Leonard Sweet

Leonard I. Sweet is an American theologian, semiotician, church historian, pastor, and author. Sweet currently serves as the E. Stanley Jones Professor of Evangelism at Drew Theological School at Drew University, in Madison, New Jersey; and a Visiting Distinguished Professor at George Fox University in Portland, Oregon. Sweet is a leading figure in bridging the worlds of academe, pop culture, and the church, which has embroiled him in a variety of controversies (especially with the emerging church movement and traditionalists). For example, see his dispute with Brian McLaren.^[1][2] Sweet was a pioneer advocate of contextualizing Christianity into digital culture. Leonard Sweet tells pastors to embrace change, but keep Jesus at the heart of everything. He is regularly voted one of the most influential Christian leaders in America.^[3][4] Sweet is ordained in the United Methodist denomination.^[5]

Biography

Before becoming the E. Stanley Jones Professor of Evangelism, Sweet had been Vice President of Academic Affairs and Dean of the Theological School at Drew from 1995 to 2000. Prior to his appointments at Drew University, he served as President and Professor of Church History at United Theological Seminary, Dayton, Ohio. His first academic administration position was as Provost and Associate Professor of Church History at Colgate Rochester Divinity School/Bexley Hall/Crozer Theological Seminary.

Sweet is founder and President of SpiritVenture Ministries. His writings focus on the study of Semiotics.

He is the author of more than sixty books, hundreds of articles (many of a scholarly and technical nature), and over 80 prefaces/forewords to others' books. He has over 1000 published sermons, and currently is the chief weekly contributor to the lectionary-based sermons.com. Sweet has weekly podcasting on iTunes entitled Napkin Scribbles.

Sweet has served a term on the council of the American Society of Church History and was an associate editor of the Journal of the American Academy of Religion for ten years. An honors and Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of Richmond, he earned his Master of Divinity degree from Colgate/Rochester/Bexley Hall/Crozer and PhD from the University of Rochester. Sweet is the recipient of honorary Doctorates of Divinity from University of Richmond, Baker University, Lebanon Valley College, Coe College, and Otterbein College. Two years in a row, 1999 and 2000, he received the Crystal Award for the best audio-books of the year, for Soul Tsunami and Soul Salsa.

Sweet lectures around the world and has spoken in various locations including China, Indonesia, Taiwan, Philippines, Hong Kong; Australia, New Zealand; Canada, Brazil, South Africa, South Korea, Russia, Latvia, England, Iceland, Wales, and Scotland.

