Early Christianity in Britain

When I was in Aber last my prospective sympathetic Mike Iliff (our kids get married in June) recommended a book to me - Early Christianity. The backbone of this work which takes you from the first century to Wycliffe and Tyndale grows out of PhD work by Peter Green. Some published PhD theses are hard to read but in this case Brian Edwards has edited the manuscipt and that has made for an easy read of 17 chapters. Much of the material was familiar to me (Patrick, Aidan, David, etc) but much was not. Some of it is very interesting indeed. It refutes the Augustine of Canterbury thesis that was promoted in school and argues for a church that had existed for 500 years before then and also denies that England ever had much to do with Rome, much less the other home nations. This is well worth getting hold of. Some of it will surprise you.

Some Clannad for St Patrick's Day (Sally Gardens)

10 St Patrick's Day Facts

1. Patrick was not born in Ireland (but in Britain)

2. Patrick was not born on March 17 (it is when he died)

3. Patrick's colour is blue not green

4. Patrick probably did not use a shamrock leaf to teach the Trinity

5. Patrick did not introduce Christianity to Ireland

6. Patrick did not get rid of snakes from Ireland

7. Patrick or Patricius was born Maewyn Succat

8. The first St Patrick's Day Parade in the USA was in the 18th Century. There was not one in Dublin until 1931.

9. St Patrick's Day has not always been a day for partying. Pubs used to close in Ireland on March 17 in the sixties/

10. Corned Beef and cabbage a traditional St Patrick's Day staple would not have been eaten in Ireland until relatively recently

(Patrick had nothing to do with leprechauns)

Something for St Patrick's Day

In honour of St Patrick's Day here are some Kerry Slides from the album Chieftains 5. The pictures include two slides in Tralee, County Kerry. Listen out for the singing. My great on one side was Irish or the son of an Irishman I guess, hence my surname.

St Patrick's excuse

St Patrick's Day is always a good excuse to put on a bit of Horslips

New series on the Early Church Fathers

 

 I was very pleased to see these two new volumes on the church fathers. I read the one on Patrick first and was very impressed. He is not an obvious choice for such a series but he deserves a place and this study by Michael Haykin is brief, to the point and popular, yet scholarly too (c 300 footnotes in a hundred pages). There is scant reliable material on Patrick and this is a great contribution.

All this made me positive about reading the volume on Basil of Caesarea by Marvin Jones. The book is quite a bit longer which seemed a shame but I cracked on and for the first seventy or so pages was happy enough despite one or two quirks. As I got into the second half of the book, however, it became less and less readable and in the end a great disappointment. Let me give you some random examples of the Jones style.

Page 135 "There is no doubt that Basil was the first to speak of God in terms that clarified his existence. ... Basil died 1 January 379 and, therefore, never witnessed his contribution to the issue of the Trinity".

Page 149 "The account of humanity's creation within the cosmology, and the ultimate concept of humanity's destiny within the cosmology, is the central theme that occupies Basil's theme".

These are just examples. May be such slips can be overlooked in an undergraduate essay but I paid good money for this product and find it unacceptable. Who is responsible? Clearly Christian Focus need to employ a proof reader or a stylist or something. Michael Haykin is said to be series editor. Paige Patterson, Jason Duesing, Steven McKinnon and Mike Ovey commend the book. I suggest they read the latter chapters and think again.

Happy St Pat's

St Patrick's means a good excuse to show a bit of Horslips. Not sure when this Beatles hommage took place. King of the faeries it is.

St Patrick's Day

Horslips do the High Reel