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persistent_reader's review
5.0
As human beings, we live in time. We have histories. We carry baggage from the past with us. As Christians, redemption isn’t meant to make us atemporal and efface how time has affected us. Rather God orders and knows our times and is with us in them to make all those things new.
Smith is one of my favorite authors. Thoughtful, wise, and giving the reader new ways to think and live as a whole person. This book did not disappoint.
Smith is one of my favorite authors. Thoughtful, wise, and giving the reader new ways to think and live as a whole person. This book did not disappoint.
horatiovws's review against another edition
challenging
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
4.5
adamrshields's review against another edition
4.0
Summary: Framed as three meditations on Ecclesiastes, Smith wants us to pay attention to our presence in time as part of an embrace of our humanity.
James KA Smith has greatly influenced me over the years. Desiring the Kingdom helped me think about how culture forms us and how we need to pay attention to cultural formation as part of spiritual formation. Imagining the Kingdom oriented me toward spiritual formation as practice, not information acquisition. You Are What You Love I have read twice and can be thought of as a popular level combination of the first two Kingdom books. Still, it also gives language to how spiritual formation works, which I find helpful in my work as a spiritual director. The Fall of Interpretation was part of several books that helped me grapple with hermeneutics and epistemology. The primary thought of our finitude as a feature of our created humanity and not solely as a result of our sin has been significant. As I have said many times before, I am not reformed. Still, if I were to be, it would be because of books like Letters to a Young Calvinist, which presents reformed thought as fundamentally oriented around covenant instead of TULIP or election. Said another way, reformed theology is about ecclesiology more than soteriology. But really, it is a book about Christian maturity. This introduction is already too long, but there are more books of Smith's that I have read and influenced me, and I will keep reading him because his writing has so influenced me.
How to Inhabit Time is hard to describe. Like pretty much all of Smith's books, it is oriented toward spiritual formation. It is written at a more popular level than some of his books, but also still has a lot of discussion of philosophy. It is more memoir oriented and confessional than any of his other books. (I hope that Smith will write a fuller memoir or autobiography at some point. I know quite a bit of his story from reading his books, articles, interviews, and talks, but I think there is more.)
How to Inhabit Time wants to remind the reader that time is essential. Similar to the point of Fall of Interpretation, time is a marker of our created finitude. The fourth chapter about embracing the ephemeral may not make intuitive sense, but it makes experiential sense when you realize that all things will pass away. Accepting that all things will pass away reframes how we think of time and can free us from being bound by concerns of time and legacy.
Part of what I love about Smith is that while he is a philosopher, he isn't oriented toward philosophy for the sake of philosophy but toward philosophy as a way to think about spiritual formation and the limits of reason detached from practice in helping us to think about God and faith.
I did see complaints about discussions of history, race, and justice in a few other reviews in How to Inhabit Time. This is not a book on social justice broadly, but the negative comments prove his point that we can only see the present well if we understand it contextually within history. So many current political and social disagreements are rooted in having a different understanding of our history. That is not to say that all issues are differences in framing our history, but these are theological and philosophical issues, not just historical ones.
I picked up How to Inhabit Time as an audiobook because it was on sale for 1/3 of the price of the kindle book. I have several of Smith's books on audiobook. And I am always mixed on that as a choice. On the one hand, I pretty much always finish audiobooks. But, on the other hand, I know Smith's voice from listening to so many talks and interviews, and I wish he would narrate his books. Other people narrating when I know the voice of the narrator always grates at me. I almost always buy a print copy of his books because I want to highlight or reread the book.
Like many of Smith's books, this is a book that I think will benefit from a second (or third reading), not because it is a challenging read but because Smith is dealing with modes of thought, not just ideas. Modes of thought are not easily changed and require very slow and wide turns. It is more like turning a cargo ship than spinning on roller skates.
James KA Smith has greatly influenced me over the years. Desiring the Kingdom helped me think about how culture forms us and how we need to pay attention to cultural formation as part of spiritual formation. Imagining the Kingdom oriented me toward spiritual formation as practice, not information acquisition. You Are What You Love I have read twice and can be thought of as a popular level combination of the first two Kingdom books. Still, it also gives language to how spiritual formation works, which I find helpful in my work as a spiritual director. The Fall of Interpretation was part of several books that helped me grapple with hermeneutics and epistemology. The primary thought of our finitude as a feature of our created humanity and not solely as a result of our sin has been significant. As I have said many times before, I am not reformed. Still, if I were to be, it would be because of books like Letters to a Young Calvinist, which presents reformed thought as fundamentally oriented around covenant instead of TULIP or election. Said another way, reformed theology is about ecclesiology more than soteriology. But really, it is a book about Christian maturity. This introduction is already too long, but there are more books of Smith's that I have read and influenced me, and I will keep reading him because his writing has so influenced me.