Bibliography

• Black Images of America, 1784–1870 (Norton, 1976) (ISBN 0-393-05569-8, ISBN 0-393-09195-3)
• New Life in the Spirit (Westminster John Knox Press, 1982). (Chinese Edition 1986) (ISBN 0-664-24414-9)
• The Minister's Wife: Her Role in Nineteenth-Century American Evangelicalism (Temple University Press, 1983) (ISBN 0-87722-283-5)
• Editor, The Evangelical Tradition in America (Mercer University Press, 1984) (Reprinted 1997) (ISBN 0-86554-092-6)
• The Lion's Pride (Abingdon Press, 1987) (ISBN 0-687-21857-8)
• Quantum Spirituality: a Postmodern Apologetic (Whaleprints, 1991) (ISBN 1-882122-01-1)
• Editor, Communication and Change in American Religious History (Eerdmans, 1993) (ISBN 0-8028-0682-1)
• FaithQuakes (Abingdon Press, 1994) (ISBN 0-687-12647-9)
• Health and Medicine in the Evangelical Tradition (Trinity Pr Intl, 1994) (ISBN 1-56338-097-8)
• Strong in the Broken Places (University of Akron Press, 1995) (ISBN 1-884836-09-7; paperback ISBN 1-884836-10-0)
• The Jesus Prescription for a Healthy Life (Abingdon Press, 1996) (ISBN 0-687-01491-3)
• A Cup of Coffee at the SoulCafe (Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1998) (ISBN 0-8054-0159-8)
• Eleven Genetic Gateways to Spiritual Awakening (Abingdon Press, 1998) (ISBN 0-687-05173-8)
• Soul Tsunami: Sink or Swim in New Millennium Culture (Zondervan, 1999) (ISBN 0-310-22762-3)
• Aqua Church: Essential Leadership Arts for Piloting Your Church in Today's Fluid Culture (Group Publishing, 1999) (Translated into Korean and Chinese, reissued by Cook Communications in 2008) (ISBN 0-7644-2151-4)
• SoulSalsa (Zondervan, 2000) (Korean translation, 2002) (ISBN 0-310-23014-4)
• Postmodern Pilgrims: A 1st Century Passion for a 21st Century Church (Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2000) (ISBN 0-8054-2137-8)
• The Dawn Mistaken for Dusk: If God so Loved the World, Why Can't We? (Zondervan, 2000) (First religion e-book on Amazon.com)
• Carpe Manana: Is Your Church Ready to Seize Tomorrow? (Zondervan, 2001) (ISBN 0-310-23947-8)
• A is for Abductive (Zondervan, 2001) (ISBN 0-310-24356-4)
• Jesus Drives Me Crazy (Zondervan, 2003) (ISBN 0-310-23224-4)
• Editor, The Church in Emerging Culture: Five Perspectives (Zondervan, 2003) (ISBN 0-310-25487-6)
• Summoned to Lead (Zondervan, 2004) (Korean translation, 2007) (ISBN 0-310-23222-8)
• Out of the Question...Into the Mystery: Getting Lost in the Godlife Relationship (WaterBrook Press, 2004) (ISBN 1-57856-647-9)
• The Three Hardest Words In The World To Get Right (WaterBrook Press, 2006) (ISBN 1-57856-648-7)
• The Gospel According to Starbucks (WaterBrook Press, 2007)
• The Voice from on High (Thomas Nelson, 2007)
• The Voice: Genesis (Thomas Nelson, 2008)
• The Church of the Perfect Storm (Abingdon, 2008)
• 11: Indispensable Relationships You Can't Be Without (Cook Communications, 2008)
• Postmodern and Wesleyan?: Exploring the Boundaries and Possibilities (Beacon Hill Press, 2009) (ISBN 978-0834124585)
• So Beautiful (Cook Communications, 2009)
• Jesus Manifesto: Restoring the Supremacy and Sovereignty of Jesus Christ (with Frank Viola) (Thomas Nelson, 2010) (ISBN 978-0849946011)
• Nudge: Awakening Each Other to the God Who’s Already There (David C. Cook, 2010) (ISBN 1434764745)
• The Seraph Seal (with Lori Wagner) (Thomas Nelson, 2011) (ISBN 978-0849920776)
• Real Church in a Social Network World: From Facebook to Face-to-Face Faith (WaterBrook Press, 2011) (e-book) (ASIN B004Y89RKI)
• I Am a Follower: The Way, Truth, and Life of Following Jesus (Thomas Nelson, 2012) (ISBN 978-0849946387)
• Viral: How Social Networking is Poised to Ignite Revival (WaterBrook Press, 2012) (ISBN 978-0307459152)
• What Matters Most: How We Got the Point but Missed the Person (WaterBrook Press, 2012) (ISBN 978-0307730572)
• The Greatest Story Never Told: Revive Us Again (Abingdon Press, 2012) (ISBN 978-1426740329)
• Jesus: A Theography (with Frank Viola) (Thomas Nelson, 2012) (ISBN 978-0849947025)
• The Well Played Life (Tyndale, 2014) (ISBN 978-1414373621)
• Giving Blood: A Fresh Paradigm for Preaching (Zondervan, 2014) (ISBN 978-0310515456)

References

External links

• LeonardSweet.com
• A Jesus Manifesto for the 21st Century
• sermons.com
• A Candid Interview with Leonard Sweet
• Spirit Venture Ministries
• Lead Mentor, Semiotics & Future Studies DMin track at George Fox Evangelical Seminary
• Quantum Spirituality e-book by Leonard Sweet
• The Dawn Mistaken for Dusk: If God so Loved the World, Why Can't We? e-book by Leonard Sweet