James K.A. Smith

James K.A. Smith is professor of philosophy at Calvin University, where he holds the Gary & Henrietta Byker Chair in Applied Reformed Theology and Worldview. He served for many years as the editor-in-chief of Image journal and previously edited Comment magazine, and he is a senior fellow at Cardus.

Smith's Cultural Liturgies trilogy (Desiring the Kingdom, Imagining the Kingdom, Awaiting the King) argues that human beings are fundamentally lovers shaped by the embodied liturgies they participate in—both ecclesial and secular—rather than primarily thinkers. His more popular-level work (You Are What You Love, On the Road with Saint Augustine, How (Not) to Be Secular) has translated those arguments to a broad evangelical audience and reframed conversations about formation, worship, and modern selfhood.