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Christianity Today, February, 2007 |

BOOKMARKS

Saints Gone Wild

Saints Behaving Badly tells about what went on before saints' conversions.

Review by Douglas A. Sweeney | posted 1/29/2007 08:36AM

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Most Catholics think of their saints as otherworldly spiritual giants, people unspotted by the sins that plague the rest of us. But as Craughwell recounts in this lurid but frequently reverent little book, many saints have trudged hip-deep through the filthy muck of the devil's playground.

He writes of Saint Callixtus, a convict who was converted and ascended to the papacy; Saint Pelagia of Antioch, a fourth-century sex symbol who later became a hermit; Saint Moses the Ethiopian, a gangster turned monastic; Saint Alipius, Augustine's friend, obsessed with blood sports but later appointed an African bishop; and even the Irish Matt Talbot, a drunk who quit cold turkey, lived a penitential life, and became a 20th-century saint revered by Catholic alcoholics.

This book will appeal to Roman Catholics more than it will to Protestants. It contains very little on the power of the gospel and the Scriptures in the transformation of sinners into saints. Its stories attest, rather, to the power of the Blessed Virgin Mary, apparitions, and mysterious life experiences.

Still, Protestants will like it. It confirms our settled conviction that saints are also guilty sinners, only sanctified by grace. It is also fun to read. Despite its paucity of facts and overabundance of Catholic legend, it offers quite an education in the earthy, incarnational, redemptive love of God.

Related Elsewhere:

Saints Behaving Badly is available from ChristianBook.com and other retailers.

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February 2007, Vol. 51, No. 2

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Teci Pulido

Posted: February 06, 2007 12:02 PM

I like what Cindy says; got nothing to add there :) I agree with leecelot; there are many saints out of the limelight (they're not doing it for publicity!) and declaration by any human body, even God's followers, will still be subject to human perception and hence, error. It is God who sees *all* and accordingly judges *justly*. A friend just emailed me about the featured saint of the day, those people "who truly deserve to go to heaven". But the Bible says, "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Acts 3:23) which is exactly why we need the Savior. We're all sinners, even the saints! And yet, praise God, we can all be saints as well --- only by the transforming power of God. Our good works are a pleasing sacrifice to Him, but if we count all our good deeds in the tally to get to heaven then we should also count all our sins... I have a similar book but also by Catholics...I hope Protestants write a similar book, focusing on how *Jesus* *transforms* *people* :)

Cindy Leigh

Posted: February 04, 2007 8:49 AM

A saint is a saint...saved by the grace of God through our Savior Jesus Christ. Whatever religion we examine or explore, we must understand this truth and filter all curiosity through this reality. Though Satan wants to use our sin to destroy us, God has the power to use it to bring us to a new life in Him. When we witness the redemptive power of the Holy Spirit in a fellow sinner's life, we can be encouraged and our faith strengthened to remember that God is alive and working in spite of our failures.

Christine DiRie

Posted: February 03, 2007 10:30 AM

I am a Catholic raised woman. I am now a born again Christian. If Christians could only learn to pray to the Holy Spirit for truth and God's wisdom and then listen to the Holy Spirit, they would be led to a true relationship with Christ where God's truth would lead them out of the darkness. I do not believe in praying to the saints or Mary as I only pray to the one true God and His Son, my Savior Jesus Christ. God is a jealous God; only He is all powerful and all knowing. Questions? Turn to God and know God through His Word. We can only know truth and be discerning through knowing, reading and understanding His truth through the Bible studying both the Old Testament and the New Testament. Do not let others interpret it for you. The curtain in the temple was torn in two pieces so that we now can have a direct relationship with the Lord; we need no intercessors. Thank you God! Praise be only to You!

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