Leonard I. Sweet is an American theologian,

semiotician Semiotics ( ) is the systematic study of sign processes and the communication of meaning. In semiotics, a sign is defined as anything that communicates intentional and unintentional meaning or feelings to the sign's interpreter. Semiosis is an ...

church historian Church history or ecclesiastical history as an academic discipline studies the history of Christianity and the way the Christian Church has developed since its inception. Henry Melvill Gwatkin defined church history as "the spiritual side of th ...

, pastor, and author. Sweet currently serves as the E. Stanley Jones Professor Emeritus at Drew Theological School at

Drew University Drew University is a private university in Madison, New Jersey, United States. It has a wooded campus. As of fall 2020, more than 2,200 students were pursuing degrees at the university's three schools. While affiliated with the Methodism, Me ...

, in Madison, New Jersey; Charles Wesley Distinguished Professor of Doctoral Studies at Evangelical Seminary; distinguished visiting professor at Tabor College; and visiting distinguished professor at George Fox University in

Portland, Oregon Portland ( ) is the List of cities in Oregon, most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon, located in the Pacific Northwest region. Situated close to northwest Oregon at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, ...

. Sweet is ordained in the

United Methodist Church The United Methodist Church (UMC) is a worldwide mainline Protestant Christian denomination, denomination based in the United States, and a major part of Methodism. In the 19th century, its main predecessor, the Methodist Episcopal Church, was ...

Early life

Leonard Sweet was raised in the

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a Protestant Christianity, Christian Christian tradition, tradition whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother ...

tradition, attending the

Free Methodist Church The Free Methodist Church (FMC) is a Methodist Christian denomination within the holiness movement, based in the United States. It is Evangelicalism, evangelical in nature and is Wesleyan theology, Wesleyan–Arminian in theology. The Free Met ...

and Pilgrim Holiness Church as a child. Growing up, the Sweet family always attended Methodist watchnight services on New Year's Eve.

Academic engagements

Before his current seminary positions, Sweet had been E. Stanley Jones Professor of Evangelism, Vice President of Academic Affairs, and Dean of the Theological School at Drew from 1995 to 2015. Prior to his appointments at

, he served as President and Professor of Church History at United Theological Seminary,

Dayton, Ohio Dayton () is a city in Montgomery County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of cities in Ohio, sixth-most populous city in Ohio, with a population of 137,644 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The Dayton metro ...

. 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'' and owner of the preaching resource website www.preachthestory.com. He also founded in 2020 a new publishing company called The Salish Sea Press. His writings focus on the study of

Semiotics Semiotics ( ) is the systematic study of sign processes and the communication of meaning. In semiotics, a sign is defined as anything that communicates intentional and unintentional meaning or feelings to the sign's interpreter. Semiosis is a ...

. 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 published over 1500 sermons in the journal ''Homiletics'', Preachingplus.com, sermons.com and preachthestory.com. In 2005, Sweet created the first open-source preaching website called Wikiletics.com. Sweet posts weekly podcasts on

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entitled ''Napkin Scribbles'' and posts on YouTube a weekly LenTalk. 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 The American Academy of Religion (AAR) is the world's largest association of scholarly method, scholars in the List of academic disciplines, field of religious studies and related topics. It is a nonprofit member association, serving as a profess ...

for ten years. An honors and

Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States. It was founded in 1776 at the College of William & Mary in Virginia. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal arts and sciences, ...

graduate of the

University of Richmond The University of Richmond (UR or U of R) is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Richmond, Virginia, United States. It is a primarily undergraduate, residential institution with approxim ...

, he earned his

Master of Divinity For graduate-level theological institutions, the Master of Divinity (MDiv, ''magister divinitatis'' in Latin) is the first professional degree of the pastoral profession in North America. It is the most common academic degree in seminaries and ...

degree from Colgate/Rochester/Bexley Hall/Crozer and PhD from the

University of Rochester The University of Rochester is a private university, private research university in Rochester, New York, United States. It was founded in 1850 and moved into its current campus, next to the Genesee River in 1930. With approximately 30,000 full ...

. Sweet is the recipient of honorary Doctorates of Divinity from

, Baker University, Lebanon Valley College, Coe College, and Otterbein College.

Selected bibliography

*''Soul Tsunami'' (Zondervan, 1999) () *''The Three Hardest Words In The World To Get Right'' (WaterBrook Press, 2006) () *''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) () *''So Beautiful'' (David C Cook, 2009) (978-1434799791) *''Jesus Manifesto: Restoring the Supremacy and Sovereignty of Jesus Christ'' (with Frank Viola) (Thomas Nelson, 2010) () *''Nudge: Awakening Each Other to the God Who’s Already There'' (David C. Cook, 2010) () *''The Seraph Seal'' (with Lori Wagner) (Thomas Nelson, 2011) () *''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) () *''Viral: How Social Networking is Poised to Ignite Revival'' (WaterBrook Press, 2012) () *''What Matters Most: How We Got the Point but Missed the Person'' (WaterBrook Press, 2012) () *''The Greatest Story Never Told: Revive Us Again'' (Abingdon Press, 2012) () *''Jesus: A Theography'' (with Frank Viola) (Thomas Nelson, 2012) () *''From Tablet to Table: Where Community is Found and Identity is Formed'' (NavPress, 2015) () *''Jesus Speaks'' (with Frank Viola) (Thomas Nelson, 2016) () *''The Well Played Life'' (Tyndale, 2014) () *''Giving Blood: A Fresh Paradigm for Preaching'' (Zondervan, 2014) () *''Me and We'' (Abingdon Press, 2014) () *''The Bad Habits of Jesus'' (Tyndale House, 2016) ''('') *''Mother Tongue'' (NavPress, 2017) () *''Rings of Fire: Walking in Faith Through a Volcanic Future'' (NavPress, 2019) () *''St. Is'' with Lisa Samson (The Salish Sea Press, 2020).

References

External links

*

* he-salish.combr>A Jesus Manifesto for the 21st CenturyA Candid Interview with Leonard SweetSpirit Venture Ministries
* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20071202230633/http://www.leonardsweet.com/Quantum/quantum-ebook.pdf ''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 {{DEFAULTSORT:Sweet, Leonard 1961 births Living people Presidents of United Methodist seminaries Methodist theologians Drew University faculty George Fox University faculty American university and college faculty deans Seminary academics Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School faculty American United Methodists