Customer Reviews

Symbolism of the Celtic Cross

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

 

 

The value of this book lies in its bringing together a number of drawings of Celtic Crosses - as additions to market cross, as free standing crosses, as illustrations within a paten ... etc. And the author calls attention to details within the crosses that might otherwise be overlooked.

However, if you are looking for a book to interpret the crosses, one can better spend one's time looking for better sources. Bryce feels comfortable asserting that early Christianity was estoteric (the Gnostic Christianity was), asserting that Hindu worldviews are imbedded in the Celtic symbolism (they are both IndoEuropean there could be a connection), and otherwise assuming that "universal" can be assumed - it doesn't require proof. By the end, I was unwilling to trust anything the author wrote beyond the dates, locations and other basis information associated with the crosses. On too many points I wanted to steer him to reliable sources such as Pelikan on the history of images of Christ to modify his over simplification.

Nonetheless, the book is worth its cost for the illustrations - and some of what the author writes is useful.

Mr Bryce's book was a surprisingly good read. Received as a Christmas gift, it sat on my desk for eight months before I got the chance to read it, as I thought it would require a good chunk of quiet time (it is a reference book after all). Not so! The pace of the book is fast, it lays out the history of the Celtic cross, pagan to modern, in a very concise fashion, and describes and displays examples along the way that greatly enhance the text.

Plenty of fun tidbits are included, but Mr. Bryce's text is so engaging that you find they sneak by you and you don't want to go back. I read the book three times to solve the problem! I was quite surprised to discover that both the Celtic cross and the modern cross do not have their origin in the crucifixion -- one of the more astonishing facts he presents.

Just an hour or two to read front to back, and a great primer for someone new to the subject, or soon to travel to Britain. The only drawback is that he didn't write more about it. It was my best gift last year, and at eight bucks just can't be beat.

Loved the drawings. Great detail

A previous commentator mentioned that he was unable to trust anything but the dates and locations. I'm afraid he shouldn't even trust the dates. For example, on page 40 the author lists the date of St. Aidan's ordination as Bishop of Lindisfarne as 653 AD, which is difficult since Aidan died in 642. The true date is 635 AD. Also, on the very next page, Bryce lists the date of the Synod of Whitby as 644; in actuality it took place in 664. While this may seem to be an exercise in nit-picking, since the book focuses strongly on the Celtic Christian church, and since these are quite possibly the two most formative dates in that church's history, it is disturbing that the author would offer them incorrectly. Beware of the others...

Derek Bryce illuminates the history and precise symbolism of the Celtic cross. Reminding us that the wheel suggests the halo of the divine takes us to the growing humber of empty crosses in Europe and USA showing Christ as victor over death. This expresses the divine shining through many holy beings. For interpretation of the four figures around Christ over the main door of Chartres cathedral read A New Sense of Destiny from Ancient Symbols.

Contrary to the frequent interpretation of the Christian cross as a symbol of suffering, Bryce presents the wheel circle as a nimbus or halo, a pre-Christian, solar symbol of divine energy. In visiting churches in USA, Canada and Europe I have noticed a growing number of empty crosses exemplifying Christus victor. Is not this a return to Bryce's "The early Celtic representations show Christ in triumph." pg.48 Or on another note, does this not suggest that the radiance of the holy is not exclusively limited to the person Jesus of Nazareth? For the symbolism of the four figures around Christ as sculptured over the main entrance of Chartres read A New Sense of Destiny from Ancient Symbols.

What a disappointment! The author clearly had an agenda, which was focused on the christian influence on Celtic Crosses. Many of his assumptions are self-serving, and I was tempted to put the book down halfway through in disgust. Other reviewers have noted good artwork, which I'll concede, but photos would have been better. I purchased this expecting some enlightenment into what the pre-Christian crosses symbolised, and was sorely disappointed.

I've gotten in the habit of carrying this book around to show all my friends who ask me why I wear a cross when I'm pagan... like the way this book points out (as so few do) that crosses DID exist before Christianity