Saints and Angels All Around (Winners of the Race) by Gergory J. Wismar



The Biographies Are A Bit Sparse.

Published by Concordia Publishing House in 1996.

 Synopsis:

 Saints and Angels All Around is a series of short (2-3 pages each) biographies of 36 saints and 4 angels.

 The book is designed to be a daily devotional so preceding each biography there is a Bible verse and following each there is a short prayer and a suggestions for further prayer.

 My review:

 Since I did not read the book the way it was intended (one day at a time for each saint or angel) but instead plowed right through it, I found the book fairly tedious. I found a great number of the biographies to be too short and lacking some historical context (once again, the result of it being a daily devotional rather than a true written history of the saints). The exception was St. Laurence (Lawrence) who stood up to the Roman government with a great sense of humor.

 Laurence  (225-258 AD) was a deacon in the Church of Rome and was told to bring the Roman prefect the wealth of his church. He promised he would and on the appointed day he brought thousands of people to the prefect's courtyard and said that these people were the treasure of the church. The prefect did not find it amusing and Laurence was burned to death on a gridiron (like a giant barbecue grill). While he was being grilled to death, Lawrence was asked if he wanted to recant his faith. He told the executioner to step closer and told him to turn him over because he was done on that side!

 As a book to read straight through, I give this book a "D".

 As a daily devotional, I give this book a "C".

This book can be found on Amazon.com here: Saints and Angels All Around.

 Reviewed June 29, 2004.

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