James K. A. Smith (PhD, Villanova University) is professor of philosophy at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where he also serves in the department of congregational and ministry studies. He has been a visiting professor at Calvin Theological Seminary, Reformed Theological Seminary (Orlando), Fuller Theological Seminary, and Regent College. He is the author or editor of many books, including the Christianity Today award-winners Who's Afraid of Postmodernism? and Desiring the Kingdom, and editor of the well-received Church and Postmodern Culture series ( www.churchandpomo.org).
| Desiring the Kingdom: Worship, Worldview, and Cultural Formation | Price: | $21.99 | | ISBN: | 978-0-8010-3577-7 | | ISBN-10: | 0-8010-3577-5 | | Dimensions: | 6 x 9 | | Number of pages: | 240 | | Carton Quantity: | 52 | | Publication Date: | Aug. 09 | | Formats: | Paperback | | | 
Christianity Today 2010 Book Award Winner
Word Guild 2010 Canadian Christian Writing Award
"Smith shows in clear, simple, and passionate prose what worship has to do with formation and what both have to do with education. An important book."--Paul J. Griffiths, Duke Divinity School
Philosopher James K. A. Smith reshapes the very project of Christian education in Desiring the Kingdom. This text is the first of three volumes that will ultimately provide a comprehensive theology of culture. The entire set will address crucial concerns in ontology, anthropology, epistemology, and political philosophy. Desiring the Kingdom focuses education around the themes of liturgy, formation, and desire. The author contends--as did Augustine--that human beings are "desiring agents"; in other words, we are what we love. Postmodern culture, far from being "secular," is saturated with liturgy, but in places such as malls, stadiums, and universities. While these structures influence us, they do not point us to the best of ends. Smith aims to move beyond a focus on "worldview" to see Christian education as a counter-formation to these secular liturgies. His ultimate purpose is to re-vision Christian education as a formative process that redirects our desire toward God's kingdom and its vision of flourishing. In the same way, Smith re-visions Christian worship as a pedagogical practice that trains our love. Desiring the Kingdom will reach a wide audience; professors and students in courses on theology, culture, philosophy, and worldview will welcome this contribution. Pastors, ministers, worship leaders, and other church leaders will appreciate this book as well.
Endorsements "Jamie Smith shows in clear, simple, and passionate prose what worship has to do with formation and what both have to do with education. He argues that the God-directed, embodied love that worship gives us is central to all three areas and that those concerned as Christians with teaching and learning need to pay attention, first and last, to the ordering of love. This is an important book and one whose audience should be much broader than the merely scholarly."--Paul J. Griffiths, Warren Chair of Catholic Theology, Duke Divinity School
"In lucid and lively prose, Jamie Smith reaches back past Calvin to Augustine, crafting a new and insightful Reformed vision for higher education that focuses on the fundamental desires of the human heart rather than on worldviews. Smith deftly describes the 'liturgies' of contemporary life that are played out in churches--but also in shopping malls, sports arenas, and the ad industry--and then re-imagines the Christian university as a place where students learn to properly love the world and not just think about it."--Douglas Jacobsen and Rhonda Hustedt Jacobsen, Messiah College; authors of Scholarship and Christian Faith
"This is a wise, provocative, and inspiring book. It prophetically blurs the boundaries between theory and practice, between theology and other disciplines, between descriptive analysis and constructive imagination. Anyone involved in Christian education should read this book to glimpse a holistic vision of learning and formation. Anyone involved in the worship life of Christian communities should read this book to discover again all that is at stake in the choices we make about our practices."--John D. Witvliet, director, Calvin Institute of Christian Worship; professor, Calvin College and Calvin Theological Seminary
Reviews "The prolific Smith is a polymath who has emerged over the past decade as a force in the world of religious studies, with a reach extending well beyond. . . . From the very fountainhead of the Dutch Calvinist stream, Smith intends to disrupt what has become business as usual and push the evangelical academy hard on its fundamental sense of identity. . . . Driving the book . . . is Smith's careful, charged case for intersecting practices, liturgies, and worship in the lives of all humans, whether they realize it or not. . . . To read Smith is to get a primer on contemporary theology and philosophy, though he's not a popularizer so much as an able, agile public scholar who collects and redirects. He sees his work as 'an attempt to articulate the Reformed tradition as an Augustinian renewal movement within the church catholic,' an admirable and altogether necessary way of conceiving of ecclesial differences in our atomizing age. . . . It adds up to a compelling case. Worldview-espousing administrators and faculty--and all who find themselves captive to the wrong loves--owe it to their progeny, not to say their Lord, to give Smith's sharp critique and holy vision a careful look."--Eric Miller, Christianity Today
"One of the truly significant books of the year. . . . In this deeply philosophical study, [Smith] invites us to ask how to relate worship, life, and a radically Christian way of life. . . . Can universities help us become Godly dreamers? A huge, huge question, and this is a book worth working on for a long school year. Highly recommended."--Byron Borger, heartsandmindsbooks.com
"A lively study of how contemporary rituals, practices, and habits form character in ways that are not consistent with the things of God. . . . This is amazingly good, extraordinary stuff, a major contribution to cultural studies ([Smith's] interaction with Charles Taylor is very helpful), clarifying what we mean by worldviews, and how a Christian way of life can be sustained by our worshiping communities. A must-read for serious thinkers in our day."--Byron Borger, heartsandmindsbooks.com
"[An] extraordinary book about rituals, secularization, worship, and worldview formation. . . . I can hardly think of a more fruitful scholarly book to read and carefully ponder, raising great questions, and offering profound insights about the point of . . . church, God, and mission. . . . One of the most important books of the year!"--Byron Borger, heartsandmindsbooks.com
