Jonathan Rogers PhD the author of Saint Patrick separates "the many myths from the facts" about one of our most popular saints.
The lore and legends that surrounds St Patrick shows his immense popularity, it is his writings however, (the Confession and the Epistle) that reveal his true faith in the gospel “he preached ... that in Christ there is neither Jew nor Greek, male nor female, Roman nor barbarian. He believed that God can utterly transform a human heart. He believed that he could rely entirely on God's mercy.... And he believed that even in the highly charged political atmosphere in which these letters were written and read, Christ was the defender of the weak -- including Patrick himself."
Patrick, the privileged son of a land-owner was probably born at the end of Roman rule in Britain (perhaps as early as the 380s AD, and died as late as the 490s). His father was both a Roman official and a deacon in the Roman Catholic Church. When Patrick was sixteen, he along with "thousands" of other Britons was kidnapped and sold into slavery. Now a slave working in the sheep pastures of his Irish owners, Patrick "began for the first time to take ownership of the Christian faith in which he had been raised" and earlier rejected.
After six years of captivity, Patrick made his escape and returned to Britain. But his return to his homeland and his family were short-lived, Patrick was convinced "that God was calling him back to Ireland to take the gospel to its people. He resumed his education, took holy orders, and against his family's wishes, returned "to the land of his captivity." Patrick would be among the first Christian missionaries to take the gospel to Ireland.
"Ireland was the first country ever to submit to the teachings of Christ without first submitting to the sword of Rome ... Patrick left their Irishness intact. No small matter. The Irish didn't have to become Roman in order to become Christian."
St. Patrick's life was not without disgrace and scandal. Confession (also known as his Declaration) is his document of self-defense after being charged with incompetence and wrongdoing. Despite the controversy and charges Patrick did not grow bitter; instead he found “a renewed commitment to the work that God had called him to. Throughout his career, Patrick trusted his direct line to God more than he trusted the leadership of his superiors.”
“For there is no other God, nor ever was before, nor shall be hereafter, but God the Father, unbegotten and without beginning, in whom all things, as we have been taught; and his son Jesus Christ, who manifestly always existed with the Father, before the beginning of time in the spirit with the Father, indescribably begotten before all things, and all things visible and invisible were made by him. He was made man, conquered death and was received into Heaven, to the Father who gave him all power over every name in Heaven and on Earth and in Hell, so that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord and God, in whom we believe. And we look to his imminent coming again, the judge of the living and the dead, who will render to each according to his deeds. And he poured out his Holy Spirit on us in abundance, the gift and pledge of immortality, which makes the believers and the obedient into sons of God and co-heirs of Christ who is revealed and we worship one God in the Trinity of holy name." From: The Confession, St. Patrick’s writings
Note: Thomas Nelson has created Christian Encounters, a series of biographies that "highlights important lives from all ages and areas of the Church .... Some are familiar faces. Others are unexpected guests ... Isaac Newton, Jane Austen ... John Bunyan, Winston Churchill, we are now living in the world that they created and understand both it and ourselves better in the light of their lives. Their relationships, struggle, prayers, and desires uniquely illuminate our shared experience." (Taken from the front flap.)
There is an online reader’s guide available at www.thomasnelson.com/rgg
The lore and legends that surrounds St Patrick shows his immense popularity, it is his writings however, (the Confession and the Epistle) that reveal his true faith in the gospel “he preached ... that in Christ there is neither Jew nor Greek, male nor female, Roman nor barbarian. He believed that God can utterly transform a human heart. He believed that he could rely entirely on God's mercy.... And he believed that even in the highly charged political atmosphere in which these letters were written and read, Christ was the defender of the weak -- including Patrick himself."
Patrick, the privileged son of a land-owner was probably born at the end of Roman rule in Britain (perhaps as early as the 380s AD, and died as late as the 490s). His father was both a Roman official and a deacon in the Roman Catholic Church. When Patrick was sixteen, he along with "thousands" of other Britons was kidnapped and sold into slavery. Now a slave working in the sheep pastures of his Irish owners, Patrick "began for the first time to take ownership of the Christian faith in which he had been raised" and earlier rejected.
After six years of captivity, Patrick made his escape and returned to Britain. But his return to his homeland and his family were short-lived, Patrick was convinced "that God was calling him back to Ireland to take the gospel to its people. He resumed his education, took holy orders, and against his family's wishes, returned "to the land of his captivity." Patrick would be among the first Christian missionaries to take the gospel to Ireland.
"Ireland was the first country ever to submit to the teachings of Christ without first submitting to the sword of Rome ... Patrick left their Irishness intact. No small matter. The Irish didn't have to become Roman in order to become Christian."
St. Patrick's life was not without disgrace and scandal. Confession (also known as his Declaration) is his document of self-defense after being charged with incompetence and wrongdoing. Despite the controversy and charges Patrick did not grow bitter; instead he found “a renewed commitment to the work that God had called him to. Throughout his career, Patrick trusted his direct line to God more than he trusted the leadership of his superiors.”
“For there is no other God, nor ever was before, nor shall be hereafter, but God the Father, unbegotten and without beginning, in whom all things, as we have been taught; and his son Jesus Christ, who manifestly always existed with the Father, before the beginning of time in the spirit with the Father, indescribably begotten before all things, and all things visible and invisible were made by him. He was made man, conquered death and was received into Heaven, to the Father who gave him all power over every name in Heaven and on Earth and in Hell, so that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord and God, in whom we believe. And we look to his imminent coming again, the judge of the living and the dead, who will render to each according to his deeds. And he poured out his Holy Spirit on us in abundance, the gift and pledge of immortality, which makes the believers and the obedient into sons of God and co-heirs of Christ who is revealed and we worship one God in the Trinity of holy name." From: The Confession, St. Patrick’s writings
Note: Thomas Nelson has created Christian Encounters, a series of biographies that "highlights important lives from all ages and areas of the Church .... Some are familiar faces. Others are unexpected guests ... Isaac Newton, Jane Austen ... John Bunyan, Winston Churchill, we are now living in the world that they created and understand both it and ourselves better in the light of their lives. Their relationships, struggle, prayers, and desires uniquely illuminate our shared experience." (Taken from the front flap.)
There is an online reader’s guide available at www.thomasnelson.com/rgg
This book was provided by Thomas Nelson for review.
