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review of Saint Patrick by Jonathan Rogers
I was a bit skeptical at first when I sought out this book from Thomas Nelson. The Christian Encounters series features, presumably, notable “Christians” throughout history; I wrap quotes around that because several I’m not sure I’d consider die-hard Christians. Not that their biographies wouldn’t be interesting - it’s just that series like these have a way of distorting facts and emphasizing myth. To my pleasure, Jonathan Rogers has avoided that.
In this really fantastic little book, Rogers looks both at primary and secondary sources to paint a portrait of the life of Patrick, a Roman torn from his life in Britain to be a slave in Ireland, later returning as one of her most prominent missionaries and bishops. I was delighted to see that both extant works generally accepted to have been written by Patrick are included as appendices. Though they are both public domain, it is helpful to have them right on hand. Using these writings as his framework, Rogers works from fact and refers to legend to attempt to fill out a workable biography of the Christian saint. Though others have attempted to do this before, Rogers finds a balance that makes this account both informative and a pleasure to read. Whether you’re a history buff, an armchair theologian, or any other variety of Christian, I think you’d be hard-pressed to find a book this size that packs such a huge punch.
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review of “The Search for God and Guinness” by Stephen Mansfield
The title is the most intriguing aspect of this book, and though it lends a bit of direction to the text insofar as the author himself had direction, I would say that it is a bit of a misnomer. ”The Search for God and Guinness” makes me think that the author is somehow going to show how theology and alcohol are related, even a specific form of alcohol like Guinness throughout the family’s history. Instead, we get a miniaturized biography of the Guinness family, from the first Arthur to Benjamin, last chair from the actual Guinness family in the 1980s, and how the tale of Guinness has been woven throughout the past few centuries. It is indeed intriguing to see how one branch of the Guinness family was focused on full-time ministry (from the pastorate to the mission field), and certainly how a humanitarian spirit has run throughout the family, especially in efforts to provide factory workers with education, cleaner living spaces, and provision during war-time when few other companies were doing such things - and during times in Dublin’s past which many had fled.
On the whole, though, this book seems to be an unnecessary “Guinness Biography for Dummies” that sets out to seemingly (in an undercurrent-sort-of-way) justify why Christians should support Guinness, whether by drinking it or just nodding in approval toward it. I liked Guinness enough before reading this, so it didn’t “convert” me or anything; in fact, it hasn’t really affected me personally at all. However, I’m not going to read half-a-dozen books highlighting the history of Guinness as a beer and a family, so this smallish book (273 small pages with average-sized print, including bibliography and an About the Author section) does fine to pique my curiosity about the subject. I don’t think Mansfield does anything amazing, and I don’t really get his agenda, but it’s an interesting read nonetheless.
