good person but frustrates us with no idea of what to do. I intend to reread what Dallas wrote. His thoughts just might light the path to where I long to go."

-- Larry Crabb, psychologist, author, When God’s Ways Make No Sense

Richard J. Foster (DThP, Fuller Theological Seminary) is founder of Renovaré in Denver, Colorado. He is the author of many books, including Celebration of Discipline: The Path to Spiritual Growth, which has sold over two million copies worldwide, Prayer: Finding the Heart's True Home, Freedom of Simplicity: Finding Harmony in a Complex World, and coauthor (with Gayle Beebe) of Longing for God: Seven Paths of Christian Devotion.

John Ortberg is teaching pastor of Menlo Church and author of many books, including God Is Closer Than You Think.

Gary W. Moon (PhD, Fuller Theological Seminary) is the founding director of the Martin Institute and Dallas Willard Center for Spiritual Formation at Westmont College in Santa Barbara, California. He continues to serve as the director of Conversatio Divina for the Martin Institute. He also serves as distinguished professor of psychology and Christian spirituality at Richmont Graduate University. He is the author of numerous books and curriculum resources including Apprenticeship with Jesus and Falling for God.

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