Customer Reviews

The Book of Creation: An Introduction to Celtic Spirituality

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

J. Philip Newell is a minister in the Church of Scotland, poet, scholar, and teacher. In this slim but rich volume Newell introduces the reader to Celtic by guiding her or him on a journey through the seven days of creation. The Celtic spiritual tradition looks not only to the Bible for inspiration, but to Creation itself. He begins with an introduction that places the Celtic church and tradition in the context of the wider church, both Catholic and Protestant. Each of the succeeding seven chapters takes its point of departure from each of the seven days of creation, through the themes of light, wildness, fecundity, harmony, creaturiness, image, and stillness. After a discussion of how the Celtic spiritual tradition treats each of these themes, the chapter ends with an exercise of meditation based on centering prayer. The sources for this spiritual gem come from the Bible and the works of Celtic Christians from Pelagius and Eriugena through George MacDonald, with a host of other works thrown in, including materials from the Carmina Gadelica. This wonderful little book is great for study and for prayer.

I love this book! I had it once before and it disappeared in a move so got it again! I would recommend it to everyone!

Of all the Newell books I have read, I did NOT like this one. Poor read. Too many inserted quotes from too many other writers.

Western Christianity certainly deserves criticism and correction for its failure to incorporate a healthy Creation Spirituality. Resources are there in the Christian Old Testament. But Dr. Newell takes his cue from what is supposedly "Celtic Christianity." He has numerous interesting ideas. However many current scholars in his field of study have serious questions about whether using the term "Celtic" even has meaning. The conclusions of the "Celtic" scholarship that have come out of Edinburgh University over the past two decades, where Dr. John Philip Newell took his graduate degree, have not been supported by a majority of scholarly opinion.

For example, Dr. Newell describes "Celtic" Christianity as holding different beliefs from all other expressions of Christianity:

* Substituting a theology of God's Emanation through Creation for a theology of God's Incarnation in Christ
* Teaching that God is inaccessible, and beyond our ability to know; as opposed to being a Person (Hypostasis), whom we may know even though the experience is ineffable
* Denying that Christ was God with us in the flesh, the one full revelation of God
* Denying the need for humans to be saved from their sin by Christ's Death, Resurrection, and Ascension to power at God's Right Hand, where Christ rules as God and Savior
* Denying the reality of God's judgment of sin, and teaching a Universalism based on the Eternal unity of All Being in God
* Misrepresenting St. John's Christology, and denying pre-existence of Jesus as God
* Teaching that salvation lies in our realizing the Created goodness within us
* Promoting contemplation of God in the forces of Nature in place of contemplating the personal God revealed in the person of Christ
* Equating Nature with Grace - actually replacing Incarnation with Creation as the locus of God's self-revelation

Was there REALLY a "Celtic Christianity" that held these views? Since no Christian documentary evidence prior to the 5th century has come out of the British Isles, no early evidence exists to support Dr. Newell's conclusions. He bases his assumptions about an early "Celtic Christianity" on later sources, from the 9th century and later, and interprets them backwards to describe a form of Christianity the existence of which many scholars are now questioning. Whether it shared enough uniformity or was different enough from Christianity on the continent to warrant being described as "Celtic" as opposed to being a fairly normal part of the Western Church, it far from being universally accepted.

Dr. Newell studied under Dr. Mackey at Edinburgh and shares many the same biases. See my review of Dr. Mackey's 2006, Christianity and Creation.