REVIEW: Sabbath - The Ancient Practices by Dan Allender

I received a review copy of Sabbath - The Ancient Practices by Dan Allender from Booksneeze.com to review quite a while ago and began reading it almost immediately.  While I cannot say that there were not good things to be learned from it, I did feel as though this book had more of a secular "do good - feel good" message and less of a Scriptural affirmation of the topics within.  I appreciate the goal of the book, which is to to enforce the true statement that "Sabbath rest is not an option; it is a commandment." (pg 6). 

As I read through the book, it read as though it was a constant set up for a punch line that never really arrived.  Yes, it was abundantly clear that it was enforcing the importance of the celebration of the Sabbath, however I do not feel as though the author ever really got very deep in the ways to accomplish that task.  My feeling is that as the book went on, it became words for the sake of words, simply repeating and restating that the Sabbath was important, but using descriptions like "It is a dance that moves to the rhythm of beauty, sensuality, and feasting." (pg 65)  This is not quite the type of description or enforcement that I expected to find in a book falling under "The Ancient Practices Series".  Maybe this was my own fault for not researching the series in depth prior to requesting this book.  I anticipated seeing Scriptural examples of the celebration of the Sabbath, as well as perhaps seeing some examples of how people have historically celebrated the Sabbath or how they have regarded it in the past as compared to our view of it today.  I also suppose I expected to see a bit more direction as how to implement the practice in our daily lives today.

Did I expect too much out of this book?  Yes, probably.  As I have read a number of books by John Piper, R.C. Sproul, Matt Chandler, John Calvin, Jonathan Edwards, etc, I guess I expected this to follow suit in the same challenging way.  This book would probably do well for the very new Christian, a person raised in a denomination that was more tradition based that is beginning to seek God for the first time on their own, or the person who is looking for some light direction, however I would not say that this book is a fit for someone looking for a deep theological study of the Sabbath.

Here We Go

Anyone who knows me knows that I am constantly reading and buying books.  After a good friend posted on his Facebook that he was looking for some reccommendations on some new books to read, I quickly replied with about 4 or 5 quick ideas.  Then I figured, why not start a blog reviewing what books I've recently read and what my thoughts are on them.

I've titled this "Books With A Purpose" because while I read all types of books, the majority of my time is spent reading Christian themed books, hence the purpose portion of the title.  I have decided to put my reviews here because we all know that there are thousands of "faith" centered books, while only a few dozen of them are "good" and yet only a handful are amazing.  Hopefully I can help others to easily find something that interests them.

In addition to checking in to see what I am reading, please feel free to recommend to me some of what may be exciting you at the moment.  Also, if I review something that you have also read, PLEASE, by all means chime in with what your thoughts were as well.  While I know this will start small, due to the volume that I am reading, I know that it will grow fairly quickly.

Thanks for reading!

Leon