Join us on Thursday, Feb. 20 to hear from with Christian thought leader and award-winning author Dr. James KA Smith!
6 - 6:45 pm: Reception with desserts, hot drinks + roaring fires at Graham Memorial
7 -8:30 pm: James KA Smith on Sanctified Ambition: ‘What does God think of our Drive for Achievement'?’
Smith is Professor of Philosophy at Calvin College where he holds the Gary & Henrietta Byker Chair in Applied Reformed Theology & Worldview.
He'll speak on the topic of ambition from his newly released and much celebrated book, On the Road with Saint Augustine. As our guide, Smith will show how “Augustine’s timeless wisdom speaks to the worries and struggles of contemporary life,” particularly our worries and struggles over whether our ambitions are vain or virtuous.
About the Speaker
James KA Smith is professor of philosophy at Calvin University where he holds the Gary & Henrietta Byker Chair in Applied Reformed Theology & Worldview. Smith also serves as editor in chief of Image journal, a quarterly devoted to “art, mystery, and faith.” He is the award-winning author of a number of books, including: Who’s Afraid of Postmodernism?, Desiring the Kingdom, and How (Not) To Be Secular: Reading Charles Taylor (2014), You Are What You Love: The Spiritual Power of Habit (2016) and Awaiting the King: Reforming Public Theology (2017). His latest book is On the Road with Saint Augustine: A Real-World Spirituality for Restless Hearts (October 2019). His popular writing has appeared in magazines such as Christianity Today, First Things, and the Los Angeles Review of Books, as well as the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and USA Today. Jamie and his wife, Deanna, have four children , and live in the Heritage Hill neighborhood of Grand Rapids where attend Sherman Street Christian Reformed Church.