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GROWING
EDGES
Dear
Friends,
 Well,
I’m back from eight months of sabbatical
. . . eight months of learning to be anonymous.
It has been a wonderful experience,
and I hope in the days ahead to be sharing
with you some of what I have learned from
this time of quiet. Thank you for being
so supportive of Renovaré during my time
away.
In
this letter I want to stress the importance
for you of Dallas Willard’s new book, Renovation
of the Heart. I know it was mentioned
in the last issue of the Perspective
but I want to be sure you know what a treasure
this book is. To a small group of us Dallas
once said (and here I am quoting him from
memory), “Without a proper theology of
God and a proper ontology and anthropology
of the human self, religion will always
degenerate into superstition or legalism,
and often both.” Well, Renovation
of the Heart gives us the very best
“ontology and anthropology of the human
self” found anywhere.
This
teaching is so very important. Today people
throw around words like “soul,” “spirit,”
“heart,” “will,” etc. without the slightest
idea what they mean. Well, this book explains
exactly what such terms mean. It gives us
a clear, biblical understanding of the depths
of the human self. Even more, it gives us
a clear, biblical understanding of how our
inward selves can be deeply transformed
so as to take on the character of Jesus
Christ.
You
see, we all have been spiritually formed,
but usually our formation has been in very
bad ways. Indeed, we are “de-formed,” if
you will. And we need to be “re-formed,”
that is to say, we need reformation. Even
more, we need “trans-formation.”
But
to effectively and consciously enter into
this spiritual forming, re-forming, trans-forming
process we need a clear understanding of
the human self. An ontology and anthropology
of the self. Exactly what is the heart,
the spirit, the will, the mind, the body,
the soul? How are they to be spiritually
re-formed and what is their role in our
overall spiritual formation? Now, this understanding
is given to us in Scripture, but it is not
given systematically. The Bible could not
accomplish what it needed to accomplish
and do it systematically. But we do need
to understand what the depths of the person
are, and then we need to relate this to
the Gospel of Jesus Christ and its transforming
power. Then we need to relate all of these
matters to the larger social realm. All
of this is given with precision and care
in Renovation of the Heart.
Have
you gathered by now that I hope you will
get this book? Even more, I hope you will
read it carefully and prayerfully . . .
even more still, I hope you will apply it
to the warp and woof of your daily life.
Peace
and joy,
Richard J. Foster
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