Awaiting the King, James K. A. Smith
Awaiting the King, James K. A. Smith
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Awaiting the King
Reforming Public Theology

Author: James K. A. Smith

Narrator: Timothy Andrés Pabon

Unabridged: 9 hr 58 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 08/23/2022

Synopsis

In this culmination of his highly acclaimed Cultural Liturgies project, James K. A. Smith examines politics through the lens of liturgy. What if, he asks, citizens are not only thinkers or believers but also lovers? Smith explores how our analysis of political institutions would look different if we viewed them as incubators of love-shaping practices—not merely governing us but forming what we love. How would our political engagement change if we weren't simply looking for permission to express our "views" in the political sphere but actually hoped to shape the ethos of a nation, a state, or a municipality to foster a way of life that bends toward shalom?

This book offers a well-rounded public theology as an alternative to contemporary debates about politics. Smith explores the religious nature of politics and the political nature of Christian worship, sketching how the worship of the church propels us to be invested in forging the common good. This book creatively merges theological and philosophical reflection and includes helpful exposition and contemporary commentary on key figures in political theology.

About James K. A. Smith

James K. A. Smith is a popular speaker who has written many books, including On the Road with Saint Augustine, You Are What You Love, Desiring the Kingdom, and Who's Afraid of Postmodernism?-all Christianity Today Book Award winners. He is professor of philosophy at Calvin University in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where he holds the Gary and Henrietta Byker Chair in Applied Reformed Theology and Worldview. He was editor in chief of Comment magazine from 2013 to 2018 and is now editor in chief of Image, a quarterly journal at the intersection of art, faith, and mystery. Smith has written for Christianity Today, the Christian Century, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and the Washington Post.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Alex on January 23, 2018

3.5/5. One of the dangers of challenging yourself to read 75 books in a year is that it can make you read too fast to appreciate a book. This is only exacerbated if your reading of the book is fragmentary and even WORSE if you are not reading it alongside someone else so you can digest and discuss th......more

Goodreads review by David on January 11, 2019

Humans are primarily creatures of love, not merely creatures of thinking. This is one of the primary insights James KA Smith has made throughout his three books in his Cultural Liturgies series. Drinking deeply from the well of modernity, too many Christians uncritically accepted that we primarily a......more

Goodreads review by Bob on January 31, 2018

Summary: A theology of public (and not just political) life exploring both how public life is "liturgical" and the church "political" and the possibilities and limits on engagement in the life of the "city of Man" for those who identify their hope and citizenship with the "city of God." The 2016 elec......more

Goodreads review by Scott on January 23, 2018

A nice conclusion to a remarkable trilogy. While each volume seems to have to have it's own eclectic style and concerns, this seemed to me to be the most eclectic of the three. I began this trilogy now around 5 years ago and to finish it now I can see how it has shaped my thoughts on things like the......more

Goodreads review by Michael on December 04, 2017

This is the book I’ve desired to read for about the past three to four years. Someone finally wrote it. (I was starting to worry I’d have to write it myself). Chapters one and two bolster the political nature of the church. Then chapters three through six work out the implications for Christian part......more

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