How to Inhabit Time is hard to describe. Like pretty much all of Smith's books, it is oriented toward spiritual formation. It is written at a more popular level than some of his books, but also still has a lot of discussion of philosophy. It is more memoir oriented and confessional than any of his other books. (I hope that Smith will write a fuller memoir or autobiography at some point. I know quite a bit of his story from reading his books, articles, interviews, and talks, but I think there is more.)
How to Inhabit Time wants to remind the reader that time is essential. Similar to the point of Fall of Interpretation, time is a marker of our created finitude. The fourth chapter about embracing the ephemeral may not make intuitive sense, but it makes experiential sense when you realize that all things will pass away. Accepting that all things will pass away reframes how we think of time and can free us from being bound by concerns of time and legacy.
Part of what I love about Smith is that while he is a philosopher, he isn't oriented toward philosophy for the sake of philosophy but toward philosophy as a way to think about spiritual formation and the limits of reason detached from practice in helping us to think about God and faith.
I did see complaints about discussions of history, race, and justice in a few other reviews in How to Inhabit Time. This is not a book on social justice broadly, but the negative comments prove his point that we can only see the present well if we understand it contextually within history. So many current political and social disagreements are rooted in having a different understanding of our history. That is not to say that all issues are differences in framing our history, but these are theological and philosophical issues, not just historical ones.
I picked up How to Inhabit Time as an audiobook because it was on sale for 1/3 of the price of the kindle book. I have several of Smith's books on audiobook. And I am always mixed on that as a choice. On the one hand, I pretty much always finish audiobooks. But, on the other hand, I know Smith's voice from listening to so many talks and interviews, and I wish he would narrate his books. Other people narrating when I know the voice of the narrator always grates at me. I almost always buy a print copy of his books because I want to highlight or reread the book.
Like many of Smith's books, this is a book that I think will benefit from a second (or third reading), not because it is a challenging read but because Smith is dealing with modes of thought, not just ideas. Modes of thought are not easily changed and require very slow and wide turns. It is more like turning a cargo ship than spinning on roller skates.
gjones19's review
5.0
Absolutely captivating. The theology, the writing, the reflections on history and time - I loved it! And I’ll need to chew on these ideas for a long, long time.
dbg108's review
4.0
Much to appreciate in this pastoral and reflective meditation on time. I'm not convinced that Christianity is essentially an event, as Smith argues throughout. But the present-ness of time and the Spirit certainly invite us to consider the many gifts in our individual and collective pasts, presents, and futures.
drbobcornwall's review
5.0
We can argue about whether God is outside of time or not, but when it comes to us, we inhabit time. We have experienced the past, at least our own past. We know that there is a future ahead of us, though we don't know what it will entail. We may have our expectations and our plans, but until they become our present things can change. So, with past and future framing our life experience, how might we live faithfully in the present? As one who is trained as a historical theologian, I have a great appreciation for what has already transpired, for good or for bad. That past helps form the present. It also helps form the possibilities that lie ahead of us. In other words, history has great value for we are all part of the historical process.
I found James K. A. Smith's book "How to Inhabit Time" to be not only thought-provoking but clarifying. Smith speaks of time being a "spiritual adventure" (p. xiii). If it is an adventure how do we experience it? Smith brings to this question his scholarly acumen as a philosopher (he teaches philosophy at Calvin University). He's written about Augustine, and that informs this conversation. He is a Reformed theologian, and that orientation is present in the book, and that might be problematic for some, but I found him to be fair and open to possibilities. Thus, is not a hyper-Calvinist tract. In other words, I as one who believes that the future is open did not feel as if he writes anything that would shut down that conversation. That is because Smith invites us as the reader to reflect and contemplate what it means to live in time. While the book is rooted in scholarship it is offered to a broad audience, which is fitting for a book under the Brazos imprint.
Smith seeks to address what he perceives to be a temporal disorientation present within Christianity. We seem unable to keep time, and thus live in a temporal fog. He notes that "too many contemporary Christians look at history and see only a barren, textureless landscape." We seem unable to "appreciate the nuances and dynamics of history." Thus, we can't discern the "when" of our existence. In other words, we don't understand how the past influences and impacts both the present and the future (p. 5). That affects the way we read Scripture and live our lives as Christians. As an example, he points to the way some white Americans can't discern why "All Lives Matter" is an inappropriate response to "Black Lives Matter." Thus, the ideal -- "all lives matter" -- doesn't take into consideration the now of the declaration that Black Lives Matter. Thus, this book is a call to address our distorted spiritual time-keeping by recognizing our embeddedness in history. No, this isn't a book about time management!
