“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… — James K.A. Smith Copy Share Image
“If I have so far argued that Foucault is a kind of closet liberal and thus deeply modern, I need to be equally critical of evangelical (and especially American) Christianity's modernity and its appropriation of Enlightenment notions of the autonomous… — James K.A. Smith Copy Share Image
“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… — James K.A. Smith Copy Share Image
“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… — James K.A. Smith Copy Share Image
“too often we look for the Spirit in the extraordinary when God has promised to be present in the ordinary.5” — James K.A. Smith Copy Share Image
“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… — James K.A. Smith Copy Share Image
“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… — James K.A. Smith Copy Share Image
“We confess knowledge without certainty, truth without objectivity.” — James K.A. Smith Copy Share Image
“Worship, then, needs to be characterized by hospitality; it needs to be inviting. But at the same time, it should be inviting seekers into… — James K.A. Smith Copy Share Image
“Discipleship, we might say, is a way to curate your heart, to be attentive to and intentional about what you love.” — James K.A. Smith Copy Share Image
“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… — James K.A. Smith Copy Share Image
“Foucault. The seemingly disturbing, even Nietzschean claim that “power is knowledge” should push us to realize what MTV learned long ago: (a) the cultural… — James K.A. Smith Copy Share Image
“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… — James K.A. Smith Copy Share Image
“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… — James K.A. Smith Copy Share Image
