__A Philosophical Theology of Culture__   
Philosopher James K. A. Smith reshapes the very project of Christian education in Desiring the Kingdom. The first of three volumes that will ultimately provide a comprehensive theology of culture, Desiring the Kingdom focuses education around the themes of liturgy, formation, and desire. Smith's 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, he re-visions Christian worship as a pedagogical practice that trains our love.  
  
"James 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__, 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: Enlarging the Conversation "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__, Calvin Institute of Christian Worship; Calvin College and Calvin Theological Seminary

__James K. A. Smith__ (PhD, Villanova University) is the Gary &amp; Henrietta Byker Chair in Applied Reformed Theology &amp; Worldview at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan. In addition, he is editor of Comment magazine and a senior fellow of the Colossian Forum. He has penned the critically acclaimed Who's Afraid of Postmodernism? and Introducing Radical Orthodoxy, and his edited books include After Modernity? and Hermeneutics at the Crossroads. Smith is the editor of the well-received Church and Postmodern Culture series (www.churchandpomo.org).

Malls, stadiums, and universities are actually liturgical structures that influence and shape our thoughts and affections. Humans--as Augustine noted--are "desiring agents," full of longings and passions; in brief, we are what we love.  
  
James K. A. Smith focuses on the themes of liturgy and desire in Desiring the Kingdom, the first book in what will be a three-volume set on the theology of culture. He redirects our yearnings to focus on the greatest good: God. Ultimately, Smith seeks to re-vision education through the process and practice of worship. Students of philosophy, theology, worldview, and culture will welcome Desiring the Kingdom, as will those involved in ministry and other interested readers.

In the first of a three-volume systematic theology of culture, leading Reformed philosopher James K. A. Smith casts a new vision for worldview through the lens of Christian liturgy.

Preface  
Introduction: Beyond "Perspectives": Faith and Learning Take Practice  
Making the Familiar Strange: A Phenomenology of Cultural Liturgies  
The End of Christian Education: From Worldview to Worship (and Back Again)  
Picturing Education as Formation in Orwell's Road to Wigan Pier Elements of a Theology of Culture: Pedagogy, Liturgy, and the Church  
Part I: Desiring, Imaginative Animals: We Are What We Love  
1\. Homo Liturgicus: The Human Person as Lover  
From Thinking Things to Liturgical Animals  
From Worldviews to Social Imaginaries  
From Spheres to Aims: Liturgical Institutions  
2: Love Takes Practice: Liturgy, Formation, and Counterformation  
Why Victoria's In on the Secret: Picturing Discipleship at the Moulin Rouge "Thick" and "Thin" Practices: Ritual Forces of Cultural Formation  
Formation, Mis-Formation, and Counter-Formation: Liturgies Secular and Christian  
3\. Lovers in a Dangerous Time: Cultural Exegesis of "Secular" Liturgies  
"Reading" Culture Through the Lens of Worship  
Consuming Transcendence: Worship at the Mall  
Marketing (as) Evangelism  
Picturing the Liturgy of Consumerism in The Persuaders Sacrificial Violence: The "Military-Entertainment" Complex  
Cathedrals of Learning: Liturgies of the University  
Picturing the University's Liturgies in Wolfe's I Am Charlotte Simmons Apologetic Excursus: The Persisting Witness of Idolatry  
Picturing Resistance in 1984 Part II: Desiring the Kingdom: The Practiced Shape of the Christian Life  
4\. From Worship to Worldview: Christian Worship and the Formation of Desire  
The Primacy of Worship to Worldview  
The Sacramental Imagination: Resisting Naturalism and Supernaturalism  
Picturing the Sacramental Imagination in Graham Greene and Anne Sexton  
Excursus: The Shape of Christian Worship  
5\. Practicing (for) the Kingdom: An Exegesis of the Social Imaginary Embedded in Christian Worship  
Liturgical Time: Rhythms and Cadences of Hope  
Call to Worship: An Invitation to Be Human  
God's Greeting: Hospitality, Community, and Graced Dependence  
Baptism: Initiation into a Royal Priesthood/Constitution of a New People  
Song: Hymning the Language of the Kingdom  
Confession: Brokenness, Grace, Hope  
Law: Order, Norms, and Freedom for the Good  
The Creed: Situating Belief  
Prayer: Vocalizing Desire  
Scripture and Sermon: Re-narrating the World  
Eucharist: Supper with the King  
Offering: Kingdom Economics  
Sending: The Great Commission as Cultural Mandate  
Worship, Discipleship and Discipline: Practices Beyond Sunday  
6\. A Christian University is for Lovers: The Education of Desire  
A New Monasticism for the University: Why Christian Colleges Should Corrupt the Youth  
Christian Education Takes Practice: Three Monastic Opportunities  
Excursus: Christian Worship as Faculty Development: From Christian Scholars to "Ecclesial" Scholars  
Indexes

