Customer Reviews

SoulTsunami

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Unlike many books on postmodernism, SoulTsunami gives most time to dealing with ministry implications rather than analysing postmodernism. This practical bent is welcome.

However, Sweet is prone to 'go with the flow' in terms of doing anything to accommodate ministry and church life to the cultural shift. In this sense I found the book too pragmatic in places and with too little obvious theological underpinning.

Another minus: Sweet does not seem to grapple with the issue of overlapping and intersecting cultures. That is, he seems to assume a total postmodern environment rather than recognise that modernism and postmodernism often live alongside one another in the broader culture, in a church (especially intergenerationally)and even within an individual.

So, surprise surprise the book has limits. However, for those struggling to find some starting places in ministry in a postmodern culture the book offers much.

Finally, the 'life-rings' structure for the book and the 'Say What' sections that throw out suggestions, questions, activities etc give the design of the book a thoroughly post-modern feel. Before being irritated by this, readers do well to appreciate that even in this design feature the book is helping them to grapple with the postmodern.

Recently, the staff of the church where I work read through this book in preparation for a two-day brainstorming session on reaching our culture. This book opened up our minds and caused us to think in new directions. One of Sweet's pleas is for Christians to get De-churched. To get outside our normal view and begin to evaluate why we do what we do. The culture today thinks that the church is an unloving, boycotting machine that is out to destroy their way of life. If we are so arrogant to think that we can fit them into the box that we have labeled "church", then we will be swept away by the coming tsunami. I highly recommend this book for anyone in ministry because it acts as such a mind trigger, stimulating your thoughts and ideas and forcing you to be creative about your plans from ministry in the next century. Postmodernism may be a somewhat new concept for many of you in ministry, but it's time to learn. God Bless

Sweet's soulTsunami is brimming full of creative energy for the church. Study and rumination over this book is crucial for any pastor, any Christian, any seeker of truth. Sweet articulates with such wit, quirkiness, and perception what postmoderns have been feeling in their hearts. I found myself in resounding agreement with each page, as well as provoked towards new thinking. The strength in this book lies in the "double-rings" and paradoxes (i.e. p. 89 "the problem with the church today is that it is 'too traditional'; the problem with the church today is that it is not traditional enough.")Sweet hits the nail on the head when he persuades us to remember that the same gospel message must be continually shaped to reach a new way of thinking that pervades our age. This can only happen by knowing and redeeming the culture. Thank you Leonard, for your prophetic inspiration. This book has become a part of me.

Some books I read in days... a momentary tickle. Some books I read in months... they mess with my head and change my life. This is one of those, and I heartily recommend it to anyone who wants to think about changes in our culture. I'd even recommend it to business people who want to understand their customers.

So where are you? Modern? Post-modern? We take so much for granted (everyone must think like me!). I'm becoming more delightfully post-modern every day, and I like it! Armed with a new appreciation for culture, and a new appreciation for Jesus himself, I'm pondering these questions: * what am I doing now that's working, and why is it working? * what doesn't seem to work any more? * if we reinvented church from basic principles in our increasingly post-modern community, what would it look like?

Now I've gotta go read those next two books in the trilogy: AquaChurch and SoulSalsa!

I purchased Leonard Sweet's SoulTsunami looking for a "road map" to postmodern culture. What I got was a gyroscope. But a road map is useless to one adrift in the strange and disturbing waters of postmodernism. That's exactly where we are, church, and that's precisely why we need a new tool - a gyroscope, not a road map -- to navigate through these uncharted waters.

The terra firma of the modern world has given way to the fluid, amorphous culture of postmodernism. It is an ocean on which the "old ship of Zion" must set sail. This book's subtitle, "Sink or Swim in New Millennium Culture," aptly sums up the challenge postmodernism presents to the church.

SoulTsunami is engaging (who could tell from Sweet's straightforward writing style that he's actually an academic?), comprehensive (well researched and chock full of facts), and disturbing (especially, for me, Life Ring #5, "Get Bionomic," a fascinating and soul-agitating glimpse into our future). Yet Sweet's appraisal of the postmodern predicament is honest and right on target. Approach this book with an open mind, accept Sweet's challenges (even if you don't agree with everything he says), and be prepared to "get over" any pre-conceived ideas of how the Christian faith ought to be.

SoulTsunami should be on the reading list of every pastor, cell group leader, choir member, church organist, youth minister/worker, and pew-warmer.

I purchased Leonard Sweet's SoulTsunami looking for a "road map" to postmodern culture. What I got was a gyroscope. But a road map is useless to one adrift in the strange and disturbing waters of postmodernism. That's exactly where we are, church, and that's precisely why we need a new tool - a gyroscope, not a road map -- to navigate through these uncharted waters.

The terra firma of the modern world has given way to the fluid, amorphous culture of postmodernism. It is an ocean on which the "old ship of Zion" must set sail. This book's subtitle, "Sink or Swim in New Millennium Culture," aptly sums up the challenge postmodernism presents to the church.

SoulTsunami is engaging (who could tell from Sweet's straightforward writing style that he's actually an academic?), comprehensive (well researched and chock full of facts), and disturbing (especially, for me, Life Ring #5, "Get Bionomic," a fascinating and soul-agitating glimpse into our future). Yet Sweet's appraisal of the postmodern predicament is honest and right on target. Approach this book with an open mind, accept Sweet's challenges (even if you don't agree with everything he says), and be prepared to "get over" any pre-conceived ideas of how the Christian faith ought to be.

SoulTsunami should be on the reading list of every pastor, cell group leader, choir member, church organist, youth minister/worker, and pew-warmer.

Technology and its uses in the Christian church is a subject that few have dealt with, and none have theorized as elequently as Sweet.

Without sacrilidge, this book inspires me to use the gift of technology to better serve God's Kingdom.

SoulTsunami is a difficult read, not because of its content, but rather the way in which it is written. Sweet's definitive post-modern writing style forces the reader to slow down and chew on nearly every page. He invents new words and uses them to excess. Incredibly frustrating.

But I could not put the book down. Sweet's insights into culture, and how the church should lead rather than follow the culture, are amazing. Not for the faint at heart, but a required read for anyone trying to reach the "Net-Gens".

I give this work by Sweet highest marks. Sweet is the master of peering into the 21st century and reaping the implications for the church, today. His insights are convicting, inspiring and controversial -- with very practical suggestions for surviving the tidal wave of change that is sweeping our culture.

Leonard Sweet has written a book that every person who seeks to live a faithful AND relevant Christian faith in the 21st century MUST read. Not only does he give excellent descriptions of postmodernism, often in contrast to life "wiwak" (when I was a kid), he asks the most important question, SO WHAT? It is a book that I am recommending to all my friends in the church and to several friends who have written the church off because of its irrelevancy to life in today's and tomorrow's world. The book has been written in a style that is both a quick read (simple) and an intense (profound) read.