Product Description
Ted Olsen tells the stories of principal figures of Celtic church history such as St. Patrick and St. Columbanus, illuminating their missionary fervor and monastic ideals. In the IVP Histories Series. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Excellent Introductory Resource
The color photographs alone in Ted Olsen's Christianity and the Celts make it well worth the price of purchase.The reader interested in how the early church developed in the Celtic culture receives an excellent introduction to key people and events.I found it one of the most helpful introductory resources that I have used. ... Read more

Product Description
Since ancient times the Celts have followed a path of total involvement with the natural world-a love of the earth, the pattern of seasons, and the magical presence of animals. Their quest for truth and sense of wonder in the beauty and power of the landscape, expressed today in immensely popular Celtic music and poetry, is deeply rooted in their early spiritual practices.

In Drinking From the Sacred Well, renowned Celtic scholar John Matthews recreates the mystical journeys of twelve Celtic saints, capturing the wisdom and insight of these extraordinary men and women who lived from the third to the seventh centuries A.D. In carrying the faith of Christianity to the people of Britain and Ireland, they adapted the earthly wisdom of the Druids and other Celtic mystics. The result was a rare combination of Christianity and Paganism that left a powerful legacy that lasts to this day.

Step with St. Brendan onto the deck of a ship headed for a strange and wondrous country, experience the hospitality of the spirit with St. Senan, discover the feminine voice in your creative life with St. Bridget, or learn from St. Kentigern that a love of nature can heal the deepest wounds. You will recognize in these lyric stories your own journey and the questions that both challenge and fuel your ongoing spiritual quest.

Like Joseph Campbell's Myths to Live By, these tales, along with Matthews' incisive commentary and suggested meditation points, will inspire us all to live more courageous and spirited lives.Amazon.com Review
The Celtic saints offered a crucial model for spiritualawareness, according to renowned Celtic scholar John Matthews. Theyheld a profoundly intimate relationship with the natural and etherealworlds, always recognizing their purpose within the context ofcreation. "By cutting ourselves off from nature, by telling ourselveswe are separate, unique, powerful in our own right, we are doing theequivalent of cutting off our limbs," he explains. In his profiles offamous Celtic saints, Matthews illustrates how the mystical paganworship of nature overlaps with Christian faith to create fantasticstories of animal guides, princes, chieftains, angels, and druidicfire--always heightened by the rich and poetic imagery of Ireland'slandscape. After each story, Matthews offers a list of "MeditationPoints." For example, after the story of Senan of Scattery, Matthewsasks, "Do you offer hospitality of the spirit to those around you? Ifnot, consider how you might do so."--Gail Hudson ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

frseanl is understandably upset, but...
i think john matthews does what is necessary and returns the data where it belongs............in pre-christian hands......and hearts...........people like father sean will not allow the primal past to bleed over into the too recent "news" of christianity. there is much joy and hope in this book. why the crankiness on father sean's part? dogma. nonetheless, compassion and understanding also pre-dates the fishy catacombs of rome, etc. we have to give this intolerance space to speak. intolerance is not divisive. it only delays our eventual unity...

