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"A" Is for Abductive : The Language of the Emerging Church
A Is for Abductive B is for Body C is for Carpe Manana D is for Double-Ring E is for EPICtivities F is for Fractals G is for Grace H is for Holarchy I is for Icon J is for the J-Factor K is for Kaleidoscopic Change L is for Loopy M is for Metanarrative N is for Neurological Pre-Rewirings O is for Open-Endedness P is for Prayer Q is for Quest-ions R is for Radical Orthodoxy S is for Systems Theology T is for Tribal U is for Unknown V is for Voice W is for Wonder X is for Xenophilia Y is for Yes! Z is for Zending Do You Know the Postmodern Alphabet? The letters are all the same, but the things they stand for are as different as the future is from the past. A Is for Abductive helps you get a handle today on the vocabulary of tomorrow, and on concepts indispensable for living out the old-fashioned gospel in these newfangled times. 'You caused this book,' writes one of the authors. 'People like you were insisting on a beginner's guide to the pathway of postmodern ministry.' Here it is. There is no right or wrong place to begin---just pick a letter and start reading. You'll acquire new words for a new world that will change how you think about church, about ministry, and about what it means to follow in Jesus' footsteps---entering today's culture in order to love it, serve it, and lead it home to God.
- GenresTheology
352 pages, Paperback
First published December 24, 2002
2 people are currently reading
25 people want to read
About the author
Leonard Sweet
160 books137 followersLeonard I. Sweet is an author, preacher, scholar, and ordained United Methodist clergyman currently serving as the E. Stanley Jones Professor of Evangelism at Drew Theological School, in Madison, New Jersey; and a Visiting Distinguished Professor at George Fox University in Portland, Oregon.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
May 15, 2025
A ‘BEGINNER’S GUIDE TO POSTMODERN MINISTRY’
Brian McLaren was the founding pastor in 1982 of the nondenominational Cedar Ridge Community Church in Maryland (he left that position in 2006); and he currently serves with the Centre for Action and Contemplation. Leonard Sweet is an ordained Methodist minister, and is Professor Emeritus at Drew Theological School. He has also taught at various other institutions. Jerry Haselmayer is president of Leadership Pathways, a consulting firm.
The Preface by Leonard Sweet to this 2003 book states, “When I compared notes with Brian McLaren about what he was hearing after his presentations, we could only reach one conclusion. People… were insisting on a beginner’s guide on the pathway of postmodern ministry.. We made a pitch to the editors at Zondervan, who were enthusiastic… We have made this resource as comprehensive in scope in a limited a space as we could. We designed it to be a nonlinear experience… We also packed it full of the literature that has shaped our perceptions. We hope you will find the footnotes a goldmine of resources on various aspects of postmodern ministry… The EPICtivities Jerry Haselmayer worked up for your pleasure are intended to jump-start some tailgate parties… We hope these … will help you bring mind, body, and spirit together. This book would not have been possible without a deep compatibility of perspectives between Brian and me.” (Pg. 9-10)
The Preface by Brian McLaren states, “It was a great honor to be invited to coauthor this book with Len Sweet. In the mid-90s … my own theology reached a kind of crisis that I later diagnosed as a postmodern ‘re-booting’ of my spiritual computer … Len and I… have shared a desire to move beyond a critique of modern ministry… Instead, we have tried to be more constructive, sketching out some preliminary lines along which postmodern ministry can develop and in fact is beginning to develop. This book gives us a chance to lodge in key words some of our best thinking so far in this regard, to help our friends and colleagues in ministry… We are also grateful to Jerry Haselmayer for his collaboration on this project.” (Pg. 13-14)
They explain, “DEDUCTIVE METHOD: Start with abstract principles and build toward concrete reality… INDUCTIVE METHOD: Start with concrete reality and build toward abstract principles… ABDUCTIVE METHOD: Seize people by the imagination and transport them from their current world to another world, where they gain a new perspective… to go abductive, get rid of your inductive/deductive outlines and points and make your sermons pointless!... build them around an abductive experience … that takes people out of their current world of assumptions and issues…” (Pg. 31)
They state, “Taken to the extreme, ‘believing that’ can lead us into a false security, suggesting that as long as we hold the correct ‘beliefs,’ opinions or doctrinal formulations, we’re… certifiably okay… Do you believe … that God raised Jesus from the dead? Big deal! Even Satan believes that… Satan believes IN God. But Satan doesn’t BELIEVE God. Believing God is living faith.” (Pg. 43)
