Christians engaged in cultural renewal need to be cognizant of how cultural practices viscerally shape our desires. We are not disembodied brains who view the world with a detached intellectualism. We are shaped by the cultural spaces we inhabit and the cultural habits we practice. Unless we realize what subliminal messages these cultural liturgies are sending, we will be unaware that they are drawing our hearts to an alternative and un-Christian vision of the Kingdom.

This lecture was given as part of the Gospel & Culture Lecture series featuring James K.A. Smith. Jamie Smith is the Professor of Philosophy at Calvin College. An expert in French philosophy and postmodern thought, Jamie draws on philosophy for his real passion: cultural criticism. He is an award-winning author whose books include Who’s Afraid of Postmodernism?; Desiring the Kingdom: Worship, Worldview, and Cultural Formation; and, most recently, Letters to a Young Calvinist.