St. Patrick of Ireland

Several months ago I picked up St. Patrick of Ireland by Phillip Freeman from the library. I've never really been interested in St. Patrick or Patrick's Day or green or leprechauns of any sort. For example, this year on St. Patrick's Day I walked into a mom's group and thought to myself, "Why is everyone wearing green?" Thankfully I figured it out before I asked anyone else. Actually I think of the holiday more as my sister-in-law's birthday than anything else. But I picked up the book because one of my other sisters-in-law is doing a Missionary Biography Challenge this year and the library had a copy. I'm always in search of good books, so why not?

The book itself was interesting because somehow the author managed to write 200 pages based on two short historical documents, actually letters written by Patrick. The author basically gave an overview of Patrick's life and then put it in the context of his time and culture.

Several aspects of Patrick's life and ministry had me thinking back to a course I took called Perspectives on the World Christian Movement. First of all, by traveling from Britain to Ireland, Patrick felt like he was going to the ends of the earth. It's rather amusing to think like that now, but in his time, understandable.

Another of the topics in Perspectives that this book reminded me of is how faith in God and cultural influences mesh together. Pretty soon it can be difficult to tell the difference between what is simply cultural and what is Biblical principle.

For example, one section of the book focuses on the impact of Patrick's life in Ireland after his death. Freeman writes about another of Ireland's saints: "Brigid's reported miracles often involve her power over animals, cattle, pigs, and even foxes. It's likely that these stories incorporate elements of tales drawn from earlier Irish goddesses, as do the miracles claiming control over rivers and streams. The wonderful tale of Brigid hanging her wet cloak on a sunbeam to dry is another clear borrowing from myth. But such stories shouldn't be dismissed simply as baseless folktales or cynical efforts of the Church to replace paganism with a barely distinguishable Christian alternative. These tales instead show the Irish actively participating in the transition from a non-Christian to a Christian worldview by preserving their native heritage as part of the new religion. They would have been deeply offended by any suggestion that elements drawn from Celtic myth made Brigid or any other saint less Christian. It was simply a Christianity embraced on their own terms."

While I really don't think you can become a Christian "on your own terms" since humbling yourself before God requires the realization that you have no terms with which to begin, this quotation highlights the fact that culture (rightly or wrongly) does influence our perception of God's truth. Discerning between what is cultural and what is truth is the hard part.

Another section highlights the influence the church in Ireland had on developing church theology (which influenced many) and explains how the root of this theology made sense in the Irish culture. "Brendan's attitude toward Judas reflects a remarkable mercy seen in the early Irish Church, which held that every sin could be forgiven, though the price might be heavy. The Irish were well known for their contributions to the idea of penance in Christian theology, which carefully explained how sins might be atoned for with sincere actions of repentance--the greater the sin, the harder the atonement. It's no coincidence that such a system developed in a land in which there was a stipulated honor price for every person and a prescribed method of payment for any crime against one's neighbor or king. To the Irish churchmen, God was the greatest king of all, and his honor price demanded a steep but limited payment for sin--not in cattle or gold, though this was sometimes the case, but through fasting, prayer, and other means of atonement." Pg. 158

I don't know the whole history of penance. I know what I learned in history class, read in church history books, and in this book. But it amazes me that such a cultural idea (I have a feeling it's more than just Irish culture) could take such strong root in Church theology and in human thought.

I'm thankful for the cultural influences in my life that have allowed me to get away from thinking I need to work off every wrong I do--to somehow make up for all my failures--and to believe that Christ is my atonement. He is the one who has made up for the failures I could never make up for. I've found the freedom and peace to do what's right and good in the fact that Christ has paid my "honor price." When I kept trying to pay the price myself out of my feelings of guilt, I never could do enough.

In what ways has your cultural context rightly or wrongly influenced your perception of God, faith, and truth?