The Roots Of Heritage
by Mary
Essberger
History is a treasure house hiding jewels that are precious beyond compare. Researchers, who seem to enjoy infinite patience and consummate skill, from time to time uncover history’s carefully guarded secrets. Mary Essberger is one such researcher. Refusing to submit to idleness despite having been stricken by polio, she has diligently unearthed the exciting story of Christianity in Britain, centuries before Augustine’s mission.
Her claim that both St Peter and St Paul visited Britain rests on assumptions that have a ring of authenticity about them. Caractacas’s ten year stay in Rome provides Mary Essberger with the basis for one of her major assumptions, but also she has carefully researched the writings of the early Christian Fathers.
As a lad I was taught that St Paul had preached at Llantwit Major in South Wales. I dismissed the idea as Welsh fantasy, but Mary Essberger has given me cause to think again.
Her deep insight into Robert Parson’s writing on the ‘Three Conversions of England’ stirred me deeply. Apart from the distaste she obviously feels about some of St Augustine’s attitudes, Mary Essberger’s profound Christian commitment shines through this scholarly work. Her various conclusions will challenge other historians, for undoubtedly she has succeeded in lifting a veil that has hitherto hidden our yesterdays from us.
This book is more than a piece of scholarship: it is the inspired work of a truly dedicated woman. It reads like a thriller, for it continually stimulates thought and produced abundant evidence over which we may ponder.
In my judgement this book’s fascinating re-writing of the story of early Christianity in these Islands demands and deserves careful study by all who seek to honour our Christian heritage. It is a book of considerable significance which cannot fail to impress and to inspire all of us who are Christian believers.
The House of Lords
George Tonypandy