"If God is sovereign, then his lordship must extend over all of life, and it cannot be restricted to the walls of the church or within the Christian orbit." Abraham Kuyper Common Grace 1.1.
Saturday, 28 September 2013
Thursday, 26 September 2013
James Bratt interviewed about his recent Kuyper biography
James Bratt is interviewed here on Reformedcast about his biography of Kuyper.
Monday, 16 September 2013
Wednesday, 11 September 2013
Sunday, 8 September 2013
Imagining the Kingdom by James K. A. Smith
How Worship Works
James K. A. Smith
Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2013, pbk, 224 pp.
ISBN 978-0-8010-3578-4
Imagining the kingdom is the second part of a proposed trilogy exploring "cultural liturgies". In the first volume, Desiring the Kingdom (Baker Academic, 2009), Smith posed an exciting and outrageous question: "What if education wasn't first and foremost what we know, but about what we love?" In this second volume he follows this up by suggesting that "our actions emerge from how we imagine the world: "What if we are actors before we are thinkers?" (p 32). Smith's thesis is that we are defined more by what we worship than by what we think or believe. Thus we need to see more clearly how the affective affects the cognitive: to displace functional intellectualism, where what we do is the outcome of what we think.
His aim is "to articulate a Christian philosophy of action that takes seriously the creational conditions of human action: our embodiment, our finitude, our sociality, and the complexity of our being-in-the-world—the different ways that we “intend” our world." (p 33) He seeks to develop a liturgical anthropology, one that is defined but what we love (the affective), rather than how what we think or what we know (the cognitive). One that emphasises that we are not primarily theorisers.
To examine this em-body-ment, in Part 1, he looks at the work of two French academics, the philosopher Merleau-Ponty, particularly his nation of bodily intelligence and the sociologist Bourdieu, with his critique of theoretical reason. Bourdieu argues that human formation is not primarily cognitive. Part 2 "Sanctified Perception" develops and applies these "toolbox" ideas to look at how worship works.
Particularly helpful and insightful is the narrative function and role of worship. This is something that "secular" liturgies understand and utilise to shape and form us. We live in a storied world.
In essence what Smith is doing is connecting worship and worldview, he desires to make education more about formation not information, and sees liturgy - the rituals and routines that shape what we love - as playing an important part in this formation. He deftly bridges the academy and the church - the full footnotes provide the academic support for the arguments and the vignettes provide a more concrete view. Thus, the main text is interspersed with helpful examples utilising films such as Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Jane Campion's Bright Star, The King's Speech and novels like David Foster Wallace's Infinite Jest and Nicholson Baker's The Mezzanine.
His final chapter deals with the importance of ritual and liturgy in formation. Interestingly he identifies repetition in liturgy as being important.
Smith is not afraid of plundering Egypt - or in his case French theorists - he identifies what that have learnt because of common grace. His is a transformative approach.
This liturgical anthropology Smith develops is important not only for academics but for all Christian educators, from infant through to postgraduate level, as well as for pastors and church worship leaders. We are liturgical creatures, "sacramental animals"; we love what we worship. Worship, then is an encounter and a formation. I look forward to the third part of this so-far excellent trilogy.
Sunday, 1 September 2013
Something for labor day
Over the years I've posted pieces to do with work. Labo(u)r day in North America seems like a good opportunity to have another look at them:Towards a Christian view of work
What full-time Christian minsters need to know about secular work
Work: a Bible study
Michael Schutt: Vocation the mask of God
Some great books on work and vocation:
Tom Nelson Work Matters my review here
Daryl Cosden The Heavenly Good of Earthly Work
Lee Hardy The Fabric of This World
Gene Veith God at Work
Mark Greene Thank God It's Monday
Stephen Nichols What is Vocation? my review here
Douglas Schuurman Vocation after Christendom
Miroslav Volf Work in the Spirit: Toward a Theory of Work
Paul Marshall (ed.) Labour of Love: Essays on Work pdf available here
R. Paul Stevens The Other Six Days
Amy L. Sherman Kingdom Calling my review/ summary here, here, here and here
Vocational discipleship - some professional groups
Being more vocationally intentional
Resources for a Christian approach to business
... and finally a great offer from Byron Borger here. (But you will need to be quick.)
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