| Dallas Albert Willard | |
| Birth Date: | 4 September 1935 |
| Birth Place: | Buffalo, Missouri, U.S. |
| Death Place: | Pasadena, California, U.S. |
| Main Interests: | phenomenology, Edmund Husserl |
| Institutions: | William Jewell College, Tennessee Temple College, Baylor University, University of Wisconsin - Madison. |
Dallas Albert Willard (September 4, 1935 - May 8, 2013) was an American philosopher also known for his writings on Christian spiritual formation. Much of his work in philosophy was related to phenomenology, particularly the work of Edmund Husserl, many of whose writings he translated into English for the first time.[1]
He was longtime Professor of Philosophy at The University of Southern California in Los Angeles, teaching at the school from 1965 until his death in 2013 and serving as the department chair from 1982 to 1985.[2]
Willard attended William Jewell College, and later graduated from Tennessee Temple College in 1956 with a B.A. in Psychology, and from Baylor University in 1957 with a B.A. in Philosophy and Religion. He went to graduate school at Baylor University and the University of Wisconsin - Madison, earning a Ph.D. in Philosophy from the University of Wisconsin with a minor in the History of Science in 1964.[3]
Willard spent five years teaching at the University of Wisconsin - Madison, first as a research and teaching assistant (1960–63), then as an Advanced Knapp Fellow (63-64), and finally as an instructor in philosophy (64-65). He then moved to the University of Southern California (USC) in Los Angeles, where he taught as an assistant professor (1965–69), as an associate professor (69-84), and finally as a full professor (1984–2013). He spent a total of 48 years at USC.
He served as director of the School of Philosophy at USC from 1982 to 1985, as well as visiting appointments at UCLA (1969) and the University of Colorado (1984).[3]
His publications in philosophy are concerned primarily with epistemology, the philosophy of mind and of logic, and with the philosophy of Edmund Husserl, the founder of phenomenology. He translated many of Husserl's early writings from German into English, and is widely regarded as an international authority on the philosopher's works, which span from the topics of time-consciousness to intentionality and intuition in Cartesian thought.
In addition to teaching and writing about philosophy, Willard gave lectures and wrote books about Christianity and Christian living. His book The Divine Conspiracy was Christianity Today’s Book of the Year for 1999.[5] Another of his books, Renovation of the Heart, won Christianity Today’s 2003 Book Award for books on Spirituality and The Association of Logos Bookstores' 2003 Book Award for books on Christian Living.[6]
Willard believed passivity to be a widespread problem in the Church (loosely summed up in his phrase "Grace is not opposed to effort, but to earning ").[7] [8] He emphasized the importance of deliberately choosing to be a disciple of Jesus Christ (someone being with Jesus, learning to be like him).[7] [8] [9] An important outgrowth of the choice to be identified as a disciple of Jesus is the desire to learn about activities that aid spiritual transformation into the likeness of Christ.[10]
In this regard, being an apprentice of Jesus (someone being with Jesus, learning to be like him), involves learning about activities that might help one grow in the fruit of the spirit, namely love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23).[7] [10] [11] Such activities might include spiritual exercises practiced throughout the ages such as prayer, fellowship, service, study, simplicity, chastity, solitude, and fasting.[10] [12] Willard explains the crucial role of engaging in spiritual exercises in his book The Spirit of the Disciplines: Understanding How God Changes Lives—a book that was written after In Search of Guidance: Developing a Conversational Relationship with God.
Willard has a recommended reading page on his website listing specific titles by Thomas a Kempis, William Law, Frank Laubach, William Wilberforce, Richard Baxter, Charles Finney, Jan Johnson, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Jeremy Taylor, Richard Foster, E. Stanley Jones, William Penn, Brother Lawrence, Francis de Sales, James Gilchrist Lawson, and others.[13]
He was influenced by many, including Jacques Maritain, Aquinas, Augustine, P.T. Forsyth, John Calvin, John Wesley, William Law, Andrew Murray, Richard Baxter, Teresa of Avila, Francis de Sales, Brother Lawrence, and the Rule of St. Benedict.
He served on the boards of the C.S. Lewis Foundation and of Biola University.[14] He also served on the board of the Templeton foundation, and on multiple evaluation committees for the Western Association of Schools and colleges.[15]
Willard was born in Buffalo, Missouri on September 4, 1935, the son of Albert Willard and Maymie Lindesmith. His mother died when he was two years old. He married Jane Lakes of Macon, Georgia, in 1955. He had two children, John and Rebecca, and a granddaughter, Larissa. His brother, L. Duane Willard, was also for many years a tenured professor of philosophy at the University of Nebraska Omaha.
Willard struggled with balancing academic and family life. He once remarked, "I have not been a wise husband or father, and this has cost us dearly."[16] Nonetheless, his daughter commented that he was a “great example of unconditional fatherly love." His wife Jane, a marriage and family therapist, said "I certainly don't feel unloved, at least at this juncture. … Always down deep in my formation was this thing before God of 'I cannot stand in his way.'” [16]
Willard died on May 8, 2013, after a short battle with cancer.[17]
In 2010, Westmont College established the “Martin Institute for Christianity and Culture and the Dallas Willard Center for Spiritual Formation.” The institute is “dedicated to the intellectual Legacy of Willard”.[18]