InterVarsity Press is pleased to announce that The Cultivated Life by Susan Phillips was named a finalist in the book category for the Dallas Willard Center 2016 Book and Research Awards.

The Book and Research Awards initiative is one way that the Dallas Willard Center works to promote and recognize exemplary scholarship that addresses Dallas Willard's primary concerns for the Christian spiritual formation movement and the broader academic and church communities.

"I was thrilled to have the opportunity to publish Susan Phillips," said Cindy Bunch, IVP's associate publisher, editorial. "The Cultivated Life is a wonderful blend of her gentle voice of spiritual direction and her deep gaze as a UC Berkeley educated sociologist into the landscape of our culture. I am so pleased she has received this recognition."

In The Cultivated Life: From Ceaseless Striving to Receiving Joy Phillips, a sociology professor and spiritual director, walks us through the "circus" of our cultural landscape to invite us into a cultivated life of spirituality. "This is a book written specifically for those of us who are assigned the task of developing an imagination for living the Christian faith with insight and skill in and for a society that is disconnected from the biblical revelation and the Jesus incarnation," writes Eugene Peterson in the foreword. "But it is equally useful for all of us who are committed to following Jesus with our families and coworkers and neighbors." The Cultivated Life was also named Hearts & Minds Bookstore's Best Books of 2015 in the Spirituality and the Devotional Life category.

The Dallas Willard Center exists to help fan the flames of authentic transformation into Christlikeness that is at the heart of Dallas Willard's writing and teaching. Visit dallaswillardcenter.com for more information.