What does Charles Sanders Pierce and Ferdinand de Saussure have to do with Christian evangelism. Leonard Sweet might give the short answer - “Everything.” Reviews are often given over to hyperbole. Sometimes they create unmet expectations. I will go out on a limb here and suggest Len Sweet’s new book on “evangelism” may be his most important work in his very prolific writing career.
Nudge is in one sense “classic Sweet.” Thorough and amply illustrated. In another sense, it may be one of his boldest moves. Appropriating an accessible understanding of “semiotics” - the art and science of sign-reading - Sweet contends we need to learn “Nudge evangelism.”
Combining the Celtic Fives with human sensory experience, Sweet points to evangelism beyond the evanga-script. Nudge evangelism moves from tract to following the tracks of the Spirit. Rather than assuming we “bring Jesus to anyone” Sweet points to our need to follow Jesus who has “gone ahead of us.”
Nudge may well rescue the idea of Christian evangelism for many.
About the Author
Currently the E. Stanley Jones Professor of Evangelism at Drew University, Madison, NJ and a Visiting Distinguished Professor at George Fox University, Portland, Oregon, Len has been Vice President of Academic Affairs and Dean of the Theological School at Drew University for five years, Previous to Drew Len served for eleven years as President and Professor of Church History at United Theological Seminary, Dayton, Ohio. Prior to 1985, Len was Provost of Colgate Rochester/Bexley Hall/Crozer Divinity School in Rochester, New York. Involved in leadership positions in the United Methodist Church, Len has been chosen to speak at various Jurisdictional and General Conferences as well as the 1996 World Methodist Congress in Rio de Janeiro. He also serves as a consultant to many of America's denominational leaders and agencies. He is a member of the West Virginia Annual Conference.
Author of more than two hundred articles, over twelve hundred published sermons, and dozens of books, Len is the primary contributor (along with his wife Karen Elizabeth Rennie) to the web-based preaching resource, sermons.com. For nine years he and his wife wrote Homiletics, which became under their watch the premier preaching resource in North America. In 2005 Len introduced the first open-source preaching resource on the Web, wikiletics.com.
Len has served a term on the council of the American Society of Church History, was an associate editor of the Journal of the American Academy of Religion for ten years, and is a member of numerous professional groups. An honors and Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of Richmond, he earned his Master of Divinity degree from Colgate Rochester Divinity School and Ph.D. from the University of Rochester. The recent recipient of honorary doctorates from the University of Richmond (Virginia), Baker University (Kansas), Otterbein College (Ohio), Coe College (Iowa), and Lebanon Valley College (Pennsylvania), Len has held distinguished lectureships at various colleges, universities and seminaries, and has presented academic papers before major professional societies. He is a frequent speaker at national and international conferences, state conventions, pastors' schools, retreats.
Len is increasingly being asked to lecture around the world, and has spoken in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Brazil, England, Wales, South Africa, South Korea, Iceland, Scotland, and most recently, China, Indonesia, and Latvia.
When you post your review, help the wider community by adding the hashtag: #vb-nudge
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Link-love for your review: [1]
http://leonardsweet.com [2] - the congregation these authors started
Interview Availability:
The author may be available for blog and podcast interviews. If you'd like to interview them, please email me at todd@theooze.com
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[1] http://viralbloggers.wufoo.com/forms/nudge-by-leonard-sweet/
[2] http://leonardsweet.com.com
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