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

5.0

As Smith sees it, our lives and societies are a series of nested, intertwined liturgies unfolding all around us. The book opens with an evocative description of walking through a mall. Smith awakens our sense of sight, smell, taste, and touch as he guides readers through the unseen rituals that attend such meccas of consumerism.

We come to understand that by “liturgy,” Smith is not simply alluding to the way some Christians choose to worship on Sunday mornings. Instead, the term is used to crystallize how we human beings learn and experience the world (both within church services and without). Every ritual encounter in our lives—whether in our churches, at the mall, a sporting event, or elsewhere—“constitutes a pedagogy that teaches us, in all sorts of precognitive ways, to be a certain kind of person.”

For more about my experience reading this book, see my podcast episode and blog post that explored the book in greater detail:

Podcast episode: https://www.ancientfaith.com/podcasts/timeeternal/desiring_the_kingdom_in_lent
Blog post: https://blogs.ancientfaith.com/timeeternal/desiring-kingdom-lent-book-review/