A review by khc410
Desiring the Kingdom: Worship, Worldview, and Cultural Formation by James K.A. Smith

5.0

The author of presents a thoughtful thesis about the essential nature of human beings. As someone whose education and religious upbringing largely focused on ideas and orthodoxy at the expense of orthopathy (heart, passion) and orthopraxy (actions, practices), the author provides important insights from an alternative viewpoint. This particular book is framed from the perspective of discussing Christian education and uses many religious and scholarly jargons. "You are What You Love," another book on this topic by the same author, seems to be written for a wider audience.

"We are what we love and our love is shaped, primed, and aimed by liturgical practices that take hold of our gut and aim our heart toward certain ends."

"The liturgy of consumption births in us a desire for a way of life that is destructive of creation itself. Moreover, it births in us a desire for a way of life that we cannot feasibly extend to others, creating a system of privilege and exploitation."

"We are Christians not because of what we believe but because we have been called to be disciples of Jesus. Becoming a disciple is not a matter of a new or changed self understanding but of becoming part of a different community with a different set of practices."