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Rating: Summary: Required reading Review: As a baby boomer with native children (college and post-college) Carpe Manana gave me wonderful insight into their spirtuality and others whom I shepherd. For parents and elders wondering what in the world is happening in our churches and among the so-called natives (post 1962)Leonard Sweet has written the handbook. This book should be required reading for anyone who doubts that God is working in this generation. Sweet's most telling comment is that the GenXers are the most spiritual in decades but the last place they look for the spirit is in church. A hard lesson to be learned.
Rating: Summary: Required reading Review: As a baby boomer with native children (college and post-college) Carpe Manana gave me wonderful insight into their spirtuality and others whom I shepherd. For parents and elders wondering what in the world is happening in our churches and among the so-called natives (post 1962)Leonard Sweet has written the handbook. This book should be required reading for anyone who doubts that God is working in this generation. Sweet's most telling comment is that the GenXers are the most spiritual in decades but the last place they look for the spirit is in church. A hard lesson to be learned.
Rating: Summary: Insane Review: Because of the last review, I have just made a mental note to never ever and i mean never even remotely think about attending Denver Seminary. I'm not the biggest Leonard Sweet fan in the world and while I may not agree with everything he has to say, there is truth in his books and I would definitely think that the topics that he writes on are more relevant than anything our good professor has to write about. Leonard Sweet writes on topics that teach us how to be the salt of the world and how to connect with a new generation of people that will be prevalent when all of the modern Denver Seminary proffessors go on to be with the Lord, unlike some people who all they do is write on topics that fatten Christians up with the monopolized truth that they have found. While I can understand your lack of enjoyment or even appreciation of the book for that matter, I can not understand why, as a Christian professor, you would have enough audactiy to attack someone personally. My dear friend, I will never attend Denver Seminary thanks to your ignorant critique and criticizing remarks about an author personally.
Rating: Summary: Solid/Not Revolutionary Review: Carpe Manana is a good book for Baby Boomer "immigrants" who want to find out what in the world in going with PostModerns. This book is a continuation of Sweet's work on this topic, and he provides a relevant text for those wishing to understand why the landscape is changing. For those out there who don't like Sweet's writing style, get over it. He has a good message that is well informed and thought out, and he is relevant. Sweet is an example of someone who realized things changed, and he wanted to be a part of it. From a Gen-X perspective, this book is fairly boring because, it is how it is for us, we do not know any differently, save those modern Gen-Xers who refuse to change. This book will either challenge you, bore you, or make you angry. I hope you check it out.
Rating: Summary: Solid/Not Revolutionary Review: Carpe Manana is a good book for Baby Boomer "immigrants" who want to find out what in the world in going with PostModerns. This book is a continuation of Sweet's work on this topic, and he provides a relevant text for those wishing to understand why the landscape is changing. For those out there who don't like Sweet's writing style, get over it. He has a good message that is well informed and thought out, and he is relevant. Sweet is an example of someone who realized things changed, and he wanted to be a part of it. From a Gen-X perspective, this book is fairly boring because, it is how it is for us, we do not know any differently, save those modern Gen-Xers who refuse to change. This book will either challenge you, bore you, or make you angry. I hope you check it out.
Rating: Summary: You need to get it Review: I totally disagree with the previous reviewer's philosophical criticisms. Yes, Sweet's writing style is bits-n-pieces and "postmodern". If you're looking for a Romans-style or Francis-Shaeffer-style tome, Sweet's not your man.And you do have to be willing to put your prejudices aside to read Sweet. The previous reviewer evidently feels that the Word is immutable, therefore the presentation medium and style must also be immutable. If you also like "that old time religion", you'll be insulted by this book. Sweet's message (among many other things) is that the presentation (medium, style, language) must continue to be culturally-driven in order to be relevant. The message does not change, but the medium and style must. If you think the NIV is a gimmick and rock-n-roll is evil, do not get this book. If you don't think there's really anything to this postmodernism except hype and a continued moral decline, you'll waste your money. But if you want to read about a possible change in a culture's worldviews and means of communicating and understanding, if you want to by _all_ means win some, Sweet's the guy on the cutting edge.
Rating: Summary: seizing tomorrow or freezing yesterday? Review: i'm sure in all generations there have been and will always be those who doggedly refuse to admit that change is an essential element of life... leonard sweet is not one of those individuals. as a young (36) pastor i am confronted every day with the postmodern society about which mr. sweet writes. its effects, moods, swells and non-linear characteristics make it on of the most frustrating, yet challenging tasks of ministry. in the midst of it all, i find myself engaged with sweet's static, conversational and image-dense thoughts on the church and the powerful need to adapt our methods to speak to society's nature. adapting the gospel to culture is a difficult, eye-opening effort. as fast as we realize that the gospel does not change, we are twice as fast confronted by the fact that to reach our society, we must. seizing tommorrow is a powerful mandate to a church that is many times intent on "freezing yesterday". i for one enjoy a passionate, eye-opening, trek into tommorrow, and leonard sweet's word images have become an important voice in the road there. let go of yesterday, carpe manana!
Rating: Summary: Trying to be trendier than Thou (who is not really trendy) Review: This is Professor Sweet's basic thesis: Gen Xers are with it; older people are not. In fact, they are "immigrants." Gen Xers are "natives" because they understand postmodern culture. The answer: make the Xer's ways and thoughts normative and adjust Christian practice accordingly. Professor Sweet wants to make Christianity relevant to a new generation. That is commendable. Every generation needs to think this through. However, the book disappoints for several reasons, despite its interesting information about contemporary culture. The book is fat with factoids; thin on theology; and hefty with hype. There is little attention to Scripture as authoritative, normative, and cross-culturally pertinent (not that Professor Sweet denies biblical authority outright). Rather, besides giving some basic biblical ideas, Professor Sweet thinks that postmodern culture must drive the church's structure and endeavors. For instance, if the culture is moving "from word to image" (a chapter title), so must the church. I believe, that the opposite is true. Scripture as Scripture favors the Word. In the beginning was the Word, not the video (John 1). The "Word became flesh and dwelt among us" and the Bible is God's word to us for us for God's greater glory. Professor Sweet shows no familiarity with the trenchant critiques of our image-oriented (and thus intellectually and spiritually impoverished) culture given by Neil Postman ("Amusing Ourselves to Death") or Jacques Ellul ("The Humiliation of the Word"). See also the appendix to my book, "Truth Decay": "Television: Agent of Truth Decay." Protestants have historically always been concerned abou the misuse of images, given what the Ten Commandments say about them (Exodus 20). Professor Sweet is in demand evangelical circles where endorsing postmodernism has become a trend for many. He endorses the postmodernist apologetic: "A New Kind of Christian" by Brian McLaren, a book I find to be undiscerning concernting the pernicious effects of postmodernism philosophically and theologically. If Christians are to "shake the world again" (Francis Schaeffer), they need something truly prophetic, wise, and courageous. I suggest reading and rereading Francis Schaeffer (1912-1984), Os Guinness, Kenneth Myers, and David Wells. Douglas Groothuis, Ph.D.
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