Awaiting the King
- Theology
- World Religions
- Ethics, Culture & Social Issues
- Publisher: Baker Academic (Baker Publishing Group)
- Published: 2017
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Publisher's Description
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.
Endorsements (3)
“Smith’s Awaiting the King is a thoughtful, wise, and provocative book. In it, we are challenged to recognize certain truths that run counter to the Western tradition: that the state is deeply religious, being as it is an incubator of love-shaping practices; that the church is profoundly political, being as it is a place of public ritual centered on and led by a King; and that the church’s public theology must therefore resituate the political in light of creation and reframe it in light of eternity. Awaiting the King is not only smart but also well written and relevant to a broad range of interests, including public theology, political science, philosophy, and social ethics.”
“Awaiting the King presents Smith’s mature public theology—a carefully nuanced plea for ‘calculated ambivalence’ and ‘cultivated circumspection’ toward culture. It is a vision of resident aliens invested in the world around them. Lucid and persuasive as always, Smith challenges the ways in which contemporary Christians—including his own Neocalvinist tradition—run the risk of naturalizing shalom. Smith’s account unabashedly advocates making life’s final, heavenly end the starting point for the way we structure our social life together. This final, crowning volume of the Cultural Liturgies project has the potential to profoundly redirect contemporary public theology and practice.”
“With great clarity and cultural insight, Smith sets out an Augustinian-Reformed antidote to the highly polarized forms of politics we see around us today, in which churches—whether on the left or the right—are too often raucous and rancorous participants. In doing so, he joins a growing chorus of those arguing for a constructive theological account of the politics of a common life.”
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