Dallas Willard

Dallas Albert Willard (September 4, 1935 – May 8, 2013) was a prolific Christian philosopher and spiritual formation pioneer who taught in USC Dornsife's School of Philosophy for 47 years (1965-2013). A scholar of phenomenology and medieval philosophy with deep expertise in Edmund Husserl, Willard became one of evangelicalism's most important voices on Christian discipleship and spiritual transformation through his writing and ministry with the Renovare movement.

Willard's signature works—The Divine Conspiracy (Christianity Today "Book of the Year" 1999) and Renovation of the Heart (Christianity Today Book Award 2003)—fundamentally reshaped evangelical thinking about spiritual formation and the ordinary life of discipleship. His death on May 8, 2013, after a brief battle with cancer, marked the end of a legacy that continues to influence how evangelicals understand the transformation of the soul and the kingdom of God in everyday life.