The term “worldview” is thrown around a lot in evangelical circles—especially in the world of Christian education—but very rarely is it defined with any care or precision. Much less do many Christians realize just how controversial it is. After all, the term doesn’t come from Scripture or even from Christian theologians, but rather from modern […]
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Tag Archives: James K.A. Smith
Existential Apologetics: A Third Way beyond Classical and Presuppositional
June 15, 2015 
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This post is based on an adult Sunday school lesson that I taught at Riveroaks Reformed Presbyterian Church in Germantown, TN on June 14, 2015. It seems that most discussions on Christian apologetics these days have focused on two major schools of thought: classical and presuppositional. The classical folks trace their lineage back to Thomas […]
Continue reading Resources on Neo-Calvinism and Two Kingdoms
March 30, 2015 0 Comments
Books Bavinck, Herman. Reformed Dogmatics. 4 vols. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 2008. Bratt, James. Abraham Kuyper: Modern Calvinist, Christian Democrat. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2013. Frame, John. The Escondido Theology: A Reformed Response to Two Kingdom Theology. Whitefield Media, 2011. Kuyper, Abraham. Lectures on Calvinism. Grand Rapids, M: Eerdmans, 1943. McIlhenny, Ryan, ed. Kingdoms Apart: […]
Continue reading Review: How (Not) to Be Secular by James K.A. Smith
January 28, 2015 2 Comments
This weekend I had the privilege of delivering a series of talks at a men’s retreat for my church. The theme of my talks was “Christian Calling in a Secular Culture.” My primary text was the Book of Ecclesiastes, which expresses better than any other book I know what it feels like to live in […]
Continue reading Two Kingdoms vs. Two Cities: What’s the Difference?
September 6, 2014 2 Comments
As Christians, we are called to be “in” the world but not “of” the world. Jesus preached in the Sermon on the Mount that our mission is to be salt and light (Matt. 5:13-16). But exactly how are we supposed to do this in the midst of a secular culture? What does it look like concretely? […]
Continue readingOn “Courage” in the (Christian) Academy
July 7, 2014 0 Comments
Another post worth sharing by James K.A. Smith. This time he reflects on claims of “courage” made by scholars (both progressive and conservative) when they risk the derision and scorn of people whose opinion they never really cared about in the first place. Are such scholars really risking anything? But Smith closes with an observation on […]
Continue readingSteadfast Principles in a Changing World
July 6, 2014 1 Comment
A few days ago, the New York Times opinion page included a short piece called “Steadfast Principles in a Changing World” by James K.A. Smith, professor of philosophy at Calvin College, on the subject of Christianity and capitalism. Smith differentiates between the concept of free markets—which is not incompatible with Christianity—and modern-day capitalism. Insofar as capitalism today […]
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