The great omission (by Dallas Willard)

(Amazon UK link)

Several writers whom I respect have recommended books by the late Dallas Willard. He was an American Christian writer and thinker. I read one of his books some years ago, and decided to put a couple more on my wishlist. I was given ‘The great omission’ for my recent birthday, and decided to start reading it a few weeks ago.

It’s not the kind of book to read in one sitting - at least, not for me. And this book, as explained at the beginning, wasn’t written as a single book anyway; instead it’s a collection of articles or transcripts of talks. So while they’re grouped somewhat by subject, and set as chapters, there’s inevitably some overlap. Some chapters are slightly more formal in style than others, too. Most days I read one chapter - around ten pages - and found that was enough. Sometimes I read two chapters if they were shorter, but it wasn’t always easy to keep my focus.

The main premise of the book is that many Christians - at least, in the US, and when this was written - talk about Jesus as Saviour, and read the Bible, and attend Christian events or church services. But they haven’t understood that the ‘Great Commission’ tells us that we should make disciples, not just people who say the right things and get involved with nice groups. Disciples are those who learn from their teacher, and if we say we are followers of Jesus, then our aim should be to become more Christ-like.

It didn’t really feel like an omission to me, because I’ve heard this from many sources, and always understood that this was important: not to earn salvation (which is by grace) but as an outworking of it. And that we’re not supposed to just invite people to say a prayer or understand a doctrine, or even to stop whatever obvious ‘sins’ they are doing. Instead, we need first to become true disciples ourselves; not perfect, of course, but moving in the right direction. Only then can have any effect in inviting others to follow Christ.

It makes interesting reading, and it’s a topic I’m hearing a lot about in other circles, so I was glad to have this book to peruse. Our commission is to become more like Jesus, to follow what he said, to obey his commands, to reach out to others where they are, offering love, compassion and, where relevant, help. Then, as Jesus told his friends, by this other people will know we’re his disciples; perhaps, then, they will genuinely want what we have.

The book is loosely divided into four sections.  The first one, ‘Apprenticed to Jesus’, covers what it means to be a follower of Christ, and why it’s important that we are, primarily, disciples. The second section is rather heavier, and I found I couldn’t read more than about ten pages at a time; the section title is ‘Spiritual formation and the development of character’.  The author writes about spiritual disciplines, and how different ones can be of benefit to different individuals. They’re not ends in themselves, but ways to help us focus better.

The third section continues this theme, ‘Discipleship of the soul and the mind’. The author tries to define the soul more than once; I’m not sure I entirely agree with his conclusions, but that doesn’t really matter. He talks about the importance of being centred on Christ, and the dangers into which some evangelicals fall. He also adds that each denomination or style of church can equally fall into other errors or heresies. 

Then the last section of the book, and the one I found least interesting, described some books which the author found helpful in his own studies. I hadn’t heard of any of them, and wasn’t inspired to look for any of them, either. 

Overall, I think this is a useful collection of Dallas Willard’s writing; it was interesting to see how well he adapted his style and language to suit different audiences, and how he expressed the same ideas in a variety of ways. But it’s not for everyone, and it might be better as a book to dip into randomly rather than to read through sequentially.

Review copyright 2026 Sue's Book Reviews