Book Review: The Great Omission by Dallas Willard

Title: The Great Omission: Reclaiming Jesus's Essential Teachings on Discipleship
Author: Dallas Willard
Publisher: HarperCollins, New York
Copyright: 2006
Pages: 237
ISBN: 978-0-06-088243-3
Genre: Christian living

In The Great Omission, Dallas Willard addresses the problem of discipleship in the modern church. "We need to emphasize that the Great Omission from the Great Commission is not obedience to Christ, but discipleship, apprenticeship, to him," Willard says in the introduction (xiv). The Great Commission is a popular term in the church for a specific command Jesus gave His disciples before He ascended into heaven. The fullest version appears in Matthew: "Then Jesus came to them and said, 'All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age'" (Matthew 28:18-20).

The Great Omission is more of an anthology than anything else. It contains a selection of works, mostly previously published articles, interviews, or excerpts. Due to this arrangement, Willard doesn't really develop a main thesis. But each chapter does relate to discipleship.

In a subsection titled "A 'Golden Triangle,'" Willard begins to define his idea of discipleship. He says that discipleship is composed of three main areas (that is, sides of the triangle). The first aspect is submitting to trials as a tool in the hands of God. Willard says, "One aspect or side of our triangle is the faithful acceptance of everyday problems. By enduring trials with patience, we can reach an assurance of the fullness of heaven's rule in our lives" (26).

Willard identifies the second component as "interaction with God's Spirit in and around us" (27). Willard says interaction with the Holy Spirit produces an inward sampling of "the heavenly sweetness and power of life . . . that Jesus knew" (27). Of course, his explanation sounds a bit puzzling, even to those who know the usual Christian lingo. I think I would call it an inward life of friendship and communication with God. Despite the mystical sound of Willard's explanation, he also identifies more concrete results of interaction with the Spirit. Outward signs include spiritual gifts and transformed character (28).

Finally, Willard says, "The third side of the triangle is made up of spiritual disciplines. These are special activities, many engaged in by Jesus himself, such as solitude and study, service and secrecy, fasting and worship. They are ways in which we undertake to follow the New Testament mandate to put to death or 'make no provision for' the merely earthly aspects of our lives and to put on the new person (Colossians 3:9-10; Ephesians 4:22-24)." (29). While Willard doesn't attempt to present a complete list of the disciplines, he does explain how they fit into discipleship. If the ultimate goal of discipleship is to become more like Christ, the first step is to break the patterns of thought and behavior that obviously hinder the goal. Willard argues that the spiritual disciplines are practices that break such patterns of thought and behavior.

Willard offers some useful ideas in The Great Omission. Unfortunately, he could have done a better job presenting his ideas in a more developed fashion. Rather than simply offering a collection of previously published materials with loose organization, Willard could have written some new material to introduce each chapter and demonstrate its relation to the ideas of the previous chapter.

Another drawback to the structure of The Great Omission is its lack of an index. Without an index, navigating the book becomes a time-consuming exercise.

However, Willard has included a useful resource, at the ends of some chapters and in the final chapters of The Great Omission. He includes suggestions for further reading. Some chapters even offer short reviews that highlight useful books for those interested in digging deeper into the practice of discipleship.

If you see Willard's credentials, you might think he'll offer an impossible read. With degrees in psychology, philosophy, and religion, he has served as a Professor of Philosophy at the University of Southern California at Los Angeles. He has worked there since 1965. ¹ But his many years in scholarly pursuits and higher education haven't dulled his ability to speak in common language. The insights he collects in The Great Omission provide a great platform for a study of discipleship.

¹"Biography." Dallas Willard.

Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.