On the Road with Saint Augustine, James K. A. Smith
On the Road with Saint Augustine, James K. A. Smith
3 Rating(s)
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On the Road with Saint Augustine
A Real-World Spirituality for Restless Hearts

Author: James K. A. Smith

Narrator: Michael Page

Unabridged: 8 hr 15 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 10/29/2019


Synopsis

This is not a book about Saint Augustine. In a way, it's a book Augustine has written about each of us. Popular speaker and award-winning author James K. A. Smith has spent time on the road with Augustine, and he invites us to take this journey too, for this ancient African thinker knows far more about us than we might expect.

Following Smith's successful You Are What You Love, this book shows how Augustine can be a pilgrim guide to a spirituality that meets the complicated world we live in. Augustine, says Smith, is the patron saint of restless hearts—a guide who has been there, asked our questions, and knows our frustrations and failed pursuits. Augustine spent a lifetime searching for his heart's true home and he can help us find our way. "What makes Augustine a guide worth considering," says Smith, "is that he knows where home is, where rest can be found, what peace feels like, even if it is sometimes ephemeral and elusive along the way." Addressing believers and skeptics alike, this book shows how Augustine's timeless wisdom speaks to the worries and struggles of contemporary life, covering topics such as ambition, sex, friendship, freedom, parenthood, and death. As Smith vividly and colorfully brings Augustine to life for a twenty-first-century audience, he also offers a fresh articulation of Christianity that speaks to our deepest hungers, fears, and hopes.

About James K. A. Smith

James K. A. Smith is a popular speaker who has written many books, including On the Road with Saint Augustine, You Are What You Love, Desiring the Kingdom, and Who's Afraid of Postmodernism?-all Christianity Today Book Award winners. He is professor of philosophy at Calvin University in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where he holds the Gary and Henrietta Byker Chair in Applied Reformed Theology and Worldview. He was editor in chief of Comment magazine from 2013 to 2018 and is now editor in chief of Image, a quarterly journal at the intersection of art, faith, and mystery. Smith has written for Christianity Today, the Christian Century, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and the Washington Post.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Jeremy on December 10, 2019

Smith's premise here is exciting; a journey with Augustine through his Confessions to address our modern needs and questions. And for the most part he executes well on that promise. However, he brings a whole lot of other friends (the snobby French philosophical kind that roll their eyes at you beca......more

Goodreads review by Matt on January 31, 2021

This is a unique and delightful book that rings with relevance for today.......more

Goodreads review by Christian on March 20, 2023

Smith is an enticing writer that draws readers along a journey with Saint Augustine. He beautifully illustrates how our lives do not bring novelty to the day to day, but only modernity. By pointing this out at the beginning of the book, Smith is able to connect the life of people today to Augustine’......more

Goodreads review by Alex on October 28, 2020

Beyond the biblical writers, Augustine has arguably shaped Christian theology more than anyone else. His life also serves as an enduring template for Christian conversion and sanctification. In "On the Road with Saint Augustine," James K.A. Smith looks to Augustine to help modern readers work throug......more

Goodreads review by Dr. David on November 15, 2019

The postmodern prophet and rock star, Bono Vox laments, “I have run I have crawled I have scaled these city wall, these city walls, only to be with you. But I still haven’t found what I’m looking for.” U2 isn’t the only one tapped into the inner drive and existential angst of the ages. Augustine had......more