Celtic Spirituality and the Emergent Church.

[Frank R Moore]

I am intrigued by Celtic Christianity and find it much more appealing than the Roman variety. My understanding is that they took great joy in the resurrection, honored the earth and nature, gave women an important role and even had monasteries with both men and women resident.

I have seen some comment on Celtic spirituality in various forums but nothing in any detail. It seems like emergent church people should have great interest in this humane form of Christianity. It is a pity that rhey deferred to the Romans in the 7th century, the world would be a better place if they had carried on.
I would appreciate any comments or direction to more information on this subject.

[Meg Nakano]

Over a year ago our lay church adult discussion group had a short series on Celtic Christianity, starting with the book "How the Irish Saved Civilization", and I too enjoyed their take on spirituality. The sense that I got from it was: their sense of God and the holy in life & living in the world is what people would see as their belief and understanding if they read the Bible closely and frequently, with meditation on that scripture as they worked in the fields, forests or oceans without much instruction from a formal organization. This year, privately joining discussions of anti-Christian opinions on Facebook (the Minekey application), I observe that the main objections raised seem to focus on the hierarchies and dogmas of centrally controlled organizations... Perhaps our church needs to re-emerge??

[Kieran Conroy]

This is indeed a subject very close to my heart... I've been reading alot of resources in a bit of personal study, and sharing them in some recent Bible studies at the Crossing, an emerging community at Boston's Episcopal Cathedral. My other church, the Gathering up in Salem is a unique place shaped by many streams, but two of its closest are its pastor's interest in Christian-neopagan interfaith dialog in that city, and his own interest in Welsh-Christianity. Personally, as someone with a strong interest in indigenous communities here in the US, I consider it important to be grounded in my own Celtic roots and identity when conversing with folks here.

Always happy to link up and support fellow seekers in this area... "Celtic Christianity" is an area that scholars debate how much we really know, and how much can be romanticized quite frequently- but it does seem clear something quite special was happening up in the Isles in the Celtic Church's early days. I tend to have faith that these things can transcend the lines of history and speak deeply to folks today, even if we don't know everything.

A few great books that have influenced me esspecially:

-The Irish Saved Civilization (great intro to the intellectual and spiritual movement of the Irish in history, written by one of my dad's old seminary classmates, actually)
-Carmina Gaedelica - an incredible work gathered from the field in the late 1800's in Gaelic speaking regions of Scotland that still practiced incredible prayers, rituals and dances that seem to have direct links to ancient forms of Christianity.... beautiful stuff, if you've ever read the "Breastplate of Saint Patrick," there is much that echoes it, thousands of years later, its very haunting. You can actually view some of it online here, the work is very special for it includes actual observations of the rituals and ways of life... many of these things were lost under pressure from English missionaries soon after: http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/celt/cg1/index.htm
-This is a small volume of wonderful collections from it: "The Sun Dances" http://books.google.com/books?id=lxUoNBf80QcC&dq=the+sun+dances

J. Philip Newell is a powerful contemporary interpreter of the Celtic tradition, and former Warden of Iona Abby. The ancient monastary of St. Columba is known as a center for Celtic revitalization and contemporary justice issues. He's written many books, including liturgies and prayers used by the Abby and inspired by ancient texts like the Gaedelica, and many other reflections on the Celtic tradition. His "Listening for the Heartbeat of God" is a great start

-The Celtic Way of Evangelism is another book I've really been enjoying, written by an Episcopal author seeking insight into how the vision of this ancient movement can bring a new way to the church today:
http://www.amazon.com/Celtic-Way-Evangelism-Christianity-West-Again...

-This book focuses more on the Druids/pre-Christian traditions of the Celts, but is a really sweeping historical read and a great resource. He brings his material in dialog with the Christian sources, since many of them are what we have to understand the Druids as well, and its a great book.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0786709871/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_2?p...

Hope some of this might be helpful too you, always happy to chat more with someone interested in these things.

[Joel Clark Mason]

Hi Frank,

A really good book on Celtic Spirituality would be Ian Bradley's "Citizens of Heaven" where he fully explores the paradigm of the monasterium.

A lot has been said about Whitby and most of it is exaggeration or wrong. Whitby basically standardized the church calendar on the Roman model. Celtic spirituality continued on and continues today in the modern monesterium at Iona and the practice of hospitality.

You mention that they "gave women an important role" I'd appreciate it if you'd let me know where you got that information.

Men and women lived together in the monasterium. It was usually a settlement with a ditch surrounding it to keep out wild animals while keeping domestic livestock in. Most people don't realize that Columba was asked by the king of Scotland to establish the monesterium at Iona along with two more. Still, Celtic spirituality has a certain wanderlust as evidenced by monks setting off into the sea in their coracles just going wherever the current would take them.

There is a yearly course on Celtic Spirituality offered at St. Deiniol's Library in Hawarden, Wales (this is a residential library that was established by Gladstone offering room and board and access to a tremendous library). In 2010 it will be offered in August and Ian Bradley will be there for the duration. (http://www.st-deiniols.com/) They also tour various sites in North Wales along the Llyn Peninsula and especially the shrine of Pennant Melangell (a 'thin' place if there ever was one!).

It must be noted that the bulk of our information about Celtic Spirituality comes from the penitentials which had to do with daily sins and how to correct them. Most of the biographies of the saints (with the exception of Patrick's autobiography) were written centuries after the fact.

God's peace,

Joel+