Customer Reviews

Early Celtic Christianity (Celtic interest)

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

 

 

I read this book prior to Cahill's "How the Irish Saved Civilisation" which is better known due to its run on the bestseller list. I found that reading this book first was a good choice, because its deep background made Cahill's book a better read. In fact, "Early Celtic Christianity" proved to be an excellent read because it allowed a friend (a Cahill reader) and I to compare and contrast the two different views of this interesting point in history. Largely about the same era, this book focuses particularly on three of the more important saints of Ireland -- Brendan, Columba, and Columbanus, and because of this has the distinct advantage of being able to concentrate on some of the smaller details of their lives, and how that effected the turning points of the day, including the christianization of Scotland and the controversial Council at Whitby. While Cahill tends to be more secular and political in his approach, Lehane is more religiously and historically oriented, leading to a more intimate view of the culture. I also found it refreshing that he was careful to present well documented materials as facts and rumors and legends as theories, rather than muddying the two together. It invites you to make your own decisions on how to interpret. A good read all around. A great second read for those who enjoyed Cahill.

If you have read neither book, I recommend both, making this one the first. It presents a firmer foundation (in my humble opinion) and gives Cahill's quicker and lighter view of Columbanus a strong background.

Lehane proves a good, entertaining guide to the Celtic Church in its creative centuries of independence. His account highlights a fresh, innovative movement of self-motivated evangelists, which at first owed little or nothing to the state church of the Roman empire. In Ireland, the first native Christians assumed it natural to have female priests and bishops. They set up "double monasteries" of both men and women, and the head of the whole monastery was often a woman. So in 664, the council of Whitby took place in a Celtic double monastery, with both sexes under direction of Abbess Hilda.

Lehane explores the social world and accomplishments of this great religious movement. Then he shows how its open spirit came to clash with the imperial church's requirements for control over women and other subordinates. In Lehane's account the dreams of the old Celtic Church seem to come alive and challenge our imagination.

-author of Correcting Jesus

The author goes into greater detail discussing the history of Celtic Christianity than some of his peers. With historical documentation being limited, he uses some supposition, but uses it well.

I'd make it the second book that I read on the subject, after, possibly, "Celtic Christianity" by Joyce.