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Link: Modern Myths of the Medieval Past

If you go into any of the larger bookshops and look in the sections designated Religion or Mythology or even New Age, probably you will encounter books on "Celtic" themes, including "Celtic Christianity."

The subject can also be encountered beyond the bookshops. It is actively fostered by some religious communities, and Celtic liturgies are being produced for those who wish to incorporate such prayers into their worship. Study guides are available for those wanting to explore Celtic Christianity in group discussion.

It is easy, indeed comforting, to assume that modern Celtic Christianity offers the public a rediscovery of a faith well-known in the early medieval period but subsequently lost.

But does it?

Much in the modern explanations of Celtic Christianity does go back to the medieval Irish, much that is unique in the history of Christianity.

Celtic Christianity has left us many splendid legacies: stone crosses, beautiful metal artifacts, remote churches. Literature from this period has survived, too: sermons in Gaelic/Irish, and hymns and poems from the early Middle Ages. A few early Irish hymns have been translated into English, like "Be Thou My Vision," and "Saint Patrick's Breastplate." Some modern writings on Celtic Christianity are concerned with the exposition of these early hymns.

How Celts pursued their faith was unique in many respects because they adapted it to the social structures of their time and place, a predominantly rural society. For example, Irish monasteries, which came to be mini-cities, adapted the traditional ring-fort of early Irish society.

Consequently, Celtic Christian faith differed in some ways from the Roman Christianity practiced in Europe. For example, the Celts kept Easter at a different time and had a different shape of tonsure (monastic head shaving), though gradually these differences were ironed out. Otherwise, the Celts adhered to the same fundamental doctrines of faith.

This, however, is not the Celtic Christianity often presented today. To be sure, modern interpretations of Celtic Christianity range from pagan to evangelical Protestant (the latter deeply influenced by the charismatic and house-church movements). Yet most writers tend to look back to the Celtic period as a kind of golden age.

Several emphases resonate throughout the writings of modern "Celtic Christians," depending on the theology of the writer. Six of the most prominent are:

God's nearness, or immanence, rather than his transcendence. According to devotees of Celtic Christianity, God is all around, involved in people's daily life ("immanent"), rather than distant, alien, and overly holy ("transcendent").

God's love rather than his judgment. Some enthusiasts claim Celtic Christians had little or no sense of sin.

Simplicity of structures. The modern church is portrayed as little more than a religious bureaucracy, and early non-Celtic missionaries, like Augustine of Canterbury, are seen as power-hungry clerics wanting to control others. The ancient Celts, on the other hand, were allegedly gentle and mystical.

Tolerance of paganism. Some writers argue that Celtic Christianity simply absorbed Celtic paganism. Celtic Christians, it is claimed, were kind to secular culture. The modern church, by contrast, has written off too much of the secular world.

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