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When I was in college I was active in the Baptist Student Union.  One semester, the discipleship group that I participated in worked our way through Richard Foster’s new book Celebration of Discipline: The Path to Spiritual Growth.  Several years later, as I was browsing the bookstore shelves at seminary, I ran across another book The Spirit of the Disciplines: Understanding How God Changes Lives by Dallas Willard. It had just been released, and was heartily endorsed by Richard Foster. He acclaimed it as “the book of the decade,” if I recall correctly. Well, with an endorsement like that, I figured I couldn’t go wrong.

Quickly I discovered that what Foster had given us in terms of the “how-to’s” of classical spiritual disciplines, Willard had given us in the philosophical and theological underpinnings for them.  (It’s a stunning testimony: most religious books that release in hardback editions stay in print 6 months. If they go into paperback, they stay in print an average of 18 more months. The Spirit of the Disciplines is still in print. In hardback!)

My copy of The Spirit of the Disciplines: Understanding How God Changes Lives is now well-worn. The covers are hanging by a thread, and the dust-jacket is almost more tape than paper now. But what makes my copy all the more precious is the author’s signature which I was able to get when Dr. Willard spoke on campus a few years later.

Today I received an email announcing the release of Dr. Willard’s forthcoming book, Knowing Christ: A Guide for Today’s Disciples

Willard is one of those rare authors whose work I will recommend without reservation and without having read in advance. His reasoning is firmly rooted in a Christ-centered, biblically-informed world view. He will challenge you and stretch your understanding of what it means to know and follow Christ.