Celtic Christianity: Making Myths and Chasing Dreams [Hardcover]

Ian Bradley (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 12, 1999

The current fascination with Celtic Christianity is the latest manifestation of a lingering love affair stretching back over the last 1300 years. This book explores how the native Christian communities of the British Isles from the fifth to the tenth centuries have been idealized and appropriated by a succeeding generation who have projected their own preconceptions and prejudices onto a perceived "golden age" of Celtic Christianity. It provides a fascinating study of the chasing of dreams and the making of myths.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In the late 20th century there has been a renewal of interest in Celtic Christianity. Yet, as Bradley (The Celtic Way) points out, much of this revival is based on a grand and glorious portrait of a Celtic Christianity that likely never existed. In this book, Bradley traces the many myths and legends of Celtic Christianity created by writers who idealized certain figures and ideas from earlier times. Bradley contends that much of the earliest attention to the Christianity of the British Isles, most notably Ireland and Scotland, began in the early medieval period (664-800), during which writers depicted a handful of religious leaders--Patrick, Columba--as saints. Bradley argues that despite these writers making such men out to be saintly superstars, there are no contemporary writings about their life or work. Such an idealized representation of Celtic Christianity and its leading figures, however, carried through many later periods of history, even up until the present Celtic revival. Each chapter traces one of these historical periods; Bradley demonstrates each period's penchant for making myths about a supposed golden age of the Christian Church. In the end, the author concludes that we know very little about the earliest years of Celtic Christianity or about the many missionaries, monks and other religious figures who established the Church in the British Isles. Bradley's book is a fascinating study, combining Church history, theology and the psychology of human nature. (June)

Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Bradley, a Church of Scotland minister, examines the roots of the Celtic Christian communities of the United Kingdom, their saints, and the mystique these churches thrive on and encourage. He debunks the exaggerations and fictions of monks and clerics who strive to make Patrick, Columba, Finan, Brigit, and others sources of endless miracles great and small. He describes the intense competition among monasteries and churches over relicsAone with the head of Columba, another with Finan's hand, all promoting them as cure-alls. At various times, Celtic Christianity has been embraced in the U.K. to replace Roman influence, bolster regional power, and promote nationalism, notably in the 19th century. In his kindest passages, Bradley sees its current popularity as a more wholesome and appropriate quest than those of the past. Well researched, well written, though perhaps not totally objective, Bradley's book should be read, if not enjoyed, by scholars, especially in Ireland.ARobert C. Moore, Raytheon Electronic Sys., Sudbury, MA
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 258 pages
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan (June 12, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312221967
• ISBN-13: 978-0312221966
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.7 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,143,495 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars At Last Some Sense, June 20, 2001

By 

Alison Cudby (Cambridge, UK) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Celtic Christianity: Making Myths and Chasing Dreams (Hardcover)

Writing on the subject of Celtic Christianity is beset with sentimentalism plus a generous dose of wishful thinking. Bradley's book is a sobering reflection on some of this writing - including his own! The author of "The Celtic Way" has had cause to stop and consider the scholarly accuracy of his previous work, something which takes great courage.

The result is this overview of a succession of Celtic revivals spanning from the 7th - 20th Centuries, including Victorian Celtic Romanticism. It is interesting that the first revival Bradley refers to is from the period which other popular commentators tend to include within the Age of the Celtic Church itself: 7th-9th Centuries. Yet Bede's nostalgia for a past era of holy and simple saints has a very familar ring to it!

The book concludes with the current revival and a whistlestop tour through the popular and scholarly writings that have sprung up recently, plus the wider cultural mainfestations of this such as Celtic music. [I too have played my part in this collusion of popular Celtica as singer and songwriter for the band eve & the garden(eatg).]

One discovery he makes is that despite much research by himself and his colleagues, there appears to be no reference to the term "Wild Goose" (representing the Holy Spirit)which pre-dates George Macleod, founder of the Iona Community in the 20th Century!

All is not lost in terms of the application of certain distinctive themes to the Church today, as Bradley's follow-up "Colonies of Heaven: Celtic Models for Today's Church" (Darton Longman & Todd, 2000) attests. The sobering appraisal of "Making Myths", however, stands as an initial guard on what can and cannot be said about the British Church in the early centuries of Christianity.

The one problem I would mention is that I would have preferred a more indepth analysis as to the possible reasons for the current revival - or maybe that's just because that's the essay question I'm currently working on!!

So if you have a tendency to go misty eyed and sentimental over the possibility of re-establishing the true church of the ancient British Isles, then you must, absolutely must read this book.