You See Dry Bones

I recieved a copy of this book from Thomas Nelson for review at no cost.

I have always liked St. Patrick. I only knew the basics about his life. He was captured at a young age and enslaved by the Irish. Upon his escape, he elected to go back to Ireland as a missionary. To me, that was worthy of sainthood on its own. I had read a couple of articles on his life but never really knew anything in depth about what he did.  Apparently, no one else really does either. This book, Saint Patrick, Christian Encounters, aims to tell us as much as possible about Saint Patrick based off of two pieces Patrick wrote (which are included in the appendix of the book). Other than that, the author tells us some of the myths about Patrick and a whole lot about the history of Ireland.

I will admit, it was a bit of a downer. I expected a biography of Saint Patrick and instead received a history lesson about ancient Europe. Sure, the author dispelled some of the myths surrounding Patrick and highlighted what little we know about him, but in reality, there does not seem to be a book-length biography available. Everything we know about him comes from the two pieces he wrote and myths. This book could be summed up in a 500 word article instead of a 200 page book.

However. I would still recommend this book. I walked away from it knowing a lot about the Roman Empire, ancient Ireland, and the Church structures during this time. It was not a complete waste of time, it just wasn’t what I thought I was getting. The inclusion of Patrick’s two written works in the back would probably make this book worth the purchase alone. It’s a quick read and pretty interesting.

I give it a weak four out of five stars.

-Don-