Jesus Drives Me Crazy! [Paperback]

Leonard Sweet (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 2003

The gospel presents a life-changing NUTS wisdom that conflicts with normal ways of making sense of the world. There is the World According to Normal. There is the World According to NUTS . . . where NUTS is an acronym for Never Underestimate the Spirit. The wisdom of Jesus is a NUTS wisdom. ---From the book All people are different, but some are more different than others. Christians are meant to be the most different of all. Yet we often 'normalize' God. We judge what is a successful Christian and a successful church by the world according to Normal, not the world according to NUTS, the wisdom of Jesus. In Jesus Drives Me Crazy!, Leonard Sweet reminds us of the 'crazy wisdom' of Christ and how our lives and our churches can and should be different from the way 'normal' people live. He says, 'Jesus wants to drive you crazy . . . crazy in love with God, with life.' Jesus Drives Me Crazy! challenges you to make the upside-down wisdom of God your own, inspiring you to live an extraordinary Christian life that does not conform to the world, but transforms the world. When you truly grasp the freeing truth that we do not have to conform to this world, then you can become the crazy, zany, unpredictable, but powerful force for Jesus you were intended to be. Jesus Drives Me Crazy! shows how, by losing your mind, you can find your soul.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

The gospel presents a life-changing NUTS wisdom that conflicts with normal ways of making sense of the world. There is the World According to Normal. There is the World According to NUTS . . . where NUTS is an acronym for Never Underestimate the Spirit. The wisdom of Jesus is a NUTS wisdom. —From the book

All people are different, but some are more different than others. Christians are meant to be the most different of all. Yet we often "normalize" God. We judge what is a successful Christian and a successful church by the world according to Normal, not the world according to NUTS, the wisdom of Jesus. In Jesus Drives Me Crazy!, Leonard Sweet reminds us of the "crazy wisdom" of Christ and how our lives and our churches can and should be different from the way "normal" people live. He says, "Jesus wants to drive you crazy . . . crazy in love with God, with life." Jesus Drives Me Crazy! challenges you to make the upside-down wisdom of God your own, inspiring you to live an extraordinary Christian life that does not conform to the world, but transforms the world. When you truly grasp the freeing truth that we do not have to conform to this world, then you can become the crazy, zany, unpredictable, but powerful force for Jesus you were intended to be. Jesus Drives Me Crazy! shows how, by losing your mind, you can find your soul.

About the Author

Leonard Sweet (PhD, University of Rochester) holds the E. Stanley Jones chair at Drew University. Founder and president of SpiritVenture Ministries, he also serves as a distinguished visiting professor at George Fox University, and is the chief writer for preachingplus.com. Sweet is a popular speaker and has written numerous books, including Jesus Drives Me Crazy, SoulTsunami, SoulSalsa, Carpe Manana, and (with Brian McLaren and Jerry Haselmeyer) A Is for Abductive: The Language of the Emerging Church.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  
• Paperback: 176 pages
• Publisher: Zondervan; 1 edition (June 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0310232244
• ISBN-13: 978-0310232247
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.2 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #149,830 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Len Sweet was born of a mixed marriage: his mother was a fiery Pilgrim Holiness-ordained preacher from the mountains of West Virginia and his quiet father a Free Methodist lay leader from the Adirondack mountains of upstate New York. After a deconversion at 17, when Len set about less sowing wild oats than planting prairies, he became an atheist intellectual and scholar dedicated to exposing the nincompoopery and poppycockery, if not tomfoolery and skullduggery of all religions. After this seven-year period of liminality, Len came back to the faith of his ancestors, where he has been ever since, exploring the "insterstices" and "semiotics" of religion, culture and history. He uses two words to describe himself: semiotician and interstitial. In other words, he is obsessed with two questions: "Where have you been?" and "Where are you going?"

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars So much better than the title or cover let on..., November 25, 2005

By 

David Lerner "Occasionally Professional Drumm... (Columbia, MD USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Jesus Drives Me Crazy! (Paperback)

Leonard Sweet is one of the most important Christian voices speaking to the church today. I had the pleasure of hearing Dr. Sweet speak on the topic of "Being There" a year or two before, and when I heard that he was taking that subject and expanding it into a book, I was quite excited.

When I actually found the book, the title and cover threw me for a loop. "Jesus Drives Me Crazy?" Dropping a can of nuts on the ground? Hmmm... Second thoughts started creeping into my head. However, based on the power and message of what I'd heard Dr. Sweet say, I went ahead and bought it. I was so glad that I did...

Thankfully, the book itself is just as good, if not perhaps even a little better, than I had hoped, and Dr. Sweet even expanded it from "Be There" to "Be There With All." The concept of "being there" - knowing your face (character) and knowing your place (context) - is something that every Christian needs to hear and take to heart. Even though it's now been four years since I heard Dr. Sweet speak, and a couple of years since I first read this, the message still rings in my head as loud and as clear as the first time I heard it.

God bless Leonard Sweet for having the courage to use his God-given character in our seemingly God-forsaken context, and being a voice that God has used to bring about change in my life. Read this book, and see how God challenges you to be there with all...

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great job of contextualizing the gospel, February 7, 2006

By 

Peter Amico - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Jesus Drives Me Crazy! (Paperback)

As the previous review said, this book is much better than the cover or the title lets on. Sweet has another brilliant book in which he explores the incarnation and the contextualization of the gospel. I will include a couple meaningful quotes.
"The Church opposes biological cloning, but practices spiritual cloning with particular relish and finesse."
"One of our problems is that we have failed to be as good at cultural exegesis as we are at biblical exegesis. We are better at God-Talk than God-Walk in this new culture that is aborning."
"Very early in the Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, Frodo says he wishes the master ring had not been found in his lifetime. "So do I," said Gandalf, "and so do all who live to seen such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us."

I definately recommend this book to those seeking to live out the gospel in their present world.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A book for Christians that want to be thinking disciples, February 3, 2009

By 

Gregory Dellacroce - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Jesus Drives Me Crazy! (Paperback)

Sweet wrote this book to help those of us that are Christ's followers (aka disciples) that what to think about what on earth we are doing. This is not to say that this is a book that requires a PhD in Theology to understand. It is a book that you don't just pick up, do a quick read, and say "well that we nice". It is a book that you read, and say "so how does that effect how I do life right now???"