--- title: "3 Christian faith Quotes By James K.A. Smith" description: "3 Christian faith quotes by James K.A. Smith. Plus more from James K.A. Smith and more Christian faith sayings from other authors." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/71b/james-k-a-smith-11405_christian-faith_lyotard-the-assertion-that-postmodernity_1434804.png" --- > [“Lyotard. The assertion that postmodernity is “incredulity toward metanarratives” is ultimately a claim to be affirmed by the church, pushing us to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-k-a-smith/lyotard-the-assertion-that-postmodernity-is-incredulity-toward/) [James K.A. Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-k-a-smith/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/71b/james-k-a-smith-11405_christian-faith_lyotard-the-assertion-that-postmodernity_1434804.png) > [“The church's theology bought into this ahistoricism in different ways: along a more liberal, post-Kantian trajectory, the historical particularities of Christian faith…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-k-a-smith/the-church-s-theology-bought-into-this-ahistoricism-in-different-ways/) [James K.A. Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-k-a-smith/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9af/james-k-a-smith-11405_bible_the-church-s-theology-bought-into-this-a_2074801.jpg) > [“By calling into question the very ideal of a universal, autonomous reason (which was, in the Enlightenment, the basis for rejecting religious…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-k-a-smith/by-calling-into-question-the-very-ideal-of-a-universal-autonomous/) [James K.A. Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-k-a-smith/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4c9/james-k-a-smith-11405_bias_by-calling-into-question-the-very-ideal_3044414.jpg) ## Other authors on Christian faith - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b005/author-barack-obama-16275.jpg) Barack Obama 13 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/christian-faith/barack-obama/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b020/author-rob-bell-79345.jpg) Rob Bell 7 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/christian-faith/rob-bell/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b024/author-william-lane-craig-95658.jpg) William Lane Craig 6 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/christian-faith/william-lane-craig/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b024/author-tullian-tchividjian-92416.jpg) Tullian Tchividjian 6 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/christian-faith/tullian-tchividjian/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b017/author-martin-luther-64750.jpg) Martin Luther 6 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/christian-faith/martin-luther/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b009/author-franklin-graham-35918.jpg) Franklin Graham 6 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/christian-faith/franklin-graham/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b020/author-ravi-zacharias-77467.jpg) Ravi Zacharias 5 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/christian-faith/ravi-zacharias/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b014/author-john-shelby-spong-52274.jpg) John Shelby Spong 5 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/christian-faith/john-shelby-spong/) - [David Kinnaman 5 quotes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/christian-faith/david-kinnaman/) ## More by James K.A. Smith > [“Jesus is a teacher who doesn’t just inform our intellect but forms our very loves. He isn’t content to simply deposit new ideas into…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-k-a-smith/jesus-is-a-teacher-who-doesn-t-just-inform-our-intellect-but-forms/) [James K.A. Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-k-a-smith/) > [“So it is precisely our allergy to repetition in worship that has undercut the counterformative power of Christian worship—because all kinds of secular liturgies…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-k-a-smith/so-it-is-precisely-our-allergy-to-repetition-in-worship-that-has/) [James K.A. Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-k-a-smith/) > [“too often we look for the Spirit in the extraordinary when God has promised to be present in the ordinary.5”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-k-a-smith/too-often-we-look-for-the-spirit-in-the-extraordinary-when-god-has/) [James K.A. Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-k-a-smith/) > [“Formative Christian worship paints a picture of the beauty of the Lord--and a vision of the shalom he desires for creation--in a way that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-k-a-smith/formative-christian-worship-paints-a-picture-of-the-beauty-of-the/) [James K.A. Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-k-a-smith/) > [“Too much of our cultural analysis is rooted in thinking-thingism: we scan culture, listening for “messages,” bent on rooting out “false” teachings. But if…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-k-a-smith/too-much-of-our-cultural-analysis-is-rooted-in-thinking-thingism-we/) [James K.A. Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-k-a-smith/) > [“We confess knowledge without certainty, truth without objectivity.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-k-a-smith/we-confess-knowledge-without-certainty-truth-without-objectivity/) [James K.A. Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-k-a-smith/) > [“Worship, then, needs to be characterized by hospitality; it needs to be inviting. But at the same time, it should be inviting seekers into…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-k-a-smith/worship-then-needs-to-be-characterized-by-hospitality-it-needs-to-be/) [James K.A. Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-k-a-smith/) > [“Discipleship, we might say, is a way to curate your heart, to be attentive to and intentional about what you love.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-k-a-smith/discipleship-we-might-say-is-a-way-to-curate-your-heart-to-be/) [James K.A. Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-k-a-smith/) > [“Your deepest desire,” he observes, “is the one manifested by your daily life and habits.”6 This is because our action—our doing—bubbles up from our…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-k-a-smith/your-deepest-desire-he-observes-is-the-one-manifested-by-your-daily/) [James K.A. Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-k-a-smith/) > [“Foucault. The seemingly disturbing, even Nietzschean claim that “power is knowledge” should push us to realize what MTV learned long ago: (a) the cultural…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-k-a-smith/foucault-the-seemingly-disturbing-even-nietzschean-claim-that-power/) [James K.A. Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-k-a-smith/) > [“The doubter’s doubt is faith; his temptation is belief, and it is a temptation that has not been entirely quelled, even in a secular…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-k-a-smith/the-doubter-s-doubt-is-faith-his-temptation-is-belief-and-it-is-a/) [James K.A. Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-k-a-smith/) > [“Worship works from the top down, you might say. In worship we don’t just come to show God our devotion and give him our…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-k-a-smith/worship-works-from-the-top-down-you-might-say-in-worship-we-don-t/) [James K.A. Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-k-a-smith/) > [“While formally or structurally speaking, there are mechanisms of discipline operative in both the convent and the prison, in both the factory and the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-k-a-smith/while-formally-or-structurally-speaking-there-are-mechanisms-of/) [James K.A. Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-k-a-smith/) > [“Antoine de Saint-Exupéry captures this well: “If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up people to collect wood and don’t assign them…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-k-a-smith/antoine-de-saint-exup-ry-captures-this-well-if-you-want-to-build-a/) [James K.A. Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-k-a-smith/) > [“Because of this Christian materialism, a catholic postmodernism (or postmodern catholicity) affirms sacramentality on two levels. On the one hand, it affirms a general…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-k-a-smith/because-of-this-christian-materialism-a-catholic-postmodernism-or/) [James K.A. Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-k-a-smith/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "ItemList", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/christian-faith/james-k-a-smith/#itemlist", "name": "3 Christian faith Quotes By James K.A. Smith", "numberOfItems": 3, "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Lyotard. The assertion that postmodernity is “incredulity toward metanarratives” is ultimately a claim to be affirmed by the church, pushing us to recover (a) the narrative character of Christian faith, rather than understanding it as a collection of ideas, and (b) the confessional nature of our narrative and the way in which we find ourselves in a world of competing narratives.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "James K.A. 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Smith", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“The church's theology bought into this ahistoricism in different ways: along a more liberal, post-Kantian trajectory, the historical particularities of Christian faith were reduced to atemporal moral teachings that were universal and unconditioned. Thus it turned out that what Jesus taught was something like Kant's categorical imperative - a universal ethics based on reason rather than a set of concrete practices related to a specific community. Liberal Christianity fostered ahistoricism by reducing Christianity to a universal, rational kernel of moral teaching. Along a more conservative, evangelical trajectory (and the Reformation is not wholly innocent here), it was recognized that Christians could not simply jettison the historical particularities of the Christian event: the birth, life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. However, there was still a quasi-Platonic, quasi-gnostic rejection of material history such that evangelicalism, while not devolving to a pure ahistoricism, become dominated by a modified ahistoricism we can call primitivism. Primitivism retains the most minimal commitment to God's action in history (in the life of Christ and usually in the first century of apostolic activity) and seeks to make only this first-century 'New Testament church' normative for contemporary practice. This is usually articulated by a rigid distinction between Scripture and tradition (the latter then usually castigated as 'the traditions of men' as opposed to the 'God-give' realities of Scripture). Such primitivism is thus anticreedal and anticatholic, rejecting any sense that what was unfolded by the church between the first and the twenty-first centuries is at all normative for current faith and practice (the question of the canon's formation being an interesting exception here). Ecumenical creeds and confessions - such as the Apostles' Creed or the Nicene Creed - that unite the church across time and around the globe are not 'live' in primitivist worship practices, which enforce a sense of autonomy or even isolation, while at the same time claiming a direct connection to first-century apostolic practices.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "James K.A. Smith" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-k-a-smith/the-church-s-theology-bought-into-this-ahistoricism-in-different-ways/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9af/james-k-a-smith-11405_bible_the-church-s-theology-bought-into-this-a_2074801.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9af/james-k-a-smith-11405_bible_the-church-s-theology-bought-into-this-a_2074801.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9af/james-k-a-smith-11405_bible_the-church-s-theology-bought-into-this-a_2074801.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“The church's theology bought into this ahistoricism in different ways: along a more liberal, post-Kantian…” — James K.A. Smith", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“By calling into question the very ideal of a universal, autonomous reason (which was, in the Enlightenment, the basis for rejecting religious thought) and further demonstrating that all knowledge is grounded in narrative or myth, Lyotard relativizes (secular) philosophy's claim to autonomy and so grants the legitimacy of a philosophy that grounds itself in Christian faith. Previously such a distinctly Christian philosophy would have been exiled from the 'pure' arena of philosophy because of its 'infection' with bias and prejudice. Lyotard's critique, however, demonstrates that no philosophy - indeed, no knowledge - is untainted by prejudice or faith commitments. In this way the playing field is leveled, and new opportunities to voice a Christian philosophy are created. Thus Lyotard's postmodern critique of metanarratives, rather than being a formidable foe of Christian faith and thought, can in fact be enlisted as an ally in the construction of a Christian philosophy.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "James K.A. Smith" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-k-a-smith/by-calling-into-question-the-very-ideal-of-a-universal-autonomous/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4c9/james-k-a-smith-11405_bias_by-calling-into-question-the-very-ideal_3044414.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4c9/james-k-a-smith-11405_bias_by-calling-into-question-the-very-ideal_3044414.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4c9/james-k-a-smith-11405_bias_by-calling-into-question-the-very-ideal_3044414.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“By calling into question the very ideal of a universal, autonomous reason (which was, in the Enlightenment…” — James K.A. 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