Imagining the Kingdom

James K. A. Smith's second volume in his Cultural Liturgies series addresses a fundamental question: how does Christian worship actually form people? Written as philosophers and theologians were increasingly recognizing the limits of purely cognitive approaches to spiritual formation, Smith argues that worship works not primarily by filling our minds with correct information but by training our bodies and imaginations toward the kingdom of God.

Smith draws on phenomenology, particularly the work of Maurice Merleau-Ponty, to argue that humans are fundamentally liturgical animals who learn through embodied practices rather than abstract propositions. He contends that worship forms us through what he calls "kinesthetic" learning—the kind of knowledge our bodies acquire through repetitive action. Christian liturgy, Smith argues, functions as a counter-formation to the secular liturgies of mall and stadium that shape our desires toward competing visions of human flourishing. He traces how elements like confession, Scripture reading, baptism, and communion work together as an integrated formative practice that reorients our fundamental loves and longings. The book's central insight is that worship is fundamentally imaginative work—it paints a picture of God's kingdom that captures our hearts before it convinces our minds.

The work has influenced discussions of worship and formation across denominational lines, offering theoretical grounding for liturgical approaches to discipleship while challenging evangelical traditions that emphasize cognitive learning. Smith's synthesis of continental philosophy with Reformed theology has provided vocabulary for pastors and educators seeking to understand how embodied practices shape Christian identity. Who should read this: pastors and worship leaders wanting to understand the formative power of liturgy, educators interested in embodied learning, and anyone curious about how philosophy can illuminate Christian practice. Those seeking practical worship planning guides or suspicious of philosophical approaches to theology should look elsewhere.