In this paper I briefly summarize Dallas Willard’s 2002 practical guide, Renovation of the Heart, Putting on the Character of Christ. I seek to unpack resources that respond to the questions, “How can we teach for transformation (of students and teachers)? What sort of transformation should we teach toward?”
Willard expressly addresses spiritual transformation, or taking on the character of Christ in each of the dimensions of our person – his taxonomy includes: thought, feeling, will, body, social context, and soul. He addresses dangers and opportunities related to each of these dimensions. Understanding and responding wisely to these dangers and opportunities, first in ourselves, and then, as appropriate, in our classrooms, can make us more competent and successful as teachers, even where the nature of the courses we teach do not give us warrant to explicitly seek our students’ “Christlikeness.”
I seek to apply the resources of this book to teachers and students, based on my experience teaching undergraduate legal studies, and my experience teaching this book in the context of my own church. These applications will include specific ideas about how we can lead ourselves into useful transformation, and about how we can lead our students into useful transformation. I will conclude that as between the two, self-transformation is the primary concern, from which overall success will flow as we seek God’s kingdom and righteousness.
The full paper is attached to this post.
