On the Road with Saint Augustine: A Real-World Spirituality for Restless Hearts

Written by James K.A. Smith

Narrated by Michael Page

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.

• Language: English
• Publisher: ChristianAudio.com
• Release date: Oct 29, 2019
• ISBN: 9781545912935

James K.A. Smith

James K. A. Smith is professor of philosophy at Calvin College where he holds the Gary & Henrietta Byker Chair in Applied Reformed Theology & Worldview. The author of many books, including the award-winning Who’s Afraid of Postmodernism? and Desiring the Kingdom, Smith is a Cardus senior fellow and serves as editor of Comment magazine.      

Reviews for On the Road with Saint Augustine

[Alec Bussen · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A surprisingly fantastic book. I opened it expecting somewhat shallow parallels between us and Augustine's life, but was immediately shocked with Smith's penetrating insights and engaging writing. The topics he chose to write on and the way he dealt with them was incredible. I'm genuinely shocked at how good this book is.

[scott meadows · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

4.5/5 this book is a beautiful walk through the faith of Saint Augustine and his life confessions. diving into a multitude of daily topics as a post-existentialist, Smith writes as if from an echo of King Solomon's cry, "vanity of vanities, all is vanity"

if you are an enneagram type 4 and have a foundational understanding in grace over law, i would highly recommend this book over the life and confessions of Augustine.

[wilsonknut · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

On The Road with Saint Augustine: A Real-World Spirituality for Restless Hearts by James K. A. Smith takes us on the spiritual journey of Augustine, as he travels Africa and Italy searching for purpose and meaning. Smith hones in on the human heart’s longing for road trips—journeys. Our hearts long for something that leads us out on the road. Usually, those journeys lead to some destination, the events along the way often more important than the destination itself, but then we go back home. However, our true spiritual journey is to a home we’ve yet to see. We all start as prodigals, and the question is do we finally run home to the Father. On the Road with Saint Augustine lets us ride along on both Augustine’s and Smith’s journeys.Smith writes in the introduction:This is not a biography. This is not a book about Augustine. In a way, it’s a book Augustine has written about yo. It’s a journey with Augustine as a journey into oneself. It’s a travelogue of the heart. It’s a road trip with a prodigal who’s already been where you think you need to go.I admit I’m a sucker for stories about journeys. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was my favorite as a kid. That being said, Smith’s writing is engaging and Augustine’s journey is engrossing. I never thought I’d say this about a book focused on an early church father and philosophy, but it’s a page-turner. I didn’t want to stop reading.On The Road With Saint Augustine is so engaging because Smith emphasizes that the saint knows exactly what we’re going through as we fight the pull of the world to find true meaning. Smith writes:He only knows you because he’s been there, because he has a sense of the solidarity of the human race in our foibles and frustrations and failed pursuits. If he jackhammers his way into the secret corners of our hearts, unearthing our hungers and fears, it’s only because it’s familiar territory: he’s seen it all in his own soul.Smith walks us through Augustine’s insights into finding oneself, friendship, sex, ambition, family, justice, and death— all of it just as relevant today for wanderers as it was in the 4th century. Smith throws in ample philosophy; with Camus, Derrida, Heidegger and more. My personal favorite is his discussion around the existentialists and Augustine.I really enjoyed On The Road With Saint Augustine. It’s an insightful journey you won’t regret.