Journeys on the Edges: The Celtic Tradition (Traditions of Christian Spirituality.) (Paperback)

~ (Author), Philip Sheldrake (Editor) "These lines from Luke's infancy narrative may seem a strange place to start a book on the spirituality of the Celtic lands in the first..." (more)
Key Phrases: Jesus Christ, Celtic Christians, Middle Ages (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

A valuable antidote to the wishful thinking and misconceptions that bedevil much recent writing about the Celtic tradition. --Richard Woods, O.P.

Product Description

Thomas O'Loughlin's fresh and original introduction to Celtic spirituality begins by questioning the very notion of a distinctively "Celtic" spirituality. Brilliantly re-examining the original sources, he argues that there is one over-arching theme giving them a unity--the idea of being "on the edge", both culturally and geographically.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 172 pages
• Publisher: Orbis Books (October 10, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1570753377
• ISBN-13: 978-1570753374
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.3 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #573,935 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Non-Celtic Tradition, March 18, 2009

By	FYI (Truth or Consequences, New Mexico) - See all my reviews

The title of this book is a complete misnomer. The author should have stuck with describing his personal experience, or writing about pre-industrial, Christian cycles of time. He is so disgusted with the romanticization of the Celts that he overreacts in a diatribe against the idea of a special flavour to "Celtic Christianity."

O'Loughlin is best when commenting on his own experience, "visiting old relatives in rural Ireland. When the electric light was switched on, the man said, `God give us the light of Heaven!' Everyone chimed back, `Amen' in unison...it linked that day, and that physical light, with the...notion of the incomprehensible light of God. When we speak of a sacramental understanding of the universe, it is that simple kitchen liturgy we should keep in mind" (140). O'Loughlin accurately states that for early Christians, that time was holy and that, "to live through the year was to be submerged not just in the annual cycle of seasons and liturgy, but a whole series of such cycles which were all interrelated and influenced one" (144). People lived in harmony with "the very clock of creation," "between the liturgy of earth and heaven" (145).

Yet O'Loughlin cherry-picks his history in reaction to New Age appropriation of the Celts. His conclusion is that any differences between the Celtic Church and the Roman were insignificant. He ignores the complexity of the arguments that existed between the two, and as evidenced at the Synod of Whitby in 664. He neglects the writings of Columbanus, and phenomenon of Pelagius. This book attempts to deconstruct the idea of the uniqueness of Celtic Christianity, arguing that the early Church manifested the same way everywhere. O'Loughlin argues for historical conformity with Rome, he carefully avoids the real differences that are shown in the archeological, written, cultural, and folkloric records of the early Celtic Church.