Book Club Questions for Soul Keeping

1.Ortberg opens the book by describing a life lived in the 'shallows' — skimming the surface of existence without ever going deep. What images or experiences from your own life does that phrase bring to mind?

2.Ortberg frames his mentor Dallas Willard as the person who first made him take the soul seriously. Who in your life has pointed you toward your own interior life? What did they say or do that mattered?

3.The introduction raises the question: When is the last time you thought about the state of your soul? Be honest — how often does the condition of your soul actually occupy your attention compared to the condition of your body, career, or finances?

1.Ortberg argues that the life most people want — comfort, achievement, approval — is not actually the life Jesus offers. What did you grow up believing 'the good life' looked like? How has that picture changed, or not changed, over time?

2.Dallas Willard famously described the soul as 'the deepest part of the human self.' In your own words, before Ortberg defines it further, what do you think he means by that? What is 'deepest' about you?

3.Ortberg distinguishes between the life we manage and perform on the outside and the life that flows from the inside. Which of those two do you spend more time and energy on? What does that imbalance cost you?

1.Ortberg draws on Dallas Willard's definition of the soul as the organizing center of a person — the part that integrates everything else (mind, will, body, social relationships, soul). In your own words, what does it mean for the soul to be an 'integrating center'? What happens when that center fails to hold?

2.Ortberg uses the image of a river and its banks — the soul is like the banks that give shape and direction to the water of life flowing through you. What happens to a river without banks? How does that image apply to a person whose soul is disordered?

3.Ortberg makes the point that the soul is not the same as the spirit, the mind, or the emotions — though it encompasses all of these. Were you surprised by this distinction? How does clarifying what the soul is change how you think about caring for it?

1.Ortberg describes the soul as something that can be lost, damaged, shrunk, or starved — not destroyed, but diminished. What images in this chapter most clearly captured for you what a struggling soul looks like?

2.Ortberg references Psalm 42's famous cry — 'As the deer pants for water, so my soul pants for you, O God' — as one of Scripture's most honest expressions of a soul in distress. Have you ever felt that kind of spiritual thirst? What was going on in your life during that season?

3.Ortberg identifies several common ways the soul gets damaged: through sin, through suffering, through neglect, and through false substitutes for God. Which of these do you think is most underestimated in Christian circles? Why?

1.Ortberg argues that the soul has specific needs that, when neglected, lead to predictable forms of decay. What are the primary needs he identifies in this chapter, and which of them surprised you most?

2.Ortberg uses the metaphor of a branch and a vine (drawing on John 15) to describe the soul's fundamental need for connection to God. What does it actually look like, in practical terms, for a soul to remain 'connected' to God in daily life — not just in formal religious moments?

3.Dallas Willard, as quoted or paraphrased by Ortberg, suggests that 'the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak' (Matthew 26:41) is not just a statement about moral failure — it is a description of a soul that has not been trained and nourished. How does that reframing change your understanding of your own repeated failures?

1.Ortberg presents Sabbath not as a religious rule but as a gift designed for the soul's flourishing. Before reading this chapter, what was your instinctive reaction to the word 'Sabbath' — obligation, irrelevance, longing, or something else? Did the chapter change that?

2.Ortberg draws a connection between hurry and soul damage, arguing that hurry is not just a time-management problem but a spiritual problem. Do you experience hurry as spiritually harmful? What does it actually do to you — body, mind, and soul — when you are chronically rushed?

3.Ortberg (drawing on Willard) makes the memorable statement that hurry is the great enemy of the spiritual life — and that Jesus was never in a hurry. What would it mean for you to take that seriously as a daily practice, not just a nice thought?

1.Ortberg argues that soul transformation is not about trying harder but about training — placing yourself in situations and practices where God can change you. What is the difference between 'trying' and 'training' in the spiritual life? Why does that distinction matter?

2.Dallas Willard's image of the 'curriculum of Christ' — the idea that your actual life circumstances are the classroom in which God is forming your soul — is central to this chapter. What circumstances in your current life might God be using as his curriculum for you right now?

3.Ortberg emphasizes that transformation is always about becoming more like Jesus — not more religious, not more disciplined in the abstract, but more genuinely Christlike. Is there a specific area of your character where you most need to become more like Jesus? What would that look like concretely?

1.Ortberg argues that one of the greatest obstacles to soul health is the inability to truly receive grace — that many Christians intellectually affirm grace but practically live as if they have to earn God's favor. Does that resonate with your experience? How does this show up in your daily inner life?

2.Ortberg revisits Jesus's parable of the prodigal son, noting that both sons in the story have distorted relationships with the father — one through rebellion, one through performance. Which son do you more naturally resemble, and why?

3.Ortberg suggests that receiving grace is itself a spiritual discipline — that we have to practice opening our hands and letting God give. What makes receiving grace difficult? What are the psychological or spiritual barriers in your own life?

1.Ortberg argues that the soul needs community not as a supplement to spiritual growth but as a primary environment for it. How does that differ from how most people in your experience actually use church or small groups?

2.Ortberg's decades-long friendship with Dallas Willard is a case study throughout the book of what genuine soul-level friendship looks like — honest, unhurried, and focused on what matters most. What qualities do you think make a friendship genuinely good for the soul?

3.Ortberg distinguishes between relationships that are merely social or even emotionally intimate versus relationships that are spiritually formative. What is the difference? What would it take to move some of your existing relationships into the second category?

1.Ortberg returns in this chapter to the theme of hurry, deepening the argument that an unhurried soul is not a luxury for monks and retirees but an essential condition for anyone who wants to live with God. What is your gut reaction to the idea of living at a slower pace? What does that reaction reveal?

2.Ortberg and Willard's concept of 'hurry sickness' — the compulsive, anxious rushing that characterizes modern life — is described as more than a personality type: it is a spiritual condition. Do you recognize hurry sickness in yourself? What are its symptoms in your specific life?

3.Psalm 23's image of the shepherd who makes the sheep 'lie down in green pastures' and 'leads them beside still waters' is a picture of soul restoration happening at an unhurried pace. What would it mean for God to 'make you lie down' today — what would he be asking you to stop?

1.Ortberg describes a restored soul not as a soul that has arrived at some static destination but as a soul that is increasingly integrated, alive, and at home with God. Does that description feel like good news, or does it feel unreachable? What does your reaction tell you?

2.Ortberg shares reflections on Dallas Willard in his final years — how a man who had devoted his life to soul care faced death with a quality of peace and presence that was itself a testimony. What does it look like for a person's soul to be genuinely well? Can you think of someone in your own life who embodies that?

3.A restored soul, Ortberg argues, is marked by increasing freedom from the compulsions, fears, and reactive patterns that previously drove it. What compulsion or fear would you most like to be free of? What would your life look like if you were?

1.Go back to the one-sentence diagnosis of your soul's condition that you wrote in Week 1. How would you write it differently now? What has shifted in your understanding of yourself and your soul?

2.Which chapter or theme from Soul Keeping had the most impact on you, and why? Was it something that surprised you, something that confirmed what you already sensed, or something that challenged you in a way that was uncomfortable?

3.Dallas Willard's presence and wisdom are woven through every chapter of this book. What is the single most memorable or challenging thing Ortberg attributes to Willard? How has it stayed with you?