Having established the importance of spiritual timekeeping in the introduction, Smith begins exploring this reality of being embedded in history. The first chapter reminds us that we are "Creatures of Time." We live in time. Our existence is contingent. That is what is might not have been and could be otherwise. He writes that "history is the zig and zag of choices and events that both open and close possibilities" (p. 31). In other words, we can't go back to the past. That has already been written, and the choices in the past affect the possibilities going forward. So, we move forward into time, with the Spirit present with us. Moving on in chapter 2 to "A History of the Human Heart," Smith speaks more fully about the nature of potentiality, noting that the possibilities available in the future are not infinite. Again the past and present influence the potentialities of the future. Regarding the past, he speaks of grace overcoming what has happened but not erasing it or undoing it. He writes that "to be human is to be the product of a history that should have been other wise: that's what it means to live in a world off-kilter due to sin and evil. " That history is who I am. (p. 67).
In "The Sacred folds of Kairos" (ch. 3), he speaks of the present, where history and eternity intersect. In this chapter, he draws on Kierkegaard, and speaks of what it means to be a follower of God. It is not enough to be present with Jesus in his own time and place, it is a question of how we follow in this moment. It is a reminder that time is not merely a straightline, but in terms of kairos, it "bends and curves around the incarnate Christ like a temporal center of gravity." Here he speaks to the nature of the liturgical calendar (p. 85). This leads to a conversation in chapter 5 about embracing the ephemeral or loving what we'll lose. Thus, he writes that "Christian timekeeping is like a dance on a tightrope: on the one hand, we are called to inhabit time in a way that stretches us, to be aware of so much more than now." Here he speaks of living futurally aware of our inheritances. But on the other hand, "we always live in the present" (p. 100). The question then is how we live in the present as the nexus of past and future. As such we live with the ephemeral, what fades away. As Ecclesiastes suggests, all is vanity. It is impermanent. Time involves change.
Thus, in chapter 5, we learn to inhabit the now as we encounter the "Seasons of the Heart." As Ecclesiastes reminds us, there is a time for everything. There are seasons of inevitability and others that involve choices. In our journey, this reality involves discernment, of recognizing our seasonal location. Discernment involves prayerful listening while in the midst of things. He suggests that if we wish to transcend time then we should develop multi-generational friendships. Here he notes that "there are patterns of a human life that, despite our claims to utter uniqueness, are in fact repeated and shared" (p. 134). When it comes to our relationship with God, while God might be eternal we are seasonal. That relationship then will be marked by seasonality. We experience God differently in different moments of time.
The Christian life is a spiritual adventure that involves different seasons. We may be moving toward the future, but Smith suggests we shouldn't live ahead of time (chapter 6). We should not get ahead of ourselves. We can imagine many things, but it is experience that tells us what is possible. These are the constraints of our creaturehood. Here he reflects on eschatological matters, and more pointedly on what he calls "practical eschatology. Because we as Christians are futural people, we pray for the coming of God's kingdom. But even as we pray for it to come we know that it has yet to come. That means we are a "waiting people." So, we should not rush the kingdom. So, "living eschatologically is not so much a matter of knowing the end as knowing when we are now. An eschatological orientation isn't only about a future expectation but also a recalibration of our present" (p. 148-149). That doesn't mean we wait passively or "fetishize and atemporal eternity" (p. 149). In other words, we should not neglect the present by expecting the future. Thus, "eschatology is about how we live in the now, and that 'we' is as wide as humanity, even if we're not all keeping time in the same way" (p. 155). Thus, eschatology is political. It is also a call to live without hubris.
I found this book to be a helpful reflection on the nature of time, of how we live in the present while knowing that a future awaits us, both and present and future are impacted by the past. Yet there is grace that allows us to overcome even if we can't erase that past. The good news is that God makes all things new.
.
I found James K. A. Smith's book "How to Inhabit Time" to be not only thought-provoking but clarifying. Smith speaks of time being a "spiritual adventure" (p. xiii). If it is an adventure how do we experience it? Smith brings to this question his scholarly acumen as a philosopher (he teaches philosophy at Calvin University). He's written about Augustine, and that informs this conversation. He is a Reformed theologian, and that orientation is present in the book, and that might be problematic for some, but I found him to be fair and open to possibilities. Thus, is not a hyper-Calvinist tract. In other words, I as one who believes that the future is open did not feel as if he writes anything that would shut down that conversation. That is because Smith invites us as the reader to reflect and contemplate what it means to live in time. While the book is rooted in scholarship it is offered to a broad audience, which is fitting for a book under the Brazos imprint.
