"In the tradition of Kurt Neilson's Urban Iona, this book explores "missional living in the radical way of St. Patrick" - in other words, it's a reflection on how the spirituality of the ancient Celts remains increasingly relevant in our postmodern age, when propositional arguments matter less than a radical commitment to live one's faith, with joy, hospitality, and a dash of mystical prayer to boot. Arpin-Ricci understands the problems facing believers in today's secular wilderness, and finds both joy and challenge in bringing ancient Celtic wisdom and contemporary realities together in this coherent - or should I say vulnerable - vision of discipleship."-Carl McColman, Patheos
"Jamie is an expert storyteller who with compassion and imagination seamlessly weaves together the old and the new, the saint and the sinner, the practical wisdom of the 12 Steps with the timeless wisdom of the Scriptures. But his greatest feat in Vulnerable Faith is showing how transformative spirituality can be woven into the context of restorative community, where it belongs. Using the life of Saint Patrick as his guide, Jamie paves a way for all of us - on our own and in community - to approach a vulnerability worthy of our redemption. Vulnerable Faith is a primer on authentic community, a personal devotional book, and an insightful look into the human heart, all in one" -Amy Hollingsworth, author of The Simple Faith of Mister Rogers and Runaway Radical
"In Arpin-Ricci's hands Patrick's story becomes a compelling picture of our spiritual journey. Patrick's context is different from our own and none of us longs for violence, oppression and slavery to shape our spiritual life, any more than we long to be enslaved by addiction and alcoholism. By blending Patrick's story (and his own story) with twelve-step spirituality, Arpin-Ricci invites us to take our own journey of transformation, admitting our powerlessness, living in right orientation to God and others, making restitution for the places we have wronged others, and spread the good news we have experienced. This isn't just a description of super sainthood. This is not just a prescription for addicts. Saints and sinners both need to walk this road if we are to experience all that God has for us and our world." -James Matichuk
"Vulnerable Faith" by Jamie Arpin-Ricci is a fascinating look at how we cover our personal truths with pretense and in doing so we keep ourselves from full relationships with others, community, creation and God.
Using the life of St Patrick and the famous "12 Step Program" had no obvious logic to me at first, however the manner in which the author weaves a saint's life, a recovery program, vulnerability and faith together is both brilliant and unsettling.
I found the writing to be both direct and kind. The author acknowledges that each of us has our wounds and shame that we so deeply fear being exposed, but shows us that those same fears can be our path out of fear and toward hope and resurrection. The emphasis on community shows us we are not alone in our relationship with Christ which goes far beyond individual devotion.
I found this book to be inspiring, humbling and above all thought provoking. -Wendi Matusic, Patheos
Arpin-Ricci (The Cost of Community) combines the story of St. Patrick with Alcoholics Anonymous's 12-step program to illustrate what a life beyond pretense looks like. Humans, Arpin-Ricci says, normally live in fear not only of death but also of rejection and loss of control. It's only as people have the courage to embrace vulnerability, as Patrick did on a path that inadvertently followed the trajectory of the 12 steps, that they can live as whole people. The idea of a 12-step/St. Patrick mash-up is intriguing, but the book soars highest when Arpin-Ricci writes about his true subject: the radical Jesus that animates both Patrick and AA. This Jesus transforms the world and emerges in community as people face fears and reach out to others. Social justice permeates Arpin-Ricci's message: focus not on perfecting the self, but on seeking the other as Christ. For anyone yearning to find a more full-bodied Jesus than the version that only saves individuals from hell, this is a worthwhile read. (Apr.)-Publisher's Weekly
In Vulnerable Faith Arpin-Ricci brings an upbeat, informative, and really fresh telling of the story of the early Celtic Christian leader, Saint Patrick. What transformation Patrick experienced as his own faith radicalized his lifestyle of mission and daily discipleship! This new book, which has at times a gentle, devotional tone, uses the life of Saint Patrick to show how we all can take deeper steps to be more faithful to Jesus-in matters of being vulnerable, hospitable, nonviolent. He shows how to take faith seriously-in ways that invite us to more authentic community, a more contemplative way of spiritual formation, and a more costly sort of servanthood and lived out ethics. This book brings some really good stuff to us all, maybe like some mash-up of Celtic and Mennonite radical discipleship in light of Bonhoeffer's Life Together. A warm and very special foreword is by Jean Vanier. Highly recommended.
I really like the way they act out Patrick miraculous journey out of slavery, and the remarkable quotes endorsing the book that appear in this moving trailer for the book. Enjoy! -Byron Borger, Hearts & Minds
Jamie gets right to it in this book, challenging a common but distressing element of contemporary Christian faith: "cheap faithfulness." Cheap faithfulness is taking the name of Christ as our identity without requiring the renunciation of self and selfish ends. It is seeking full intimacy with God yet giving little, if any, commitment. It is about negotiating terms with Jesus, as though we have anything at all to bring to the table.
"The cross is an instrument of death" (pp. 29-30). Taking up the cross of Christ involves the emptying of our lives of all pretense to be replaced with the Truth. The embrace of truth is not a conceptual, intellectual thing, but an embrace of Jesus who is the truth and who gives his life for us and calls us into a daily martyrdom from which we are resurrected as better, humbler, more compassionate, saintlier versions of ourselves. Jamie calls this the "martyrological" life. "Because Jesus embraced this emptiness and because it glorifies God," Jamie assures us, "it is not a punitive emptying, but a meaningful and hopeful one, promising that something far greater will fill us" (p. 93): vulnerability, authenticity, humility, born of the grace and truth of Christ.
To be Christian is, above all, to not be alone: we are led by a God who promises to never leave us or forsake us, but we are also bound to one another by our crosses.
Jamie's portrait of Patrick and his transformation, from spoiled child of privilege to patron saint of Ireland, is insightful and arresting. Not only is Patrick's story dramatic enough to bear telling, it's also existentially significant: there is more to his story than the facts--the people, the place, the things. Patrick is a saint, but he is also us. And this is both bad news and good: We are as vulnerable as was young Patrick, but we are also as capable of great things as he, as available to transformation as he. We are us, but we are also, somewhere in the DNA of us, saints. -David A., Goodreads
In [Jamie Arpin-Ricci's] new book Vulnerable Faith: following in the way of St. Patrick, Arpin-Ricci introduces a Patrick who looks a lot more like me and everyone I grew up with: young, privileged, self-assured and secure in the knowledge that life will work out well for him in the end. But the genius of this small book on intentional Christian living and discipleship is that it focuses so much on how it is precisely those of us who so often distance ourselves from the Other-the poor, the addict, the unspeakably lost-who are caught in the throes of powerlessness. We are the ones scrounging up reputations and possessions, desperate to outrun both our fear of death and the chaos that we know lurks within. And, just like those who follow the 12 steps of Alcoholics Anonymous know, the first step in recovering is admitting that our lives have become unmanageable-especially spiritually.
In the end, Vulnerable Faith reminds us that we are all just one drink, one cutting remark, one shred of resentment, one slip into aggravated isolation away from relapse. And in fact, we know that to a certain extent we will never attain perfect Christian discipleship in the here and now. We will never look exactly like Christ, and nor will our neighbors. But we have the chance to experience the grace of community, and to walk the long road of intentional Christian living together, to live like the redeemed addicts that we are. -D. L. Mayfield
