Imagining the kingdom is the second part of a proposed trilogy exploring "cultural liturgies". In the first volume, Desiring the Kingdom (Baker Academic, 2009), Smith posed an exciting and outrageous question: "What if education wasn't first and foremost what we know, but about what we love?" In this second volume he follows this up by suggesting that "our actions emerge from how we imagine the world: "What if we are actors before we are thinkers?" (p 32). Smith's thesis is that we are defined more by what we worship than by what we think or believe. Thus we need to see more clearly how the affective affects the cognitive: to displace functional intellectualism, where what we do is the outcome of what we think.

His aim is "to articulate a Christian philosophy of action that takes seriously the creational conditions of human action: our embodiment, our finitude, our sociality, and the complexity of our being-in-the-world—the different ways that we “intend” our world." (p 33) He seeks to develop a liturgical anthropology, one that is defined but what we love (the affective), rather than how what we think or what we know (the cognitive). One that emphasises that we are not primarily theorisers.

To examine this em-body-ment, in Part 1, he looks at the work of two French academics, the philosopher Merleau-Ponty, particularly his nation of bodily intelligence and the sociologist Bourdieu, with his critique of theoretical reason. Bourdieu argues that human formation is not primarily cognitive. Part 2 "Sanctified Perception" develops and applies these "toolbox" ideas to look at how worship works.

Particularly helpful and insightful is the narrative function and role of worship. This is something that "secular" liturgies understand and utilise to shape and form us. We live in a storied world.

In essence what Smith is doing is connecting worship and worldview, he desires to make education more about formation not information, and sees liturgy - the rituals and routines that shape what we love - as playing an important part in this formation. He deftly bridges the academy and the church - the full footnotes provide the academic support for the arguments and the vignettes provide a more concrete view. Thus, the main text is interspersed with helpful examples utilising films such as Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Jane Campion's Bright Star, The King's Speech and novels like David Foster Wallace's Infinite Jest and Nicholson Baker's The Mezzanine.

His final chapter deals with the importance of ritual and liturgy in formation. Interestingly he identifies repetition in liturgy as being important.

Smith is not afraid of plundering Egypt - or in his case French theorists - he identifies what that have learnt because of common grace. His is a transformative approach.

This liturgical anthropology Smith develops is important not only for academics but for all Christian educators, from infant through to postgraduate level, as well as for pastors and church worship leaders. We are liturgical creatures, "sacramental animals"; we love what we worship. Worship, then is an encounter and a formation. I look forward to the third part of this so-far excellent trilogy. ( )

Imagining the kingdom is the second part of a proposed trilogy exploring "cultural liturgies". In the first volume, Desiring the Kingdom (Baker Academic, 2009), Smith posed an exciting and outrageous question: "What if education wasn't first and foremost what we know, but about what we love?" In this second volume he follows this up by suggesting that "our actions emerge from how we imagine the world: "What if we are actors before we are thinkers?" (p 32). Smith's thesis is that we are defined more by what we worship than by what we think or believe. Thus we need to see more clearly how the affective affects the cognitive: to displace functional intellectualism, where what we do is the outcome of what we think.

His aim is "to articulate a Christian philosophy of action that takes seriously the creational conditions of human action: our embodiment, our finitude, our sociality, and the complexity of our being-in-the-world—the different ways that we “intend” our world." (p 33) He seeks to develop a liturgical anthropology, one that is defined but what we love (the affective), rather than how what we think or what we know (the cognitive). One that emphasises that we are not primarily theorisers.

To examine this em-body-ment, in Part 1, he looks at the work of two French academics, the philosopher Merleau-Ponty, particularly his nation of bodily intelligence and the sociologist Bourdieu, with his critique of theoretical reason. Bourdieu argues that human formation is not primarily cognitive. Part 2 "Sanctified Perception" develops and applies these "toolbox" ideas to look at how worship works.

Particularly helpful and insightful is the narrative function and role of worship. This is something that "secular" liturgies understand and utilise to shape and form us. We live in a storied world.

In essence what Smith is doing is connecting worship and worldview, he desires to make education more about formation not information, and sees liturgy - the rituals and routines that shape what we love - as playing an important part in this formation. He deftly bridges the academy and the church - the full footnotes provide the academic support for the arguments and the vignettes provide a more concrete view. Thus, the main text is interspersed with helpful examples utilising films such as Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Jane Campion's Bright Star, The King's Speech and novels like David Foster Wallace's Infinite Jest and Nicholson Baker's The Mezzanine.

His final chapter deals with the importance of ritual and liturgy in formation. Interestingly he identifies repetition in liturgy as being important.

Smith is not afraid of plundering Egypt - or in his case French theorists - he identifies what that have learnt because of common grace. His is a transformative approach.

This liturgical anthropology Smith develops is important not only for academics but for all Christian educators, from infant through to postgraduate level, as well as for pastors and church worship leaders. We are liturgical creatures, "sacramental animals"; we love what we worship. Worship, then is an encounter and a formation. I look forward to the third part of this so-far excellent trilogy. ( )

Reviewed in 1-2/14 B&C by Jesse Covington, Maurice Lee, Sarah Skripsky, and Lesa Stern in "Irreducibly Embodied" (through our life narrative is formed our view of mission): the (especially) early narratives of our lives disciple us into (whatever) missional activity; therefore, set up institutional culture to facilitate kingdom-advancing (right) habit formation; my criticism: not enough emphasis on the Holy Spirit

Jesse Covington (associate professor, political science), Maurice Lee (assistant professor, religious studies), Sarah Skripsky (assistant professor, English), and Lesa Stern (associate professor, communication studies) teach at Westmont College.

Smith claims that our cognitions presuppose a corporeal understanding of the world around us—"visceral plausibility structure[s]"—constructed by the narratives of our lives. We find Smith's argument largely persuasive and helpful. His claims, however, also prompt questions about the accuracy of his anthropology, the nature of "worship" (as broadly defined by Smith), the relationship between the Church and Christian colleges, and implications for such educational communities.

To be a Christian, for example, is not simply to apprehend certain doctrines intellectually but also for one's imagination—what Smith calls praktognosia or practical knowledge (a bodily, non-discursive, pre-reflective orientation)—to be shaped and active in certain ways. Bourdieu focuses on communal practices (non-propositional, socialized actions, rituals, and inclinations)—instantiations of what Smith calls habitus—which determine more deeply and consistently than any theoretical cognition how human beings relate, decide, desire, and worship. Learning, then, is more fundamentally a matter of becoming proficient in such practices than it is becoming conscious of concepts and propositions.

Christian formation is missional; its end is for Christians to be sent into the world. Smith therefore claims to be opposed to a hierarchical dualism of mind and body that prioritizes intellectual, reflective, discursive cognition over practical, affective, aesthetic involvement.

What is clear about Smith's view of worship is that it relies heavily on imagination—hence, the book's title and theme. He describes imagination as "a kind of faculty by which we navigate and make sense of our world"—imagination serves as both pilot and interpreter. In developing his liturgical anthropology, Smith invokes Augustine, Aristotle, and others to argue for the role of the senses in "knowing" the world via experience and image. He builds a case for the centrality of story in Christian life and influence, titling his final chapter "Restor(y)ing the World: Christian Formation for Mission."

In order for Christian colleges to effectively engage in Christian formation, they need an environment in which "the Story of the gospel is imaginatively woven into the entire ethos of the institution … it requires incorporating intentional historic practices of Christian worship." We agree that the gospel should be woven into all aspects of the Christian college: residence life, student life, and faculty activity. No small task.