Ancient Celtic Christianity and its Uses and Abuses Today

Ancient Celtic Christianity and its Uses and Abuses Today

Author: Kerstin Hetmann

Publisher: GRIN Verlag

Published: 2007-03-18

Total Pages: 29

ISBN-13: 3638626385

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Seminar paper from the year 2006 in the subject Theology - Miscellaneous, grade: 1,0, University of Education Freiburg im Breisgau, language: English, abstract: Celtic sells. If you look into a British bookstore or type in the word “Celt” or “Celtic” into an internet search machine, you will find thousands of matches. I did the test and typed the words “Celtic” and afterwards “Jesus Christ” into Google. Google came up with approximately 82.500.000 matches for “Celtic” and only 58.300.000 for “Jesus Christ”. Many of the links belong to Celtic music bands or Celtic arts, but still a big amount leads to Celtic Spirituality pages. What is it that makes Celtic Spirituality so immensely popular today? What are people looking for when they buy Celtic Christian resource and prayer books, register with Celtic Christian web communities or seek out churches that offer “Celtic services”? And the most important question of all – Does the “Celtic Boom” have anything to do with Christianity or is it some kind of New Age mysticism? Let us have a look at ancient Celtic Christianity and then find out to what extent so-called modern Celtic Christian still share the same ideas, traditions and practices.


The Religion of the Ancient Celts

The Religion of the Ancient Celts

Author: John Arnott MacCulloch

Publisher:

Published: 1911

Total Pages: 428

ISBN-13:

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Scant records remain of the ancient Celtic religion beyond some eleventh- and twelfth-century written material from the Irish Celts and the great Welsh document Mabinogion. This classic study by a distinguished scholar, builds not only upon the surviving texts but also upon folk customs derived from the rituals of the old cults. A masterly and extremely readable survey, it offers a reconstruction of the essentials of Celtic paganism: fascinating glimpses into primitive forms of worship involving rites centered on rivers and wells, trees and plants, and animals; and examinations of evidence from Celtic burial mounds to explore beliefs and customs related to the culture of the dead, including rites of rebirth and transmigration.


Celtic Christianity

Celtic Christianity

Author: Timothy J. Joyce

Publisher:

Published: 1998

Total Pages: 204

ISBN-13:

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This fascinating book introduces the mysterious and extraordinary world of Celtic Christianity. Timothy Joyce, a Benedictine monk of Irish descent, evokes the distinctive spirituality that drew on pre-Christian beliefs and culture. He shows how this style of Christianity changed, was subordinated, and gave way to the larger Roman church, and yet how elements endured. Finally, he explores what Celtic spirituality has to offer today to the church as well as spiritual seekers. Celtic spirituality is holistic -- a joyful, mystically-inclined spirituality that affirms the goodness of creation, urges respect for women's gifts, and finds expression in poetry, myth, and song. Joyce recounts the heroic stories of such saints as Patrick, Bridget, Columcille, and Columba. But he goes beyond other treatments to explore how this tradition was gradually subsumed by a more rigid style of "Irish Catholicism, " and he reflects on the centuries of suffering that have left an indelible mark on the Irish consciousness and spirit. Yet ultimately Joyce shows how the recovery of this ancient tradition of Christianity might rejuvenate the church and contribute to spiritual renewal today.


Christianity in Celtic Lands

Christianity in Celtic Lands

Author: Louis Gougaud

Publisher:

Published: 1992

Total Pages: 536

ISBN-13:

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

A detailed history of the Churches of the Irish and the Britons from the fourth to the twelfth century with special emphasis on pre-Viking Ireland.