Dallas Willard is a philosophy professor at the University of Southern California, but among Christians he’s better known as the beloved author of books that probe the depths of Christian faith and practice. His latest book, Knowing Christ Today (read an excerpt), is a blend of Willard’s scholarship and popular writing. In it, Willard explains (contra armchair atheists like Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens) how faith and reason work together. We caught up with Dallas at his home in Chatsworth, California.

The terms “popular” and “philosopher” don’t usually go together, but that’s how people think of you. How do you see yourself?

I see myself simply as a follower of Jesus Christ who is present in the world at a certain level of visibility and who shares the human task and prospect of living in that world in a way that glorifies God.

Do people ever ask you how you balance your roles as Christian teacher and secular philosopher?

Yes. It’s very simple. Just be who you are and do your job. That’s it. People in university and academic settings are as confused and needy as other people. The thing that distinguishes them is a lack of perspective or an intellectual pride. But they are as bothered by issues of self-righteousness and failure and “What does my life mean?” as anyone else.

What is the primary purpose of your life and work? And how do you keep it front and center on a daily basis?

I am a teacher, and to me, being a teacher means I stand in a community and deal with the issues of faith and knowledge as they relate to spiritual life. And for me, my community is the University of Southern California.

Everyone knows spirituality is everywhere now, and everyone is hungry for it. People generally are desperate for knowledge of what goes beyond their physical existence. I see myself as a person who lives in this community and deals with these issues.

What group or community helps keep you connected and spiritually grounded?

I am deeply involved with Valley Vineyard Church in Reseda. It’s a modest-sized church so I have personal relationships with the people there. They know me, they pray for me, they hold me up, and they listen to me occasionally when I teach. My wife Jane is an elder at the church. She has been for years. And really, we just love one another. That’s what church is about. There’s real involvement in others’ lives, and that’s what nourishes us.

In your new book, you talk about spiritual knowledge. What is it, and how do we gain it?

God is spirit. But I am trying to get Christians to acknowledge that you have to have knowledge of something, and be able to represent it or think about it, as opposed to just guessing, or being wrong, or being deluded. You wouldn’t take your car to a shop that says, “We are lucky at fixing cars,” would you?

Unfortunately, there is a problem. There is a vacuum in the lives of multitudes of Christians today who think they are condemned to be without knowledge because they live by faith. This is a terrible mistake that the world—and to some degree history—has foisted on the Christian church. The idea that you Christians have faith, but we in the world have knowledge, falsifies faith and everything that is taught in Scripture and in the history of the Christian church.

Christians have dealt with this knowledge/faith tension in various ways, which is why you say we need “Christian pluralism.” What’s that, and why do we need it?

The things some Christians claim as knowledge, but are not necessarily so, have brought a terrible reproach to the church. This goes back to the early part of the twentieth century and the battle between fundamentalism and liberalism. Part of the problem was that those on the conservative side inserted more and more things into their list of what you had to believe in order to be saved. This was where eschatology, which had never been a part of the discussion before, came in. Fundamentalists said you had to have certain beliefs about the Tribulation and the Rapture to be right with God.

As a Christian, if you pay attention to what the New Testament says, there is a heart or a core of faith in Christ that solves the problem of division among various Christian groups. We need to understand pluralism among Christians in a way that allows people to center on Jesus Christ and on a life of love and obedience as opposed to relegating people who don’t agree with us to some inferior or darker region. That’s what I mean by Christian pluralism. Thank God the grievous effects of legalism about points like eschatology and the Sabbath are now somewhat lifted among Christian groups.

What kind of connection have you had to Saddleback Church or Rick Warren?

Rick and I are not close, but we have met twice. And we’re both Southern Baptists, even though some would wonder about that!

I feel like we are two horses, and I’m walking in the harness with him. I bless him, and I am thrilled at what God has done with Rick, and that he has been found capable of bearing the burden of Christian witness in the world in the way he has. I am so thankful for what he is doing.

Steve Rabey is an award-winning writer and an adjunct professor with Fuller Seminary.

Photo: Courtesy of Dallas Willard