Kingdom Apprenticeship - by Keas Keasler (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

A Groundbreaking Analysis of Dallas Willard's Theology of Spiritual Formation

Dallas Willard's 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 God's governance of the cosmos.

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

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

Mining Willard's philosophical works, theological writings, recorded lectures, and unpublished papers, Keasler shows:

• Willard's theology serves as a practical curriculum for spiritual growth, offering a remedy for the character crisis we see in the church 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 God's mission; it is its 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 Willard's vision.

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

Review Quotes

"Keas Keasler has accomplished a rare feat. For Dallas Willard fans, he has provided years of scholarship, artfully expressing Willard's constructive theology of the kingdom and its missional extension with clarity and precision. If you are hungry to take a deeper dive into Dallas's heart and mind and come away with hope and insight, then here's your opportunity. I am delighted to recommend this important work to all who believe in Christlike change."

--Keith J. Matthews, professor emeritus of Christian formation and leadership at Azusa Pacific Seminary

"Keas Keasler's carefully researched work is probably the first comprehensive study of Dallas Willard's theology of the Christian life. Keasler's analyses are thorough and nuanced, his conclusions guarded and judicious. For anyone looking for a reliable guide to Willard's thought, this is a book I highly recommend."

--Simon Chan, former professor of systematic theology at Trinity Theological College in Singapore and author of Spiritual Theology

"I hope, pray, and believe that hundreds of years from now, theologians and church historians will point back to Dallas Willard's radiant light as a key inflection point in the Western church's renewal, the same way we do to Wesley and others today. Here's my opinion: Dr. Keas Keasler is an early adopter and pioneer, one of the first academics to realize not just the importance of Dallas's work more broadly but to take Dallas seriously as a theologian. No other contemporary thinker has imprinted more deeply on how I see Jesus, formation, and life in the Father's world than Willard. Keas's book does more than synthesize Dallas; it gives us a map for the next chapter in our story. It is a book worthy of your consideration. It's expertly written, adroitly argued, and profound in its clarity and conviction. I could not put it down."

--John Mark Comer, author of Practicing the Way

"Organized thematically, Keas Keasler's synoptic study of Dallas Willard's teaching helpfully elucidates in detail Willard's prophetic insistence that real spiritual knowledge and real spiritual transformation is not only possible but necessary for the Christian who follows Jesus Christ and apprentices to him. More than this, however, Keasler highlights the sometimes overlooked insight in Willard that mission (vocation) and formation (character) are inseparable. This carefully researched book helpfully lays to rest the false idea that spirituality can ever be a matter of merely private piety."

--Bruce Hindmarsh, James M. Houston Professor of Spiritual Theology and professor of the history of Christianity at Regent College

"Through Dallas Willard, Keas Keasler has brought us a theologically sophisticated program to address the challenges facing Christian leaders tempted by the craving for personal power or the lure of Christian nationalism. Keasler offers Willard's framing of the Christian life as co-reigning with Christ to enable personal Christoformation through friendship with the naked Christ, leading to deep character transformation. It will strengthen the witness of the church."

--Ellen T. Charry, professor emerita of theology at Princeton Theological Seminary

"We live in a time when Christians are trying to understand afresh what Christian mission involves. Keas Keasler's book is incredibly timely in providing a theological vision of formational-missional discipleship to Jesus that constructively draws on the work of Dallas Willard. In contrast with many, Willard taught that the church is not for mission in the world. Rather, the church is for training disciples of Jesus, and disciples of Jesus incarnate God's mission in the world. There is no other book that draws this point out and drives it home better than Kingdom Apprenticeship. This book is a breath of fresh air for anyone looking to be an effective witness in the world today."

--Steve L. Porter, senior research fellow and executive director of the Martin Institute for Christianity and Culture and the Dallas Willard Research Center at Westmont College

"This book is a tour de force. Not only will it put its author on the map as being one of the leading interpreters of the tradition of Dallas Willard, but it will also have the splendid consequences of applying Willard's thought to the realm of missiology. Though academic, this volume has so many practical implications for the church that it is difficult to fully appreciate it. Keas Keasler has shown us what Willard's thought looks like on the ground of the mission of God in the world today. Simply delightful."

--A. J. Swoboda, associate professor of Bible and theology at Bushnell University and the author of A Teachable Spirit

About the Author

Keas Keasler (PhD, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam) is associate professor of spiritual theology at Friends University, where he also serves as program director of the MA in Christian Spiritual Formation and Leadership.