The Search for God and Guinness by Stephen Mansfield

Guinness is a name that is synonymous with beer, but Stephen Mansfield shows that there is more to the famous family than just the black stout that bears their name. The founder of the world renowned brewery, Arthur Guinness, was a godly man who

truly loved his fellow man as well as a pint. He felt that brewing a stout beer was a service to his fellow man by offering

a healthy beverage, but he also believed it was a calling upon his life by God. The bane of Irish society at the time

was gin and whiskey drinking, which was tearing families apart. Most people considered beer to be the answer to 

this problem. Enter Arthur Guinness. The good that was done by Guinness for over two centuries, is recorded by Mansfield

with plenty of historical documentation. 

I was very curious about the angle of this book. I mean, I never would have thought to put God and beer in the same sentence,

let alone read an entire book about it, but here it is.  It was very interesting, and I am not even a beer drinker. My father was

a beer man and I have only recently even drank wine, but the way Mansfield presents the history of beer, going back thousands of years to Mesopotamia and then going straight to the pubs of 1700's Dublin, he gives us an interesting read. He also points out the social aspects of "having a beer" and how people have always bonded over the drink. The family history of the godly character of the Guinnesses was of great interest, especially how they cared about the brewery employees and the neighborhoods of Dublin during a time of poverty, pestilence and filth.

Personally, I have a hard time agreeing with Mansfield's idea (which was also the idea of most brewers) that beer was/is

a gift from God, a symbol of His grace. With that being said, I did enjoy the book and would recommend it to the curious Christian as well as the beer drinker who may or may not be a Christian as well. Well written, engaging and full of interesting information, especially about the clergymen who were Guinnesses. It almost made me want to go to the corner public house and down a pint.