How to Inhabit Time: Understanding the Past, Facing the Future, Living Faithfully Now

2023 Christian Book Award® Winner (Christian Living)
Christianity Today 2023 Book Award Finalist (Christian Living & Spiritual Formation)

The Spiritual Significance of Time

Many Christians live a faith that is "nowhen." They are disconnected from the past or imagine they are somehow "above" the flux of history, as if every generation starts with a clean state. They lack an awareness of time and the effects of history—both personal and collective—and thus are naive about current issues, prone to nostalgia, or fixated on the end times and other doomsday versions of the future.

Popular speaker and award—winning author James K. A. Smith explains that we must reckon with the past in order to discern the present and have hope for the future. Integrating popular culture, biblical exposition, and meditation, he helps us develop a sense of "temporal awareness" that is attuned to the texture of history, the vicissitudes of life, and the tempo of the Spirit.

Smith shows that awakening to the spiritual significance of time is crucial for orienting faith in the twenty—first century. It allows us to become indebted to the past, oriented toward the future, and faithful in the present.

★ "This incisive and eloquent volume will expand readers' minds."—Publishers Weekly starred review

"A beautifully written book. . . . [Smith] offers a good, pastoral word to Christians today."—Christian Century