They observe, “contemporary isn’t necessarily a great achievement… Attend 52 Sundays at a contemporary church that sings for 45 minutes each week using standard contemporary songs. After singing these songs for … 39 hours, there is one certainty: You will be bored... True, the songs are contemporary, but they use the same standard chord progressions, and same predictable melodies, the same clichéd lyrics. Being in contemporary style doesn’t keep them from becoming stale contemporary songs.” (Pg. 77)
They suggest, “Christians in the emerging culture must relearn what Christians of modern times only sometimes knew. Jesus did not come to impose a culture on people or to drive a culture from people, but rather to drive from every culture the sin that besets it, and into every culture the life, joy, grace, peace, and freedom of God.” (Pg. 83-84)
They state, “The implications of deconstruction are staggering for Christians doing ministry in the emerging culture. For example, every time preachers or authors seek to interpret Scripture… By driving to ‘the one true interpretation'… they disenfranchise postmodern readers for whom deconstruction is as much the mother tongue as traditional interpretation is for modern people… While deconstruction feels to a modern like chaos and nihilism, it feels to postmoderns like honesty and liberation…. postmoderns feel that deconstructive readings are meaningful, interesting, playful, rich, honest, rewarding, and inclusive.” (Pg. 89)
They assert, “For Christians, objectivity is never the last word, because behind all objects there is always a Subject. God, who is not only the ultimate Subject, but is also the personal Subject. If this is true, then nothing in the universe is purely objective: nothing in the universe has no subjective value associated with it, because God has subjective values for everything… The very concepts ‘subjective’ and ‘objective’ are unbiblical categories…” (Pg. 163)
They propose, “What the church needs most is not more pastors or more worship leaders but more missionaries---postcolonial missionaries with a kingdom vista, not an empire visa. In fact, in post-Christendom culture there are no more pastors, only missionaries.” (Pg. 197)
They explain, “For Christians thoroughly at home in modernity, the idea of postmodern orthodoxy feels like an oxymoron. But for those who have developed a nose for modern accommodation the option of remaining in the status quo is increasingly unacceptable. Instead, increasing numbers of us are seeking to uproot ourselves from the confining pot of modernity and to reboot ourselves in the fertile fields of gospel.” (Pg. 253)
They summarize, “Postmodern Christians are not threatened by other belief systems. In fact, encounters with other religious traditions… do not threaten one’s own Christian witness, but enhance it. The issue is not that we need to understand another religious tradition. It’s that we need other religious traditions to understand our own.” (Pg. 334)
Although this book at times seems to be deliberately obtuse in its over-use of postmodern 'buzzwords," this book will be of interest to contemporary Christians wanting to explore different approaches.
Brian McLaren was the founding pastor in 1982 of the nondenominational Cedar Ridge Community Church in Maryland (he left that position in 2006); and he currently serves with the Centre for Action and Contemplation. Leonard Sweet is an ordained Methodist minister, and is Professor Emeritus at Drew Theological School. He has also taught at various other institutions. Jerry Haselmayer is president of Leadership Pathways, a consulting firm.
The Preface by Leonard Sweet to this 2003 book states, “When I compared notes with Brian McLaren about what he was hearing after his presentations, we could only reach one conclusion. People… were insisting on a beginner’s guide on the pathway of postmodern ministry.. We made a pitch to the editors at Zondervan, who were enthusiastic… We have made this resource as comprehensive in scope in a limited a space as we could. We designed it to be a nonlinear experience… We also packed it full of the literature that has shaped our perceptions. We hope you will find the footnotes a goldmine of resources on various aspects of postmodern ministry… The EPICtivities Jerry Haselmayer worked up for your pleasure are intended to jump-start some tailgate parties… We hope these … will help you bring mind, body, and spirit together. This book would not have been possible without a deep compatibility of perspectives between Brian and me.” (Pg. 9-10)
The Preface by Brian McLaren states, “It was a great honor to be invited to coauthor this book with Len Sweet. In the mid-90s … my own theology reached a kind of crisis that I later diagnosed as a postmodern ‘re-booting’ of my spiritual computer … Len and I… have shared a desire to move beyond a critique of modern ministry… Instead, we have tried to be more constructive, sketching out some preliminary lines along which postmodern ministry can develop and in fact is beginning to develop. This book gives us a chance to lodge in key words some of our best thinking so far in this regard, to help our friends and colleagues in ministry… We are also grateful to Jerry Haselmayer for his collaboration on this project.” (Pg. 13-14)
