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 PrintableVersion The Quest for Celtic ChristianityCeltic facts & fictionThe Quest for Celtic Christianity 'Celtic Christianity' enjoys considerable popularity and has generated a torrent of books, videos, cassettes and even new so-called 'Celtic' churches. It is because popular 'Celtic Christianity' is a slippery hold-all term which reconstructs genuine Celtic Christianity in line with the mood of the times that a scholarly book is needed to clarify the difference between the bandwagon of a trendy fad from such meagre facts as there are. Dr. Meek is a native Gallic speaker from Tiree and has academic qualifications in Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic. Since 1993 he has been Professor of Celtic at Aberdeen University. He is also an evangelical Christian. If the reader is going to distinguish the true from the false in modern reconstructions of 'Celtic Christianity', he/she will need either to read or refer to this book. Meek has observed that bookshops and heritage centres (such as Iona) are swamped by literature which promotes 'Celtic' themes. The problem is that much of the Christian public has been deceived by the content of what pretends to be 'Celtic Christianity'. Throughout his book he refuses to use the term 'Celtic Christianity' without the inverted commas, doubtless to indicate that much of what passes for 'Celtic Christianity' is no such thing. Much of the book is demolition of modern 'Celtic Christianity' propaganda in an attempt to highlight its beguiling dangers. A misleading (though innocuous) example is a book called 'Celtic Daily Prayer: a Northumbrian Office', which includes excerpts from writers, most of whom have nothing to do with the title, such as C. S. Lewis and Bunyan. It is one of a flood of books which have as much to do with the genuine as sand has with moon dust. Bogus and realSo the message is: 'Beware'. Do not be taken in by 'Celtic' art work on book covers or the wide-ranging eclectic spirituality which uses the word 'Celtic' to link non-Christian ideas with a supposed pre-Protestant religion, all seen through the prism of modern society's distortions, many of which are 'New Age'. Meek makes the point that this is not the whole story. There are good books, mostly scholarly rather than popular, which distinguish between the bogus 'Celtic Christianity' and the real. In his own book Meek explains how and why the upsurge of interest in 'Celtic Christianity' has happened. He argues that modern 'Celtic Christianity' has been popularised almost entirely by those who do not know the Celtic languages and are not from the Celtic areas of these islands. He is very persuasive in arguing that there never was a monolithic Celtic Church, just multiple Celtic churches in parts of Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Cornwall, Brittany and Northumbria. The Celtic churches which existed before 1100 AD were rigorous in their belief in the mass, penance, relics and monasticism. Nor were they as pure as often made out. We know, for instance, that one of the abbots of Caldey Island (Wales) fell down a well and died when drunk. Shadowy figuresThe real Celtic 'saints' are shadowy figures, not at all like the make-believe visionaries of 'Celtic Christianity'. Columba can stand as an example. His life was written by the 9th abbot of Iona, Adomnan. The first part of the book is filled with grim prophecies of doom. Adomnan then has Columba visiting the King of the Picts, where he trades off miraculous powers with the King's magician, one of his achievements being to open a locked gate by a miracle. In other stories Columba appears as a curse-dispenser. He visits Tiree in his coracle, which he ties to a seaweed-covered rock. The seaweed failed to hold the coracle, so he cursed the rock. Forever after there would be no seaweed on it. Some locals can take the visitor to the actual rock, which, of course, is minus seaweed! One can almost see the wry smile on Meek's face as he points out that the Free Church of Scotland has a church in Edinburgh called St. Columba's. Does that church really endorse Columba's beliefs - rigorous asceticism, penances, monasticism, and so on? More serious is the fact that charismatics like Gerald Coates have endorsed books about modern 'Celtic Christianity'. The supposition must be that the existence of post-biblical prophecy and the miraculous in the Columba stories finds an echo with modern charismatic beliefs. Perhaps the lack of hard information about the real Celtic churches and their 'saints' has opened the door to the reconstructionists to make of 'Celtic Christianity' virtually what they want. The fact remains that the reconstructed product is dangerous. It is ecumenical, superficial, friendly to Eastern religion and the 'New Age'; it has no sense of sin and salvation and is tolerant where it should be confrontational. This book is a work of scholarship about what is really known about the Celtic churches and a work of warning about a trend wearing the label 'Celtic Christianity'. Be on your guard whether you read this excellent book or not. D. J. Stephens© Evangelicals Now - January 2001 |
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