Join in the Smart Museum of Art's virtual book club, Smart Reads!

The December 2021 Smart Reads selection is Søren Kierkegaard's short masterpiece, The Lily of the Field and the Bird of the Air. We invite you to read along with us and engage in two thought-provoking conversations with host Dorian H. Nash. 

FREE. To help build a community of participants, capacity is limited and advanced registration is required.   

Smart Reads is presented by the Smart Museum of Art in collaboration with Seminary Co-op Bookstores.

SCHEDULE

Part I
Thursday, December 9, 6 pm 
Please register for Zoom invitation 

Part II
Thursday, December 16, 6 pm 
Please register for Zoom invitation

ABOUT THE BOOK

The Lily of the Field and the Bird of the Air: Three Godly Discourses by Soren Kierkegard

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus tells his followers to let go of earthly concerns by considering the lilies of the field and the birds of the air. Søren Kierkegaard's short masterpiece on this famous gospel passage draws out its vital lessons for readers in a rapidly modernizing and secularizing world. Trenchant, brilliant, and written in stunningly lucid prose, The Lily of the Field and the Bird of the Air (1849) is one of Kierkegaard's most important books. This profound yet accessible work serves as an ideal entrée to an essential modern thinker.

The Lily of the Field and the Bird of the Air reveals a less familiar but deeply appealing side of the father of existentialism—unshorn of his complexity and subtlety, yet supremely approachable. As Kierkegaard later wrote of the book, "Without fighting with anybody and without speaking about myself, I said much of what needs to be said, but movingly, mildly, upliftingly." 

If needed, the Smart Museum can pick up the cost of the book for participants in this reading group. Instructions will be provided with your registration confirmation. 

SmartReads will return in 2022 with a new book selection—stay tuned!