Awaiting the King: Reforming Public Theology

by James K. A. Smith

Overview

In this culmination of his widely read and 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 with illustrations from film, novels, and music and includes helpful exposition and contemporary commentary on key figures in political theology.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780801035791
Publisher:	Baker Publishing Group
Publication date:	11/07/2017
Series:	Cultural Liturgies , #3
Pages:	256
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

James K. A. Smith (PhD, Villanova University) is professor of philosophy at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where he also holds the Gary and Henrietta Byker Chair in Applied Reformed Theology and Worldview. He is the editor of Comment magazine and is a popular speaker. Smith has authored or edited many books, including Imagining the Kingdom, Who's Afraid of Relativism?, and the Christianity Today  Book Award winners You Are What You Love, Desiring the Kingdom, and Who's Afraid of Postmodernism?

Table of Contents

Contents
Introduction: Liturgical Politics: Reforming Public Theology
1. Rites Talk: The Worship of Democracy
2. Revisiting the Church as Polis: Cultivating an Ecclesial Center of Gravity
3. The Craters of the Gospel: Liberalism's Borrowed Capital
4. The Limits and Possibility of Pluralism: Reforming Reformed Public Theology
5. Redeeming Christendom: Or, What's Wrong with Natural Law?
6. Contested Formations: Our "Godfather" Problem
Conclusion: The City of God and the City We're In: Augustinian Principles for Public Participation
Indexes

Editorial Reviews

★ 11/20/2017
In this third volume of philosophy professor Smith’s Cultural Liturgies project (after You Are What You Love), he makes a nuanced critique of the contemporary church’s involvement in the political sphere. He argues for a “posture correction” that will empower Christians to “work for justice—laboring to build humane economies and life-giving cities.” Engaging with the ideas of multiple theologians—beginning with Augustine, whose City of God is the “animating source” of Smith’s project—Smith explores characteristics of a “Christian public theology” that defies a “neat-and-tidy compartmentalization of the spiritual and the political.” Smith posits both that “Christian worship is political in nature... led by—an ascended King” and that the civic sphere brims with religious elements: “Our public rituals have the force of rites.” Buttressing his analyses with plentiful references to popular culture, Smith makes complex theological arguments accessible to lay readers. Though he writes from an unapologetically evangelical perspective, Smith’s cultural sensitivity and in-depth exploration of multiple political and philosophical perspectives offer Christians across the political spectrum a welcome, constructive contribution to contemporary debates about church and politics. (Nov.)

Publishers Weekly