Dallas Willard writes “Understanding is the basis of care. What you would take care of you must first understand.” The central aim of Westmont College’s Martin Institute for Christianity and Culture is to help establish Christian spiritual formation as a domain of publicly available knowledge. We want the reality of Christian formation to be more readily understood and turned to as the most reliable information on living life well. We desire to help persons accurately understand spiritual and moral formation so that they will step out on that understanding and adequately care for their lives.
To talk through these important issues, Steve Porter, the executive director of the Martin Institute, asked Rebecca DeYoung and John Ortberg who are both Martin Institute Senior Fellows to have a conversation about the role of understanding and knowledge in Christian spiritual and moral formation.