Awaiting the King: The Politics of Hope in an Age of Fear

What is the shape of Christian political witness in an age of fear and anxiety? How have Christians contributed to this environment rather than resisting it? What have we forgotten about the role of faith in public life? In a talk on his new book (from his widely read and highly acclaimed Cultural Liturgies project), James K.A. Smith will look to the ancient wisdom of St. Augustine's City of God to outline an alternative evangelical politics in the age of Trump.

James K.A. Smith is professor of philosophy at Calvin College, where he holds the Gary & Henrietta Byker Chair in Applied Reformed Theology & Worldview. The award-winning author of Who's Afraid of Postmodernism? and Desiring the Kingdom, his most recent books include Imagining the Kingdom (2013), Discipleship in the Present Tense (2013), Who's Afraid of Relativism (2014), How (Not) To Be Secular: Reading Charles Taylor (2014), and You Are What You Love: The Spiritual Power of Habit (2016). Smith's popular writing has appeared in magazines such as Christianity Today, Books & Culture, and First Things, as well as in periodicals such as the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Detroit Free Press. Smith is also a Senior Fellow of Cardus and serves as editor of Comment magazine.

Refreshments and book signing following the lecture in the Chapel Undercroft.

Sponsored by the Paul B. Henry Institute for the Study of Christianity and Politics and the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship.