YOU ARE WHAT YOU LOVE

THE SPIRITUAL POWER of HABIT

JAMES K. A. SMITH

BrazosPress

a division of Baker Publishing Group

Grand Rapids, Michigan

© 2016 by James K. A. Smith

Published by Brazos Press

a division of Baker Publishing Group

P.O. Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287

www.brazospress.com

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—for example, electronic, photocopy, recording—without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Smith, James K. A., 1970– author.

Title: You are what you love : the spiritual power of habit / James K. A. Smith.

Description: Grand Rapids, MI : Brazos Press, a division of Baker Publishing Group, [2016] | Includes bibliographical references and index. | Description based on print version record and CIP data provided by publisher; resource not viewed.

Identifiers: LCCN 2015045075 (print) | LCCN 2015040686 (ebook) | ISBN 9781493403660 (ebook) | ISBN 9781587433801 (cloth)

Subjects: LCSH: Liturgics. | Worship. | Christianity and culture.

Classification: LCC BV176.3 (print) | LCC BV176.3 .S48 2016 (ebook) | DDC 264.001—dc23

LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2015045075

Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from the Holy Bible, New International Version®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com

Scripture quotations labeled NRSV are from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright © 1989, by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Portions of chapter 5 originally appeared in “Growing a Healthy Heart” (Modern Reformation 24, no. 3 [May/June 2015]: 38–43) and “Marriage for the Common Good” (Comment, July 17, 2014, https://www.cardus.ca/comment/article/4247/marriage-for-the-common-good/) and are used here by permission.

Portions of chapter 7 originally appeared in “The Gift of Constraints” (Faith & Leadership, September 10, 2012, https://www.faithandleadership.com/james-ka-smith-gift-constraints); “Jubilee: Creation Is a Manifesto” (The High Calling, February 22, 2015, http://www.thehighcalling.org/articles/essay/jubilee-creation-manifesto); “Pursue God: How God Pulls Us to Himself” (The High Calling, October 3, 2014, http://www.thehighcalling.org/articles/essay/pursue-god-how-god-pulls-us-himself); and “Tradition for Innovation” (Faith & Leadership, June 13, 2012, https://www.faithandleadership.com/james-ka-smith-tradition-innovation) and are used here by permission.

For

John Witvliet,

co-conspirator

In memory of

Robert Webber,

one of my most important teachers,

though we never met

Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.

Proverbs ...

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About You Are What You Love: The Spiritual Power of Habit

In this book, award-winning author James K. A. Smith shows that who and what we worship fundamentally shape our hearts. And while we desire to shape culture, we are not often aware of how culture shapes us. We might not realize the ways our hearts are being taught to love rival gods instead of the one for whom we were made. Smith helps readers recognize the formative power of culture and the transformative possibilities of Christian practices. He explains that worship is the “imagination station” that incubates our loves and longings so that our cultural endeavors are indexed toward God and his kingdom. This is why the church and worshiping in a local community of believers should be the hub and heart of Christian formation and discipleship.

Following the publication of his influential work Desiring the Kingdom, Smith received numerous requests from pastors and leaders for a more accessible version of that book’s content. No mere abridgment, this new book draws on years of Smith’s popular presentations on the ideas in Desiring the Kingdom to offer a fresh, bottom-up rearticulation. The author creatively uses film, literature, and music illustrations to engage readers and includes new material on marriage, family, youth ministry, and faith and work. He also suggests individual and communal practices for shaping the Christian life.

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