Gary Blackâ??s The Theology of Dallas Willard is a rather ambitious work with a rather specific audience. The book is written to and for post-evangelicalsâ??that is, for those who find themselves estranged just within or just without the circles of mainline evangelicalism[1]â??and in it, Black attempts not only to summarize and to explain Willardâ??s thought but also to show how what he calls â??the Willardian correctionâ? might in fact save evangelicalism from the disaster it has recently made of itself. In Blackâ??s words, Willardian theology is essentially â??a distinct and concerted effort to transcend the limits and myopia of American evangelical religionâ? (186) as we have come to know it.
Black begins by setting Willardâ??s theology in context. What I take to be the best chapter in the book (Scot McKnight says as much in the foreward, too) provides an illuminating sketch of American evangelicalism, largely by means of very readable explanations of David Bebbingtonâ??s quadrilateral and Randall Balmerâ??s account of the key transitional and transformative events in the history of evangelicalism in North America. Having done that, Black goes on to show how Willardâ??s thought departs sharply from standard evangelical ways of talking about the gospel, a departure that nonetheless remains true to the heart of the evangelical tradition because it is true to the original gospel given in Christ. In other words, Willardian theology is not mere departureâ??it is retrieval.
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