SoulTsunami: Sink or Swim in New Millennium Culture (Hardcover)

~ Leonard I. Sweet (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Will the tsunami wave of change sweep Christianity away? Or will religious followers be able to ride the cresting tidal wave of cyberterrorism and social malaise that threaten Christian values in the 21st century? Rather than sink into denial or flee to safe bunkers, Sweet suggests that devout Christians "hoist the sails" just as Noah did when faced with a flood. "While the world is rethinking its entire cultural formation, it is time to find new ways of being the church that are true to our postmodern context," writes author Leonard Sweet, vice president of postmodern Christianity at Drew University in Madison, New Jersey. This book is packed with suggestions (framed as "Life Rings") for keeping Christianity a thriving and vital global force. "Life Ring" chapter titles include "Get Glocal--the Global Renaissance," and "Get De-Churched-De-Everything." Although the tsunami metaphor feels overextended, devout Christians appreciate the savvy and passionate vision of this popular author.

From Publishers Weekly

The book's title comes from the Japanese word for a tidal wave that sweeps away all that it encounters; Sweet's thesis is that the present postmodern culture is advancing on churches, as it has on business, education and other areas of life, with comparable great force and speed. Like a French Impressionist painter, SweetAa Methodist minister and dean of the Divinity School of Drew UniversityApresents a canvas filled with numerous small points of light, offering a snapshot of a scene caught in that moment when one time blends into the next. The book presents almost innumerable details. The reader learns that the number of books being sold is increasing, that the average American must learn to operate 20,000 pieces of technology and that Generation X has witnessed (on television and elsewhere) more violence than any previous generation. The resulting information pileup makes the reader feel almost bombarded by hundreds of bites of data; in fact, one of Sweet's principle points is that contemporary culture is generating more and more information. The present human response to this glut of information ranges from a passion to keep up with it allAbuying more computer time, scanning more information sources and buying more booksAto a desire to escape into a private world or inner experience. Furthermore, Sweet argues that this increase in knowledge makes it difficult for present-day folk to reflect on the ultimate meaning of that data. The book's format invites its use by church discussion groups. Each chapter ends with questions, theological snippets and activities (including topics to be researched on the Web) that lead naturally to personal reflection and group conversation. Although Sweet believes that many churches are behind the times, he also notes that the postmodern world offers them new opportunities for mission. In places, these suggestions do little more than urge churches to use the best the culture has to offer; for instance, to construct Web pages, to use contemporary language and idiom in worship and to appeal to the high value that people today place on personal service. Sweet goes beyond such commonplaces and also speaks about the spiritual resources that churches possess. Sweet's insistence that postmoderns need to be reminded of the Christian teaching on original sin and human fragility and his sense of the need for spiritual values, such as humility, to counterbalance consumerism are cases in point.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 448 pages
• Publisher: Zondervan (March 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0310227623
• ISBN-13: 978-0310227625
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.5 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,496,857 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

48 of 53 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars SoulTsunami - not such a big wave, January 7, 2000

By	David Burke (Singapore) - See all my reviews

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.

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fresh Winds For the Church's Sails, March 22, 2000

By	John C. Tittle - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Thought provoking, slow reading, and worth it!, July 12, 2000

By	David E. Prinzing (Roseville, CA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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!