Theologian Gary Black Jr., Dallas Willard’s friend and apprentice, integrates the revered teacher’s final conversations about death and the afterlife with his profound teachings on spiritual life, offering a unique and astonishing look at heaven and what it holds for us.

In the year before his death, Dallas Willard shared moving and insightful conversations about the afterlife with Gary Black Jr, informal dialogues steeped in theology yet grounded in the here and now. Dallas believed that our mortal lives are preparation for what comes next. He maintained that death is not the end of one life and the beginning of another, but rather a transition during which we continue the spiritual work begun in this incarnation.

In his acclaimed books, Dallas explored the Christian life in the earthly kingdom. Yet one topic remained untouched: his vision of heaven. For the first time, Preparing for Heaven illuminates Dallas’s most intimately held views, including the few mystical occurrences he experienced while dying. Informative and moving, Dallas’s final insights challenge us to reconsider our beliefs-that perhaps the line separating the afterlife from this life is not as absolute as we think, and that there is work we must do both now and after our own deaths. And that perhaps our faith is more vibrant-and eternal-than we dare to imagine.