A mini review of You Are What You Love: The Spiritual Power of Habit, by James K.A. Smith.
Honestly, it will be difficult for me to keep this “mini review” brief. You Are What You Love contains so much to unpack in its seven chapters.
Overall, I really enjoyed this book. The first chapter was difficult for me, and I dipped in and out of its pages over a period of several weeks. But once I started chapter two, I read the book at every possible opportunity. Smith has a revolutionary grasp of what he calls the “liturgy,” or the message, of even such things as how buildings are constructed. For instance, a mall has an underlying liturgy in how it blocks the view of the outside world, lets in a hazy light, is constructed like a world with itself. That message is one of consumerism: the idea that I can buy something that will make me happy.
Smith then traces this concept to the new church buildings that follow the design of coffee shops and malls in an attempt to appeal to seekers. What we don’t understand, he urges, is that these designs come with built-in liturgies. And if a church building looks and feels like a mall, people almost cannot avoid approaching the worship service with a consumerist attitude. In other words, ‘If I buy Jesus, He will make me happy.’
My Thoughts
As I was reading this portion of You Are What You Love, I was very much fascinated. Smith’s study of liturgy, however, draws him to a much more ecumenical stance than my own. His love for material objects to help teach the message could, I think, lead to a dangerous focus on physical surroundings above eternal focus. Of course, many readers will differ from my position here. This book is worth reading and considering.
Like me, you will likely walk away from You Are What You Love with much to mull over and discuss. And most likely you will disagree with some of what the author says. But isn’t this demand for serious thought and discussion what good nonfiction does for us?
Smith is a talented author and I loved his elegant phrasing–and his use of the word, “inhabit.” (Read the book and you’ll see what I mean!)
Favorite Quotes from You Are What You Love:
“…discipleship needs to be centered in and fueled by our immersion in the body of Christ.”
Preface
“The place we unconsciously strive toward is what ancient philosophers of habit called our telos—our goal, our end. But the telos we live toward is not something that we primarily know or believe or think about; rather, our telos is what we want, what we long for, what we crave. It is less an ideal that we have ideas about and more a vision of “the good life” that we desire. It is a picture of flourishing that we imagine in a visceral, often-unarticulated way—a vague yet attractive sense of where we think true happiness is found.”
Chapter 1
“Because if you are what you love and if love is a virtue, then love is a habit. This means that our most fundamental orientation to the world—the longings and desires that orient us toward some version of the good life—is shaped and configured by imitation and practice. This has important implications for how we approach Christian formation and discipleship.”
Chapter 1
“The orientation of the heart happens from the bottom up, through the formation of our habits of desire. Learning to love (God) takes practice.”
Chapter 1
“Christian worship faces this disturbing reality head-on, recognizing the gap between what we think we love and what we really love, what still propels us toward rival gods and rival visions of the good life. This is why the people of God are called to regularly confess their sins.”
Chapter 2
“The mall is a religious site, not because it is theological but because it is liturgical. Its spiritual significance (and threat) isn’t found in its “ideas” or its “messages” but in its rituals. The mall doesn’t care what you think, but it is very much interested in what you love. Victoria’s secret is that she’s actually after your heart.”
Chapter 2
“How do we learn to be consumerists? Not because someone comes along and offers an argument for why stuff will make me happy. I don’t think my way into consumerism. Rather, I’m covertly conscripted into a way of life because I have been formed by cultural practices that are nothing less than secular liturgies. My loves have been automated by rituals I didn’t even realize were liturgies.”
Chapter 2
“Liturgies, then, are calibration technologies. They train our loves by aiming them toward a certain telos. But not all liturgies are created equal: some miscalibrate our hearts, pointing us off course toward pseudo or rival norths. But fixing such disoriented heart-compasses requires recalibration.”
Chapter 3
“…too often we look for the Spirit in the extraordinary when God has promised to be present in the ordinary.”
Chapter 3
“Worship is the arena in which God recalibrates our hearts, reforms our desires, and rehabituates our loves. Worship isn’t just something we do; it is where God does something to us. Worship is the heart of discipleship because it is the gymnasium in which God retrains our hearts.”
Chapter 3
“…we cannot hope to restore the world if we are constantly reinventing the church.”
Chapter 7
More book reviews for those who are short on time to read reviews but long on desire to read: Mini Book Reviews.
