Subversive Sabbath: The Surprising Power of Rest in a Nonstop World
Overview
Christianity Today 2019 Book Award Winner (Spiritual Formation) and Award of Merit for CT’s Beautiful Orthodoxy Book of the Year
We live in a 24/7 culture of endless productivity, workaholism, distraction, burnout, and anxiety—a way of life to which we’ve sadly grown accustomed. This tired system of “life” ultimately destroys our souls, our bodies, our relationships, our society, and the rest of God’s creation. The whole world grows exhausted because humanity has forgotten to enter into God’s rest.
This book pioneers a creative path to an alternative way of existing. Combining creative storytelling, pastoral sensitivity, practical insight, and relevant academic research, Subversive Sabbath offers a unique invitation to personal Sabbath-keeping that leads to fuller and more joyful lives. A. J. Swoboda demonstrates that Sabbath is both a spiritual discipline and a form of social justice, connects Sabbath-keeping to local communities, and explains how God may actually do more when we do less. He shows that the biblical practice of Sabbath-keeping is God’s plan for the restoration and healing of all creation. The book includes a foreword by Matthew Sleeth.
Key Features
- Presents the Sabbath as a gift to creation
- Discusses the challenges of Sabbath rest in a chaotic world
- Explores the potential impact of the Sabbath for individuals, creation, and worship
Contents
Part 1: Sabbath for Us
- Sabbath and Time
- Sabbath and Work
- Sabbath and Health
Part 2: Sabbath for Others
- Sabbath and Relationships
- Sabbath, Economy, and Technology
- Sabbath and the Marginalized
Part 3: Sabbath for Creation
- Sabbath and Creation
- Sabbath and the Land
- Sabbath and Critters
Part 4: Sabbath for Worship
- Sabbath and Witness
- Sabbath and Worship
- Sabbath and Discipleship
Top Highlights
“We fall into the same trap time and again—not knowing how to enjoy a gift from God. When all is said and done, the worst thing that has happened to the Sabbath is religion. Religion is hostile to gifts. Religion hates free stuff. Religion squanders the good gifts of God by trying to earn them, which is why we will never really enjoy a sacred day of rest as long as we think our religion is all about earning.” (Page x)
“So time poverty and burnout have become the signs that the minority church remains serious about God in a world that has rejected him. Because we pastors rarely practice Sabbath, we rarely preach the Sabbath. And because we do not preach the Sabbath, our congregations are not challenged to take it seriously themselves. The result of our Sabbath amnesia is that we have become perhaps the most emotionally exhausted, psychologically overworked, spiritually malnourished people in history.” (Page 5)
“Humanity had only God’s goodness to celebrate, nothing more. Work had not even begun. The Sabbath teaches us that we do not work to please God. Rather, we rest because God is already pleased with the work he has accomplished in us.” (Page 7)
“What is the culmination of creation? In Genesis 2:2–3, there are three sentences of seven Hebrew words each, and the middle word of each sentence is the word for the seventh day. This textual feature is utilized to state that the seventh day is the goal of creation.42 The climax of creation is not humanity, as we have so arrogantly assumed. Rather, the day of rest is the climax, when creation all comes together and lives at peace and harmony with one another. Sabbath becomes the culminating roof of the entire house.” (Page 17)
Praise for the Print Edition
Do you ever just want to pull the plug on your schedule? A. J. Swoboda’s Subversive Sabbath shows you why you should and how you can; it will fundamentally change your life. It is a total reconstruction of America’s frenzied, frenetic lifestyle, offering the ultimate regenerative alternative.
—Joel Salatin, Polyface Farm; editor of The Stockman Grass Farmer
If I were permitted to recommend only one book on Sabbath-keeping, A. J. Swoboda’s Subversive Sabbath would be it. This one volume acquaints the reader with a vast literature on Sabbath from both the Jewish and Christian traditions. Through practical reflection questions at the end of each chapter, it provokes changes in doing as well as thinking. It explores the implications of Sabbath not only for one’s personal life but for relationships, for worship, for public life, and for the whole of creation. Best of all, it highlights the lavish gift and the countercultural adventure of Sabbath. No one can read this book and ever again associate Sabbath-keeping with ‘blue laws’ or legalism or boredom. Subversive Sabbath dares one to do life as God intended from the beginning.
—Shirley A. Mullen, president, Houghton College
Our smartwatch-driven age can measure every heartbeat, every step, even the quality of our sleep, but it cannot measure the health of our souls. Our limitless freedom has paradoxically imprisoned us in an achievement culture of constant measurement. Escape from the exhaustion of endless opportunity, embrace the singular God behind the singular Sabbath day of rest. Stop, breathe, read this profoundly helpful book, and be remade.
—Mark Sayers, senior pastor, Red Church, Melbourne, Australia; author of Disappearing Church and Strange Days
Product Details
- Title: Subversive Sabbath: The Surprising Power of Rest in a Nonstop World
- Author: A.J. Swoboda
- Publisher: Baker
- Publication Date: 2018
- Pages: 256
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Topic: Sabbath