Smith 6.docx

Baylor University George W. Truett Theological Seminary Christian Worship THEO 7316 Elí Gutiérrez Chapter 6 “A Christian University is for Lovers. The Education of Desire.” James K. A. Smith, Desiring the Kingdom

In this chapter Smith addresses the question: what is the end of Christian education? He answers according to the anthropology sketched in previous chapters. He argues that our fundamental orientation to the world is governed not primarily by what we think but by what we love and desire. Our loves and desires are aimed and directed by habits. Which are thick practices oriented to transform us in a certain kind of people. These habits, or liturgies, are practiced daily and shape our most fundamental desires. Thus, Christianity is more than a worldview. What we believe grows out of what we do. Therefore, Christian worship is a pedagogy of desire and a counterformation. Learning a Christian doctrine does not touch our desires. Smith suggest that Christian education should not be only information but formation. He criticizes the traditional Christian universities. Their graduates do not seem much different to graduates in other universities. Their work is pretty much the same work of everybody else. They may think different but they do the same jobs. We are not called primarily to think in some way, not even believing some doctrines. We have been called to be certain kind of people, disciples of Jesus. Which is defined more by what we do. This should be the goal of Christian education and Christian worship as well: the formation of disciples of Jesus. Smith suggests that Christian universities should be an extension of the church: ecclesial universities. If education is always a matter of formation, and the most profound formation happens in liturgies, then a Christian education must draw deeply from the well of Christian liturgy. The ecclesial university would be a counter-cultural institution without being an anti-cultural institution. It would represent a kind of “new monasticism”. Smith proposes to reconnect the classroom, the chapel, and the church. Also, the dorm, neighborhood and living areas as spaces of formation. He proposes daily community worship practices. There must be a rhythm and a regularity to formative practices in order for them to shape the identity of students. This may transform the ecclesial university in something strange. But it should be that way in order to be an effective space of counter-formation. 

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What does he mean by “What we believe grows out of what we do”? Is he saying that our worship is the source of our doctrine and beliefs? I would rather say that there is an interdependency. Besides, I think Smith fails in not addressing the importance of the Scripture in the shaping of what we do and believe. Smith emphasizes the practices as the defining feature of Christians. Is he saying that Christians are Christians for what they do? I would disagree, our Christianity is not on our actions but on our heart. It is shown not on what we do but on how we do what we do.