Customer Reviews

Celtic Christianity (The "Elements of..." Series)

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Duncan's presentation is fast paced and to the point. It mixes academic research with some clearly identified personal opinions. The main thrust of the book is that St. Augustine is responsible for forcing the Romanization of the Church in Celtic lands. His influence carried over into the reformation -- Luther was an Augustinian monk. Duncan claims that Augustine's renounciation of human sexuality was the result of his attempts to deal with his personal demons, including the putting away of his concubine. Duncan, an Anglican priest, is understanding of Augustine and tries not to portray the 'Doctor of the Church' as a villian, but as a human.

Personally, I found this book answered many of my questions about the Celtic Church. It presents the issues and history of the Celtic Church in a context that is, in my opinion, fair and not idealistic or 'a romantic faery tale'. It is for the serious reader and has a theological tone.

I find the following description quoted from the back side of this great little book to be quite true -- "The Elements of Celtic Christianity provides a thought-provoking examination of the spirit religion which flourished on the islands of Britain during the Dark Ages, and which was notable for its great simplicity, austerity and profound respect for the dignity and sanctity of nature." I also find the following paragraph to be an interesting sample of this great little book [quoted from page 103] -- "Celtic spirituality is 'green' through and through, and quite unselfconsciously. It approaches everything in personal terms, again unconsciously. It was never necessary to articulate the proposition that a personal Creator would be unlikely to create anything that was not -- in some sense -- a person. There are no 'things', for everything is a person. The insights of a Teilhard de Chardin, that consciousness is inherent in the hydrogen atom, is wholely consistent with the Celtic vision of things and, indeed, of the Celtic experience of things."

This book gets into a basic analysis of what is and is not Celtic Christianity for those that only know Celtic from green beer in March and the PBS "Gimme Money" Riverdance special.

Now, this isn't to say it is simplistic, or dull. It is quite well written, but is also short enough to be inserted into a larger collection (The 'Elements Of' series). Thus, the style of writing reflects the entire series more than the material really deserves.

All in all, it's a good start for those that wish to learn a little more about the differences between post Augustine Irish Catholicism and the older Christianity of Patrick.

I have been studying Celtic Spirituality for many years, but mostly from the pagan perspective. On a whim, I decided to check out this book, and I was pleasantly surprised.

I hadn't realized that Celtic Christianity is basically a spirituality of Love, and seeing God in all things. The Earth is precious simply because God made it, and the ancient Celtic Christian peoples practiced devotion rather than religion.

In reading this book, I got a much clearer view on how Christianity morphed and changed over the last 1500 years, and in ways that weren't always for the best.

The book also contains bits and pieces of the most beautiful Celtic poetry, including some from the Carmina Gadelica.

I got quite a bit out of this book, and just to let you know, it is a bit academic. Of course, I enjoyed it anyway :) This book is a great starting point for anyone interested in history of Christianity and the Celtic peoples. Though at a mere 112 pages, it is just that... a starting point.

So many web definitions and recent books on celtic spirituality and christianity have so much fluff and confusion.

This book is well written, let's you know what the author thinks and who disagrees with him.

great for anyone interested in celtic spirituality