Smith, James K. A.

Cover

Title Page

Copyright Page

Dedication

Epigraphs

List of Sidebars and Figures

Preface

Acknowledgments

Introduction: Beyond “Perspectives”: Faith and Learning Take Practice

Making the Familiar Strange: A Phenomenology of Cultural Liturgies

The End of Christian Education: From Worldview to Worship (and Back Again)

Elements of a Theology of Culture: Pedagogy, Liturgy, and the Church

Part 1: Desiring, Imaginative Animals: We Are What We Love

1. Homo Liturgicus: The Human Person as Lover

2. Love Takes Practice: Liturgy, Formation, and Counter-formation

3. Lovers in a Dangerous Time: Cultural Exegesis of "Secular" Liturgies 89

Part 2: Desiring the Kingdom: The Practiced Shape of the Christian Life

4. From Worship to Worldview: Christian Worship and the Formation of Desire

5. Practicing (for) the Kingdom: An Exegesis of the Social Imaginary Embedded in Christian Worship

6. A Christian University Is for Lovers: The Education of Desire 215

Name Index

Subject Index

Notes

Back Cover

Malls, stadiums, and universities are actually liturgical structures that influence and shape our thoughts and affections. Humans--as Augustine noted--are"desiring agents," full of longings and passions; in brief, we are what we love.  
  
James K. A. Smith focuses on the themes of liturgy and desire inDesiring the Kingdom, the first book in what will be a three-volume set on the theology of culture. He redirects our yearnings to focus on the greatest good: God. Ultimately, Smith seeks to re-vision education through the process and practice of worship. Students of philosophy, theology, worldview, and culture will welcomeDesiring the Kingdom, as will those involved in ministry and other interested readers.

Malls, stadiums, and universities are actually liturgical structures that influence and shape our thoughts and affections. This book on theology of culture focuses on the themes of liturgy and desire.

Malls, stadiums, and universities are actually liturgical structures that influence and shape our thoughts and affections. Humans - as Augustine noted - are 'desiring agents', full of longings and passions; in brief, we are what we love. James K. A. Smith focuses on the themes of liturgy and desire in "Desiring the Kingdom", the first book in what will be a three-volume set on the theology of culture. He redirects our yearnings to focus on the greatest good: God. Ultimately, Smith seeks to re-vision education through the process and practice of worship. Students of philosophy, theology, worldview, and culture will welcome "Desiring the Kingdom", as will those involved in ministry and other interested readers.

James K. A. Smith (PhD, Villanova University) is associate professor of philosophy at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He has penned the bestselling Who's Afraid of Postmodernism? and Introducing Radical Orthodoxy, and his edited books include After Modernity? and Hermeneutics at the Crossroads. Smith is the editor of the well-received the Church and Postmodern Culture series (www.churchandpomo.org).

\["Want to better understand what 'God's Kingdom' means? ","This book offers a thorough theology of culture and Church ","You'll learn more of how the Church relates to cultural movements today "\]

Desiring the Kingdom (Cultural Liturgies) [eBook]

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