Dear Editor,
I think Pete Woodcock and Tom Sweatman’s consideration of James K.A. Smith’s You Are What You Love mischaracterises the book in two primary ways.
First, it is ironic to say that Smith’s project is ‘reversing the Reformation’ since the book’s vision of gathered worship is thoroughly Calvinian (see pp.69-74). Following Calvin, Smith insists that, far more than a meeting for preaching, the goal of gathered worship is interaction between God and his people, where God acts and is present in word and sacrament. We must preach with clarity, power and imagination – being mindful that God is present in and through the other parts of the service as well.