They explain, “DEDUCTIVE METHOD: Start with abstract principles and build toward concrete reality… INDUCTIVE METHOD: Start with concrete reality and build toward abstract principles… ABDUCTIVE METHOD: Seize people by the imagination and transport them from their current world to another world, where they gain a new perspective… to go abductive, get rid of your inductive/deductive outlines and points and make your sermons pointless!... build them around an abductive experience … that takes people out of their current world of assumptions and issues…” (Pg. 31)
They state, “Taken to the extreme, ‘believing that’ can lead us into a false security, suggesting that as long as we hold the correct ‘beliefs,’ opinions or doctrinal formulations, we’re… certifiably okay… Do you believe … that God raised Jesus from the dead? Big deal! Even Satan believes that… Satan believes IN God. But Satan doesn’t BELIEVE God. Believing God is living faith.” (Pg. 43)
They observe, “contemporary isn’t necessarily a great achievement… Attend 52 Sundays at a contemporary church that sings for 45 minutes each week using standard contemporary songs. After singing these songs for … 39 hours, there is one certainty: You will be bored... True, the songs are contemporary, but they use the same standard chord progressions, and same predictable melodies, the same clichéd lyrics. Being in contemporary style doesn’t keep them from becoming stale contemporary songs.” (Pg. 77)
They suggest, “Christians in the emerging culture must relearn what Christians of modern times only sometimes knew. Jesus did not come to impose a culture on people or to drive a culture from people, but rather to drive from every culture the sin that besets it, and into every culture the life, joy, grace, peace, and freedom of God.” (Pg. 83-84)
They state, “The implications of deconstruction are staggering for Christians doing ministry in the emerging culture. For example, every time preachers or authors seek to interpret Scripture… By driving to ‘the one true interpretation'… they disenfranchise postmodern readers for whom deconstruction is as much the mother tongue as traditional interpretation is for modern people… While deconstruction feels to a modern like chaos and nihilism, it feels to postmoderns like honesty and liberation…. postmoderns feel that deconstructive readings are meaningful, interesting, playful, rich, honest, rewarding, and inclusive.” (Pg. 89)
They assert, “For Christians, objectivity is never the last word, because behind all objects there is always a Subject. God, who is not only the ultimate Subject, but is also the personal Subject. If this is true, then nothing in the universe is purely objective: nothing in the universe has no subjective value associated with it, because God has subjective values for everything… The very concepts ‘subjective’ and ‘objective’ are unbiblical categories…” (Pg. 163)
They propose, “What the church needs most is not more pastors or more worship leaders but more missionaries---postcolonial missionaries with a kingdom vista, not an empire visa. In fact, in post-Christendom culture there are no more pastors, only missionaries.” (Pg. 197)
They explain, “For Christians thoroughly at home in modernity, the idea of postmodern orthodoxy feels like an oxymoron. But for those who have developed a nose for modern accommodation the option of remaining in the status quo is increasingly unacceptable. Instead, increasing numbers of us are seeking to uproot ourselves from the confining pot of modernity and to reboot ourselves in the fertile fields of gospel.” (Pg. 253)
They summarize, “Postmodern Christians are not threatened by other belief systems. In fact, encounters with other religious traditions… do not threaten one’s own Christian witness, but enhance it. The issue is not that we need to understand another religious tradition. It’s that we need other religious traditions to understand our own.” (Pg. 334)
Although this book at times seems to be deliberately obtuse in its over-use of postmodern 'buzzwords," this book will be of interest to contemporary Christians wanting to explore different approaches.
January 9, 2019
Putting together a book like this had to have been difficult. It takes courage to call out trends and then predict how those trends may continue to affect the church. Reading this almost 16 years after it was published provides me the benefit of hindsight. I'm glad to see that this book hits the mark. To get the most benefit out of this book, I found it helpful to set a goal of identifying those items (no more than 12) that most resonated with me as continued growth areas for me. And so I did -- abductive method (storytelling), beauty, discourse, evangelism, interreligious dialogue, metanarrative, simultaneity, tribal, voice, the (way), and zending. Together these really reflect my commitment to better see, hear, and feel people so that I can better minister to them where they are at.
November 3, 2008
Kind of getting tired of the standard 50 year old upper middle class educator's take on the postmodern culture and Christianity.
October 19, 2012
So far, this has been the most informative book I've read on postmodernism.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews