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The Life You Always Wanted—A Book Review by Dan Dufek
 
 
 
John Ortberg with Tony Campolo at HIM Conference in Hawaii. Please note Bruce Wilkinson (Prayer of Jabez) also spoke at this conference.
 

 
John Ortberg Promotes Contemplative Spirituality 

God is Closer Than You Think by John OrtbergIn Ortberg's 2005 book, God is Closer Than You Think, Ortberg quotes favorably from contemplatives such as Anne Lamott, Annie Dillard, Gary Thomas (Sacred Pathways), Brother Lawrence (who danced violently like a mad man when he practiced), interspiritualists Tilden Edwards (Shalem Institute), Thomas Kelly (Divine Center in all), Jean Pierre de Caussade, Frederick Buechner, Meister Eckhart as well as Dallas Willard and Thomas Merton. And yet, Christian churches are using this book.

Life You've Always Wanted by John Ortberg"The Life You've Always Wanted: Spiritual Disciplines for Ordinary People" by John Ortberg

John Ortberg, once teaching pastor at Willow Creek, now at Menlo Park Presbyterian has some
interesting things to say.
Look who he quotes favorably in this book:

Richard Foster
Dallas Willard
Soren Kierkegaard
Henri Nouwen
Thomas Kelly
Frederick Buechner
Thomas Merton
George Fox
Eugene Peterson
Lewis B. Smedes

John Ortberg's Other
Contemplative Connections

Dallas Willard
(Ortberg spoke at the Ancient Wisdom conference with Willard and showed his affinity with Willard in his public talks)

National Pastor's Convention

Willow Creek

Ruth Haley Barton

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 
 

Featured Resources

  
     

Contemplative Spirituality: A belief system that uses ancient mystical practices to induce altered states of consciousness (the silence) and is rooted in mysticism and the occult but often wrapped in Christian terminology. The premise of contemplative spirituality is pantheistic (God is all) and panentheistic (God is in all). Common terms used for this movement are "spiritual formation," "the silence," "the stillness," "ancient-wisdom," "spiritual disciplines," and many others.

Spiritual Formation: A movement that has provided a platform and a channel through which contemplative prayer is entering the church. Find spiritual formation being used, and in nearly every case you will find contemplative spirituality. In fact, contemplative spirituality is the heartbeat of the spiritual formation movement.