James K. A. Smith Senior Fellow

James K. A. Smith is a professor of philosophy at Calvin College, where he holds the Gary and Henrietta Byker Chair in Applied Reformed Theology and Worldview. Trained as a philosopher with a focus on contemporary French thought, Smith has expanded on that scholarly platform to become an engaged public intellectual and cultural critic. An award-winning author and widely-traveled speaker, he has emerged as a thought leader with a unique gift of translation, building bridges between the academy, society, and the church.

The author of many influential books, Dr. Smith also regularly writes for magazines and newspapers such as The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Slate, First Things, Christianity Today, Books & Culture, and The Hedgehog Review. He served as editor-in-chief of Image Journal.

He and his wife, Deanna, are elementary school sweethearts with four adult children and (so far) three children-in-law. Natives of Stratford, Ontario, they lived in Philadelphia and Los Angeles before settling in the Heritage Hill neighborhood of Grand Rapids. They are committed urban dwellers who enjoy gardening, travel, wine with friends, and curling up on the couch with their maltipoo, Kirby.

Speaker’s Bureau

September 11th, 2020 | “Habits, Home and the Human Heart” an Online Conversation with James K. A. Smith

October 7th, 2019 | “On the Road with Saint Augustine” an Evening Conversation in Washington, DC with James K. A. Smith and Elizabeth Bruenig

June 18th, 2018 | “Moving Beyond Conflict: Science and Faith in Harmony” an Evening Conversation in Washington, DC with James K. A. Smith and Francis Collins

December 4th, 2017 | “Reforming Public Theology” an Evening Conversation in Washington, DC with James K. A. Smith and Michael Wear

June 13th, 2017 | “When Adolescence Has Become a Destination” an Evening Conversation in Washington, DC with James K. A. Smith and Ben Sasse

Related Trinity Forum Readings

“Confessions” by Augustine, featuring an original introduction by James K. A. Smith

Selected Publications and Scholarly Work

• How to Inhabit Time (2022)

• On the Road with Saint Augustine: A Real World Spirituality for Restless Hearts (2019)

• All Things Hold Together in Christ (2018)

• Awaiting the King: Reforming Public Theology (2017)

• Evolution and the Fall (2017)

• You Are What You Love: The Spiritual Power of Habit (2016)

• How (Not) to Be Secular: Reading Charles Taylor (2014)

• Who’s Afraid of Relativism?: Community, Contingency, and Creaturehood (2014)

• Discipleship in the Present Tense: Reflections on Faith and Culture (2013)

• Imagining the Kingdom: How Worship Works (2013)

• After Modernity?: Secularity, Globalization, and the Re-enchantment of the World (2012)

• The Fall of Interpretation, 2nd Edition: Philosophical Foundations for a Creational Hermeneutic (2012)

• Teaching and Christian Practices: Reshaping Faith and Learning (2011)

• Letters to a Young Calvinist: An Invitation to the Reformed Tradition (2010)

• Science and the Spirit: A Pentecostal Engagement with the Sciences (2010)

• Desiring the Kingdom: Worship, Worldview, and Cultural Formation (2009)

• The Devil Reads Derrida: And Other Essays on the University, the Church, Politics, and the Arts (2009)

• Hermeneutics at the Crossroads (2006)

• Who’s Afraid of Postmodernism?: Taking Derrida, Lyotard, and Foucault to Church (2006)

• Jacques Derrida: Live Theory (2005)

• Introducing Radical Orthodoxy: Mapping a Post-secular Theology (2004)

• 101 Key Terms in Philosophy and Their Importance for Theology (2004)

• Speech and Theology: Language and the Logic of Incarnation (2002)