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Allender presents an insightful and fascinating look at the origins and purpose of Sabbath. He looks at not only the history of this discipline, going all the way back to ancient Israel, but also at the modern manifestations and misunderstandings of its practice.
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Short review: If I had to pick one book to read on the Sabbath. This would be it. (Ok it is only book I have read on the Sabbath, but it was very good.) The central theme of the book is that Sabbath was not created for utilitarian purposes (we need the rest) but for delight. God did not rest on the seventh day because he was tired, but because he wanted to delight in his creation. At the same time, Allender does not at all minimize the Sabbath. He is quite up front in his question about why the fourth is the only commandment that Christians feel free to violate.
There is a long section in the middle that revolved around the purpose and use of play and why we need to make play the central part of our Sabbath.
This makes the 6th out of 8 book in the Ancient Practice Series I have read. It is far and away the best. The rest of the series is very mixed. But I highly recommend this one.
Full review on my blog at http://bookwi.se/sabbath-the-ancient-practice-series-by-dan-allender/