Reformed theology – and the coercive rhythms of today’s culture

Rebecca Chapman  |  Features
Date posted:  1 Feb 2023
Share Add       
Reformed theology – and the coercive rhythms of today’s culture

James K. A. Smith is professor of philosophy at Calvin University, Michigan, where he holds the Gary & Henrietta Byker Chair in Applied Reformed Theology and Worldview.

He trained as a philosopher with a focus on contemporary French thought, Smith has expanded on that scholarly platform to become an engaged public intellectual and cultural critic. An award-winning author and a widely-travelled speaker, he has emerged as a thought leader with a unique gift of translation, building bridges between the academy, society, and the church. His most recent book, How To Inhabit Time was reviewed in en last month.

en: Tell me a little bit about how you came to faith?
JS:
I grew up in Southern Ontario in Canada, and I did not grow up in a Christian home or in the church. I started dating Deanna, who is now my wife of 32 years, and it was actually through meeting her family that I first heard the gospel, though I think I had been primed to hear it. I’m reading Bono’s memoir, Surrender, and I think that U2’s 1987 album The Joshua Tree was almost like pre-evangelism for me – the sense of yearning and longing, looking for something more and ultimate. That sort of tilled the soil, so when I heard the gospel presented to me, it answered a longing and a yearning. Deanna’s family and the church community that she was a part of also embodied an embrace that I had been looking for, especially as somebody who came from a broken home with an absent father. There was an intellectual answer to questions I had, but also an effective embodiment of God’s love that I was drawn to.

Share
< Previous article| Features| Next article >
Read more articles on:   theology
Read more articles by Rebecca Chapman >>
Features
Playing the game with perseverance

Playing the game with perseverance

We have started a summer of sport – the Euros, then Wimbledon, Tour de France, and of course, the Paris …

Reviews
The Biblical Song informing  our network

The Biblical Song informing our network

Slap bang in the middle of the Bible sits the Song of Songs, which Aimee Byrd describes as ‘a sexual …

Need to advertise?

We can help you reach Christians across the country.

Find out more

About en

Our vision, values and history.

Read more