Smith seeks to address what he perceives to be a temporal disorientation present within Christianity. We seem unable to keep time, and thus live in a temporal fog. He notes that "too many contemporary Christians look at history and see only a barren, textureless landscape." We seem unable to "appreciate the nuances and dynamics of history." Thus, we can't discern the "when" of our existence. In other words, we don't understand how the past influences and impacts both the present and the future (p. 5). That affects the way we read Scripture and live our lives as Christians. As an example, he points to the way some white Americans can't discern why "All Lives Matter" is an inappropriate response to "Black Lives Matter." Thus, the ideal -- "all lives matter" -- doesn't take into consideration the now of the declaration that Black Lives Matter. Thus, this book is a call to address our distorted spiritual time-keeping by recognizing our embeddedness in history. No, this isn't a book about time management!
Having established the importance of spiritual timekeeping in the introduction, Smith begins exploring this reality of being embedded in history. The first chapter reminds us that we are "Creatures of Time." We live in time. Our existence is contingent. That is what is might not have been and could be otherwise. He writes that "history is the zig and zag of choices and events that both open and close possibilities" (p. 31). In other words, we can't go back to the past. That has already been written, and the choices in the past affect the possibilities going forward. So, we move forward into time, with the Spirit present with us. Moving on in chapter 2 to "A History of the Human Heart," Smith speaks more fully about the nature of potentiality, noting that the possibilities available in the future are not infinite. Again the past and present influence the potentialities of the future. Regarding the past, he speaks of grace overcoming what has happened but not erasing it or undoing it. He writes that "to be human is to be the product of a history that should have been other wise: that's what it means to live in a world off-kilter due to sin and evil. " That history is who I am. (p. 67).
In "The Sacred folds of Kairos" (ch. 3), he speaks of the present, where history and eternity intersect. In this chapter, he draws on Kierkegaard, and speaks of what it means to be a follower of God. It is not enough to be present with Jesus in his own time and place, it is a question of how we follow in this moment. It is a reminder that time is not merely a straightline, but in terms of kairos, it "bends and curves around the incarnate Christ like a temporal center of gravity." Here he speaks to the nature of the liturgical calendar (p. 85). This leads to a conversation in chapter 5 about embracing the ephemeral or loving what we'll lose. Thus, he writes that "Christian timekeeping is like a dance on a tightrope: on the one hand, we are called to inhabit time in a way that stretches us, to be aware of so much more than now." Here he speaks of living futurally aware of our inheritances. But on the other hand, "we always live in the present" (p. 100). The question then is how we live in the present as the nexus of past and future. As such we live with the ephemeral, what fades away. As Ecclesiastes suggests, all is vanity. It is impermanent. Time involves change.
Thus, in chapter 5, we learn to inhabit the now as we encounter the "Seasons of the Heart." As Ecclesiastes reminds us, there is a time for everything. There are seasons of inevitability and others that involve choices. In our journey, this reality involves discernment, of recognizing our seasonal location. Discernment involves prayerful listening while in the midst of things. He suggests that if we wish to transcend time then we should develop multi-generational friendships. Here he notes that "there are patterns of a human life that, despite our claims to utter uniqueness, are in fact repeated and shared" (p. 134). When it comes to our relationship with God, while God might be eternal we are seasonal. That relationship then will be marked by seasonality. We experience God differently in different moments of time.
The Christian life is a spiritual adventure that involves different seasons. We may be moving toward the future, but Smith suggests we shouldn't live ahead of time (chapter 6). We should not get ahead of ourselves. We can imagine many things, but it is experience that tells us what is possible. These are the constraints of our creaturehood. Here he reflects on eschatological matters, and more pointedly on what he calls "practical eschatology. Because we as Christians are futural people, we pray for the coming of God's kingdom. But even as we pray for it to come we know that it has yet to come. That means we are a "waiting people." So, we should not rush the kingdom. So, "living eschatologically is not so much a matter of knowing the end as knowing when we are now. An eschatological orientation isn't only about a future expectation but also a recalibration of our present" (p. 148-149). That doesn't mean we wait passively or "fetishize and atemporal eternity" (p. 149). In other words, we should not neglect the present by expecting the future. Thus, "eschatology is about how we live in the now, and that 'we' is as wide as humanity, even if we're not all keeping time in the same way" (p. 155). Thus, eschatology is political. It is also a call to live without hubris.
I found this book to be a helpful reflection on the nature of time, of how we live in the present while knowing that a future awaits us, both and present and future are impacted by the past. Yet there is grace that allows us to overcome even if we can't erase that past. The good news is that God makes all things new.
.