Pocket Guide to Sainthood: The Field Manual for the Super-Virtuous Life [Paperback]

Jason Boyett (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 3, 2009

The Field Manual for the Super-Virtuous Life

A short, humorous guide to saints across the ages–the interesting, the touching, the off-beat, the unexpected, the unusual, and the downright weird.

Jason Boyett (Amarillo, TX) is a former copywriter and creative director in the advertising/marketing industry whose work regularly appears in publications like Relevant magazine, Christian Single, and TrueU.org. He has written for Salon.com, Paste, ChristianityToday.com, Ministries Today, and other national publications. He has been featured on international programs airing on the National Geographic Channel and the History Channel, including its recent broadcast of Mysteries of the Garden of Eden.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

"Boyett's witty, weird, and sometimes even wise Pocket Guides are proof that the best things do come in small packages." —Daniel Radosh, author, Rapture Ready!

We name our cities, hospitals, and churches after them. We flock to shrines bearing their remains. We ask for their help when we lose our keys. Who are these saints, what made them so holy, and what in the world are those birds doing on St. Francis's shoulder?

Jason Boyett's Pocket Guide to Sainthood takes an intriguing and unflinching look at the fascinating—and fascinatingly weird—lives of the saints. Whether you are a Catholic desperately needing a patron, or a Protestant trying to identify your cabbie's bobblehead, this may be as close as you ever come to true holiness. Make the most of it by learning

• How St. Denis delivered his best sermon while holding his own decapitated head

• Why both hair shirts and nakedness are mainstays of saintly fashion

• Which saints are the patrons of bowel disorders, serial killers, and other useful categories

• What is involved in the canonization process, should you get so lucky?or martyred

With Pocket Guide to Sainthood, virtue just got a whole lot more entertaining.

About the Author

Jason Boyett is not a professional theologian or historian but that hasn't stopped him from writing this book. His work has appeared in a variety of publications as well as on his blog (www.jasonboyett.com). He lives in Texas with his wife and children.

The Pocket Guide Series explains complex religious subjects with a lethal dose of educational hilarity, guided by the author's insatiable curiosity, humor, and gentle irreverence. The Pocket Guide series includes Pocket Guide to the Bible, Pocket Guide to the Afterlife, and this book. Discover more at www.pocketguidesite.com.

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Jossey-Bass; 1 edition (August 3, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0470373105
• ISBN-13: 978-0470373101
• Product Dimensions: 5 x 0.7 x 7.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 0.5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,794,195 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Jason Boyett is the author of several books, the most recent of which is the Kindle e-book Pocket Guide to 2012. It joins several other books in his Pocket Guide series of titles (Pocket Guide to the Apocalypse, Pocket Guide to the Afterlife, etc.). Jason is also the author of O Me of Little Faith: True Confessions of a Spiritual Weakling (Zondervan). His writing has appeared in a variety of publications--including Salon, Paste, the Daily Beast, and Relevant--and he is the host and co-creator of the weekly 9 Thumbs podcast (9thumbs.com). Follow Jason online at jasonboyett.com, at facebook.com/jasonboyettbooks, and on twitter @jasonboyett.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Education was never this much fun September 12, 2009

By B. Centre

Format:Paperback

As an atheist I naturally look very skeptically at religiously themed books. But after visiting the author's blog and having become familiar with his style, I had to read this book. I wasn't disappointed.

A quick and easy read, it's a delightful tour of the amazingly bizarre and often little known personages who have achieved sainthood. Filled with humor, disarmingly snarky, Mr. Boyett has taken what could have been a dry semi-historical apologetic and made it a fun read. I found myself chuckling and scratching my head in wonder at the amazing (and often far fetched) attributes with which the ancients credited their holy men.

While a believer himself, Mr. Boyett doesn't take himself or his subject too seriously, which is a breath of fresh air in this genre. The information packed into this small book alone makes it worth the price, but the style makes it priceless.

I'm looking forward to reading his other "pocket guides" in the series.