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Review: From Tablet to Table by Leonard Sweet



Review: From Tablet to Table
Leonard Sweet
Navpress
2014

I had not read Sweet in quite a while.  So I requested this book for review as a change of pace.  If you have not read Sweet be prepared to work harder and think more just to decide if you agree with his views or not.  His style is easy, but it is deep.  But, such a wealth of sources!  Just his end notes are worth the rest of the book.

Yes, I like Sweet, but I do get frustrated sometimes trying to stay with him along the way.  This book is no exception in my opinion.  The tablet to table works metaphor, but he meanders around it in a variety ways while looking at the malaise of the Western church and society. The subtitle goes like this---where community is found and identity is formed. That gives the reader a place to start.  He has divided his thoughts into two basic sections both revolving around the meaning and practice of table fellowship with the table appearing in numerous forms.  In essence it boils down to the heart, both in practice and knowledge.  Familiar, but generally unheeded in so many ways.

Buy this book, sit down with it, and plan to spend some time thinking about it.  It’s worth the effort, I think.  I intend to go back through it and spend more time with it.   There’s so many gems of wisdom and wit within his writing, and Sweet’s ability to link Jesus, Nicodemus, Iain McEwan, Wesley, and Johnny Cash successfully amazes me.  Yep, they’re all in there.

I received this book from the publisher through the generous folks at Tyndale in exchange for a review.



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