Leonard I. Sweet is an American theologian,

semiotician Semiotics (also called semiotic studies) is the systematic study of sign processes (semiosis) and meaning making. Semiosis is any activity, conduct, or process that involves Sign (semiotics), signs, where a sign is defined as anything that commun ...

church historian Church Historian and Recorder (usually shortened to Church Historian) is a priesthood calling in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The role of the Church Historian and Recorder is to keep an accurate and comprehensive record 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. Drew has been nicknamed the "University in the Forest" because of its wooded campus. As of fall 2020, more than 2,200 students were pursuing degrees at the university's three scho ...

, in

Madison, New Jersey Madison is a borough in Morris County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 16,937. Located along the Morris & Essex Lines, it is noted for Madison's historic railroad station becoming one ...

; Charles Wesley Distinguished Professor of Doctoral Studies at Evangelical Seminary; Distinguished Visiting Professor at Tabor College; and Visiting Distinguished Professor at

George Fox University George Fox University is a private Christian university in Newberg, Oregon. Founded as a school for Quakers in 1891, it is now the largest private university in Oregon with more than 4,000 students combined between its main campus in Newberg, ...

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous co ...

. Sweet is ordained in the

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

Early life

Leonard Sweet was raised in the

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's b ...

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 evangelical in nature and is Wesleyan–Arminian in theology. The Free Methodist Church has members in over 100 ...

and

Pilgrim Holiness Church Pilgrim Holiness Church (PHC) or International Apostolic Holiness Church (IAHC) is a Christian denomination associated with the holiness movement that split from the Methodist Episcopal Church through the efforts of Martin Wells Knapp in 1897. It ...

as a child. Growing up, the Sweet family always attended Methodist

watchnight service A watchnight service (also called Watchnight Mass) is a late-night Christian church service. In many different Christian traditions, such as those of Moravians, Methodists, Catholics, Lutherans, Anglicans, Baptists, Adventists and Reformed Christ ...

s 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 Dean may refer to: People * Dean (given name) * Dean (surname), a surname of Anglo-Saxon English origin * Dean (South Korean singer), a stage name for singer Kwon Hyuk * Dean Delannoit, a Belgian singer most known by the mononym Dean Titles * ...

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 United Theological Seminary is a United Methodist seminary in Trotwood, Ohio. Founded in 1871 by Milton Wright (father of the Wright brothers), it was originally sponsored by the Church of the United Brethren in Christ. In 1946, members ...

Dayton, Ohio Dayton () is the sixth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County. A small part of the city extends into Greene County. The 2020 U.S. census estimate put the city population at 137,644, while Greater Day ...

. 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 (also called semiotic studies) is the systematic study of sign processes ( semiosis) and meaning making. Semiosis is any activity, conduct, or process that involves signs, where a sign is defined as anything that communicates something ...

. 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

iTunes iTunes () is a software program that acts as a media player, media library, mobile device management utility, and the client app for the iTunes Store. Developed by Apple Inc., it is used to purchase, play, download, and organize digital mul ...

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 profes ...

for ten years. An honors and

Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States, and the most prestigious, due in part to its long history and academic selectivity. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal a ...

graduate of the

University of Richmond The University of Richmond (UR or U of R) is a private liberal arts college in Richmond, Virginia. It is a primarily undergraduate, residential institution with approximately 4,350 undergraduate and graduate students in five schools: the School ...

, 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 divi ...

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

University of Rochester The University of Rochester (U of R, UR, or U of Rochester) is a private research university in Rochester, New York. The university grants undergraduate and graduate degrees, including doctoral and professional degrees. The University of Roc ...

. Sweet is the recipient of honorary Doctorates of Divinity from

Baker University Baker University is a private university in Baldwin City, Kansas. Founded in 1858, it was the first four-year university in Kansas and is affiliated with the United Methodist Church. Baker University is made up of four schools. The College of Art ...

Lebanon Valley College Lebanon Valley College (LVC, Lebanon Valley, or The Valley) is a private college in Annville, Pennsylvania. History Lebanon Valley was founded on February 23, 1866, with classes beginning May 7 of that year and its first class graduating in 1870 ...

, Coe College, and

Otterbein College Otterbein University is a private university in Westerville, Ohio. It offers 74 majors and 44 minors as well as eight graduate programs. The university was founded in 1847 by the Church of the United Brethren in Christ and named for United Bre ...

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 Frank John Viola Jr. (born April 19, 1960) is an American former starting pitcher in Major League Baseball who played for the Minnesota Twins (1982–1989), New York Mets (1989–1991), Boston Red Sox (1992–1994), Cincinnati Reds (1995), and ...

) (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

) (Thomas Nelson, 2012) () *''From Tablet to Table: Where Community is Found and Identity is Formed'' (NavPress, 2015) () *''Jesus Speaks'' (with

) (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