"A major new contribution, breaking ground that perhaps has yet to be explored, offering genuine insight in a new manner, insight that is vital and important. . . . Who knew a scholarly work of serious theology, philosophy, and cultural criticism could be so interesting and well-polished? Who knew you could expound on Dooyeweerd, Derrida, U2, or the Coen brothers all in one book on spiritual formation, worship, and adult education? . . . This is truly a major, major contribution. Anyone interested in worship, shaping lives for the reign of God, Christian education, or what we sometimes call 'worldview studies' would be wise to spend time pondering (and hopefully discussing) this vital work. . . . One of the most important books of the year."--Byron Borger, heartsandmindsbooks.com
"Chock full of pop-culture connections, Smith sees Christian worship and American culture as contesting 'liturgies' of formation. . . . The book is essential for all who plan worship, lead confirmation, teach Christians, or preach to Americans."--Brent Laytham, Christian Century
"[Smith] argues compellingly that we need to return to what Scripture and Church Fathers such as Augustine say is central--how we order our loves should be the most important focus of life and of Christian education. . . . Smith provides wonderfully textured descriptions of the liturgical nature of shopping malls, nationalism at sporting events, public schools, movies, and life at universities. . . . You can feel, taste, touch, see, and hear Smith's descriptions. . . . A compelling counter to overly cognitive approaches to Christian formation that neglect the central role that desires or the ordering of loves play in human life."--Perry L. Glanzer, Christian Scholar's Review
"Smith draws attention to the idea that all institutions of higher learning are purposefully invested in formation projects. . . . Smith presses Christian educators to redouble their efforts to avoid educational liturgies that contradict the project of Christian formation, and conversely, to pursue educational liturgies that resonate with the project of Christian formation. . . . I also appreciate Smith's analysis of the ways in which the Reformed tradition is open to distortion. . . . Smith pinpoints valid and ripe-for-discussion critique, particularly among those of Christian faith with a Reformed accent. . . . A book well worth swallowing and embracing in the interest of providing a valuable resource towards deepening our love for the One who reigns even now."--David S. Guthrie, Christian Scholar's Review
"[A] fresh and provocative book. . . . [Smith] develops a complex but understandable anthropology that takes into account our embodiment and our desire (affective, precognitive love) for something beyond ourselves. . . . This is an excellent book, one that holds the possibility of sparking a re-formation of Christian--or shall we say 'ecclesial'--education among all those who desire the Kingdom."--Steven M. Nolt, Christian Scholar's Review
"Smith's philosophical anthropology draws from the best of the Western philosophical tradition and its contemporary repetitions. . . . Smith's movement to precognitive, embodied formation engages the best thought throughout the contemporary academy. . . . Smith renders the practice of the Christian university intelligible to allow us to keep at the task even in a time when the idolatrous liturgies designed to support the state and the market are clearly insufficient to support the practice that is the contemporary university. For the gift of this book, we can give God thanks."--John W. Wright, Christian Scholar's Review
"Chock full of pop-culture connections, Smith sees Christian worship and American culture as contesting 'liturgies' of formation. . . . The book is essential for all who plan worship, lead confirmation, teach Christians, or preach to Americans."--Brent Laytham, Christian Century
"[Smith] presents an important challenge to the dominant paradigm in Christian education. While I do not agree with all of Smith's conclusions, Desiring the Kingdom is one of the most challenging and enriching books I read in 2009, and its proposals deserve serious and substantial consideration. . . . It is carefully argued, and well researched. . . . Desiring the Kingdom really must be read to be properly appreciated. . . . I am still attempting to work through Smith's proposals, which is perhaps the highest praise I can give it. It is a challenging work that is very well-argued, and that I continue to return to it in my thoughts is a credit to the forcefulness and persuasiveness of Smith's ideas. Desiring the Kingdom is an important book, and I have no doubt evangelicals will continue to wrestle with it for many years to come."--Matthew Lee Anderson, First Things Evangel blog
"Here is a challenging look at how 'liturgies,' sacred or secular, form our desires and shape us into a people with specific loves. Smith makes a compelling case for considering the role of desire in our spiritual formation efforts."--Christianity Today Book Awards
"The mall, stadium, and academy are three examples that James K. A. Smith uses to explicate the cultural liturgies that engage humans as embodied lovers, often to idolatrous ends. With insight and clarity, Smith shows how Christians often fail to resist this idolatry because they misdiagnose what is at stake, accepting the perverse as if it were benign and relying on an over-cognitive confidence. He challenges especially those of us committed to 'worldview education' to understand that this is not simply a process of sharing information, but ought to be more properly understood as an ongoing process of character formation--something that impacts our bodies, minds, and spirits."--Ray Pennings, Comment
"Smith offers the book as a Christian 'theology of culture' that portrays human persons as 'embodied actors,' gives priority to practices rather than ideas, uses worship for a perspective on culture, and avoids being simply anticultural but retains a sense of contrast with mainstream culture. . . . It includes a number of sidebars and figures for students. . . . Recommended. Lower- and upper-level undergraduates; general readers."--P. K. Moser, Choice
"[An] important, thought provoking study. . . . Information must lead to formation and transformation and discipleship. It is this primary message that makes this book such essential reading for all those concerned with Christian education--not only in our schools and colleges, but also at home and in church."--F.G. Oosterhoff, Reformed Academic
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