Review of The Search For God & Guinness by Stephen Mansfield

The Search For God & Guinness is an easy book to enjoy, especially for those that love both and so I had some real expectations for this book. Fortunately for me, it was a very enjoyable read and I highly recommend it to my friends.

What stood out was the excellent research that Mansfield provided. He not only did a fantastic job with the facts but he did a phenomenal job of creating the context of the Guinness attitude. In short, it’s a great story. He also has a very easy writing style that moves the chapters along. As a seminarian accustomed to some laborious reading, I found Mansfield’s style to be very refreshing like a nice cold … never mind.

It would be helpful for readers to know that this not a spiritual memoir of Mansfield and not really one of Arthur Guinness either. Instead, it tells the beautiful history of Guinness beer, the company, and their community in Dublin, Ireland. If you are interested in what Google does for its employees, you will be amazed on what Guinness did for their workers. Not only were they generations ahead in benefits and such but also in shaping a culture and an attitude that served the community. If you know a wine-drinking CEO, I’d give them a copy.

I have also found that it was an easy book to talk about. Being about the Guinness company creates a lot of interest among Christian believers and non-believers. Further, because it is not about alcohol, non-beer drinkers could find it of interest as well. Again, there is a lot of social justice and corporate responsibility packed in here.

Evangelicals may look for an overt gospel message but one is not needed. For me, this book is not a gospel tract but rather an excellent conversation starter.   For the simple reason of being such an interesting premise.   My hope is to host book discussions (in an Irish pub of course) that will lead to conversations that will revolve around God, social justice and good beer.  If you are interested, let me know!

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com <http://BookSneeze.com> book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 <http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html> : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”