“My project is to revive the ancient art of philosophy as spiritual counsel. Philosophy matters only if it teaches us how to live, how to be human.”
—From How To Inhabit Time: Understanding the Past, Facing the Future, Living Faithfully Now
Upcoming Book – Coming December 1, 2026
Desiring the Kingdom (2nd Edition)
Formation, Education, Liberation
The first edition of Desiring the Kingdom has been widely used in a variety of educational settings. In this substantial revision, popular speaker and award-winning author James K. A. Smith rearticulates his core argument that human beings are lovers shaped by liturgies for a new context.
Smith helps us recognize the way cultural practices formand deformus. At the heart of Desiring the Kingdom is an account of Christian assimilation to rival gospels. In this new edition, Smith shows how cultural phenomena from the Apple Store to Instagram, from the football stadium to the frat house, immerse us in the liturgies of neoliberalism, turning us into consumers who confuse happiness with acquisition and consumption. When we fail to see cultural practices as liturgies, we end up turning the church into a den of robbers with the best of intentions, often in the name of “relevance.”
This makes Smith’s account of Christian worship and education urgent. Reframing worship as a pedagogy of desire, Smith reframes liberal arts education as liberating. A holistic education will also be critical, teaching us to see through the smoke screens of ideology and liberating us from our unconscious captivation to idols. The goal is an education in character that, far from producing mere moral conformity, teaches us to want what God wants for the world.
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Latest Book – Released March 24, 2026
Make Your Home in This Luminous Dark
Mysticism, Art, and the Path of Unknowing
A philosopher journeys back to the mystics to learn how to live with uncertainty in the twenty-first century
How do we live when we don’t know what to believe, or who to believe, or how we could even know? In this deeply felt book, philosopher James K. A. Smith explores how radical uncertainty can be liberating, opening us to another way of being. The pain of his own profound uncertainty led Smith to a surprising source for modern consolation: the mystical experiences of St. Teresa of Ávila, St. John of the Cross, and the author of The Cloud of Unknowing. These mystics testify to a deeper truth beneath distraction, anxiety, and fear: love.
Drawing on ancient traditions of contemplation as well as on contemporary novels, poetry, film, and paintings, Smith speaks to the fundamental yearnings that persist in late modernity, including the philosophical quest for knowledge and certainty. He shows us how the gifts of the Christian contemplative tradition and the riches of creative works embody a liberating spirituality that recovers the fullness of being human.
In bringing a philosopher’s questions to the mystics, Smith brings a mystical heart back to philosophy.
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The enthusiasms, musings, and observations of James K.A. Smith. Mostly books, music, and film. Expect no punditry here. Look elsewhere for outrage.
About James K. A. Smith
James K. A. Smith is a popular speaker and the award-winning author of a number of influential books, including Desiring the Kingdom, How (Not) to Be Secular, You Are What You Love, On the Road with Saint Augustine, and How to Inhabit Time. He is a professor of philosophy at Calvin University. As a scholar, Smith has embraced the vocation of being a “translator” of philosophy for wider audiences. As a cultural critic and commentator, he explores the tensions of modern life, inviting readers and audiences to more intentional practices of faith and flourishing.