Product Description

This book invites the reader to experience the wholeness and joy that come from observing God's order for life--a rhythm of working six days and setting apart one day for rest, worship, festivity, and relationships. Dawn's work offers both motivation and methods for enjoying a special holy day.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #170995 in Books
• Published on: 1989-09
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 217 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780802804570
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
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From Library Journal
Drawing deeply both from Scripture and from Jewish practices, the author of I'm Lonely, Lord--How Long ? ( LJ 3/15/84) shares ideas for various ways of keeping the Sabbath: by ceasing (from striving, productivity, anxiety); by resting (physically, emotionally, intellectually); by embracing (intentionality, Christian values); and by feasting (on the eternal, with affection). A thoughtful, prayerful book that opens new vistas on the underlying spirituality of what is too often understood in terms of shallow conventionality alone.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Customer Reviews

Excellent Christian Approach
As Ms. Dawn says in the Preface to her book, legalism is contrary to the keeping of the Sabbath. The important thing is the keeping of the Sabbath for the health of one's relationship with God, and for one's own spiritual, physical, and emotional health.

I have found this book to be one of the most important things I've ever read: it offers practical ways for Christians (and others, if they care to borrow) to keep the Sabbath, which is helpful for those without a strong model to work from. The book is broken into four parts, of seven chapters each, so it can be read a chapter a day for four weeks, gently guiding the reader into a deeper understanding of and appreciation for the day of rest. It also focuses equally well on the negative (ceasing and resting from things) and positive (embracing and feasting) aspects of the Sabbath.

I am sorry that the previous reviewer of the book was unable to glean the many helpful and exciting ideas that I found, especially as both she and Ms. Dawn seem to have an equal respect for Abraham Joshua Heschel's book on the Sabbath (another book everyone should read). Contrary to her perception of it, Keeping the Sabbath Wholly is an holistic approach to Sabbath-keeping, entirely centered around God.

A good "how-to" book
Finally a Sabbath book that doesn't seek to convince one of which day should be kept as the Sabbath, but focusses instead on HOW to keep the Sabbath. The book is broken into four major parts - ceasing, resting, embracing, and feasting. Each of those chapter breaks its subject down into seven areas. For example, the section on resting covers physical, spiritual, emotional, intellectual, and social rest.

You don't have to agree with the author or her experiences to see the value in taking 24 full hours off each week. I can testify that when I was both working and going to school, that 24 hours kept me sane and gave me something to look forward to.

If you want to know which day is the Sabbath, this book isn't for you. (I would recommend Samuele Bacchiocchi's book "From Sabbath To Sunday" to treat this subject.) If someone is looking for ways to keep the Sabbath and experience the full blessing of God on this day, then this book gives many ideas.

Useful but not well executed
When it comes to the Sabbath, there are four basic questions: What is it (what does it mean)? Who should celebrate it? When should it be celebrated? and How should it be celebrated? Dawn's is a mostly practical book on Sabbath-keeping, and she spends most of her space discussing the last question and conspicuously -- and, I suspect, intentionally -- avoids the other three. (For a relatively brief theological discussion of those other concerns from a Christian perspective, I'd recommend chapters 28-30 of John Frame's _Doctrine of the Christian Life_, which can be found for free online.)

I read and discussed this book with a group of folks from my church. In general we liked it, but I think the book could have used a better editor to help keep Dawn focused. She has many good things to say herein, but not all of them actually belonged in this book. She could have excised some of the tangents (e.g., on our sexuality) and entire chapters (e.g., the one on worship music), and the book would have been just as useful as far as Sabbath-keeping is concerned but more readable because it strayed from the topic less.

We also found the two middle sections on resting and embracing to be in large part redundant or unrelated to the topic at hand. The summaries of those sections that appeared later in the section on feasting, however, were more helpful and meaningful to us than the sections themselves, and we found ourselves wishing she had developed the theme of resting as repentance, for instance, more fully in those middle sections. (If you get bored by the middle, don't give up -- the section on feasting is much better!)

All in all, the book is useful, but it could have been executed in a better way, methinks.