2
And just a year earlier, Zondervan published a similar volume simply titled Five Views on
Sanctification.
3
In the late 1980s, evangelical discussions of Christian spirituality were explicitly
framed in terms of the doctrine of sanctification. That was then, however, and this is now.
Contemporary evangelical thinking about Christian spirituality and the growth of Christians into
the likeness of Christ is most often expressed utilizing the terminology of spiritual formation.
But does this change of terminology reflect a fundamental change in thinking on
spiritual growth and character transformation in the Christian life? Or are the continuities
between contemporary thinking on spiritual formation and traditional models of sanctification
more real and significant than any differences that might exist? Or to use the imagery of Jesus
in a different context are the realities referred to in contemporary spiritual formation
discussions new wine that needs to be housed in new and different wineskins than the traditional
models of sanctification? Or are these two kinds of discussions spiritual formation and
sanctification consistent with each other overall and mutually beneficial to each other? That is
the topic for this paper the relationship between contemporary evangelical thinking on spiritual
formation and theological models of sanctification.
To do this, Id like to focus our attention on two significant contemporary
evangelical discussions of spiritual formation, Dallas Willards Renovation of the Heart
4
and
Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1988).
3
Dieter, Melvin, et. al. Five Views on Sanctification (Grand Rapids: Zondervan
Academic, 1987).
4
Dallas Willard, Renovation of the Heart: Putting on the Character of Christ (Colorado