A most unsatisfying book
By bringing his own non-Christian agenda to these stories of Celtic saints, John Matthews has created an inaccurate, unsatisfying, and impolite book.
Neo-pagans are as interested in reclaiming Celtic roots as are Christians.But Matthews has gone too far.In this book he takes thelives of Christian people and de-Christianizes them, making them nothingmore than spiritual archetypes or the heroes of charming folk tales. Although his prose is charming and his selection of twelve saintly subjectsis good, I can not recommend this book to anyone who is interested inencountering the saints as they really are.
He works hard to makesure you never find out they are Christian.For example, in his re-tellingof St. Brendan's story, Matthews several times has Brendan and his monkstrusting themselves "to the rhythms of the sea," but never oncetrusting themselves "to God."
Another example is histreatment of St. Canair.The original story is quite short, one smallpage-full.There is no reason to leave out any detail. St. Canair has avision directing her to St. Senan's island which is to be her "placeof resurrection."St. Senan turns her away at the edge of his islandsince he does not allow women on it.They have a debate, in which St.Canair clinches her case by saying that "Christ died for women as wellas for men."Matthews omits this line, although it is the crux of herargument.There is nothing to indicate a Christian context for the storyat all.
In fact, in the four stories I read before I got fed up, heomits anything that indicates that these peole were Christians.Naturally,I object to this as a Christian and as a priest.But I object to it as apolite human person, also.I would not expect a writer to write about agreat Buddhist as if he were not Buddhist, or about Muslim saints as ifthey never mentioned Allah.To rejoice in the holy people of anothertradition is fine; but to appropriate them is another matter entirely.Todo so denies them of what they held to be most important and misses theirown chosen purpose of their lives.
That is the bulk of my complaintwith the book.The fact that he claims, in the introduction, that womencelebrated the Eucharist is just an annoyance.As beautiful as the ideais, as much as many people may want it to be true that there were femalCeltic Christian priests celebrating the Mass, and in spite of a very fewvague hints, there simply is not one drop of evidence to justify a baldstatement that it happened.And that is what Matthews says, with nodocumentation or proof.No worthy cause is helped by shoddy or deceitfulscholarship.
I do not recommend this book at all. ... Read more

Product Description
John Scotus Eriugena was born and raised in Irelandduring the early ninth century. Neither monk nor priest but a “holysage,” he carried to France the flower of Celtic Christianity.Hishomily, The Voice of the Eagle, is a jewel of lyrical mysticism,theology, and cosmology, containing the essence of Celtic Christianwisdom. He meditates on the meaning and purpose of creation asrevealed by the Word made flesh, distilling into twenty-three shortchapters a uniquely Celtic, non-dualistic fusion of Christianity,Platonism, and ancient Irish wisdom.The translator’s“Reflections” make up the second half of this book and attemptto unfold some of the life-giving meaning implicit in Eriugena’sluminous sentences. Inspired both by a personal search for a livingChristianity and by a sense of the continuity of Western culture,these “Reflections” offer a contemporary, meditative encounterwith the Word, or Logos, as mediated by both St. John’s Prologueand Eriugena’s Celtic homily.This favorite of CelticChristianity, unavailable for several years, has been revised andincludes a new forward by Thomas Moore, author of Care of the Soul andThe Soul of Sex. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Interesting idea, but overdramatic
This work presents the famous commentary on the Gospel of John by the great Celtic philosopher and theologian, Eriugena.

While Scotus was influenced by Celtic spirituality in the sense he had a very positive view of the universe, and especially in his belief the universe is one of God's primary 'theophanies' of manifestations, he drew most of his theological and philosophical thought from Augustine, Gregory of Nyssa, and Pseudo-Dionysius the Aeropagite.While Eriugena was an extremely creative innovator in many ways (especially in his emphasis on the meontic or negative aspects of Being, both human and divine) he was basically a Christian Platonist in a similar vein as Eckhart, and his intellectual formation relied on other Christian Platonists like Gregory of Nyssa and Augustine as much as it would on any Celtic wisdom.Eriugena is more of a world-class thinker and philosopher rather than someone who had a tribal or nationalistic agenda of any sort, and we should avoid anachronism when reading into the past.

the heart of celtic spirituality
I really enjoyed this book, it was thought provoking and honest. Its reading required prayer and a good workout of the intellect. I recommend this book.

Tribal Propaganda
Christopher Bamford, eminent writer of wisdom traditions, has written an important yet disjointed and ultimately disappointing account of/on John Scotus Eriugena. Any lover of truth will take exception to the grotesque inaccuracies marring the introductions to Voice of the Eagle. Fraught with forced associations, Bramford propagates ad nauseam a preeminent Celtic cultural import to the philosophical theology underlying Eriugena's works. Embarrassingly, Eriugena is taken out of context (ie. Medieval sage, part of the transnational Occidental wisdom canon) and is treated to page-after-page of ethnocentric historical revisionism. Bamford's views read like a form of tribal propaganda that distorts the timeless and universal themes contained in Eriugena's works. Once beyond the distractingly prejudiced intros, Bamford does an exceptionally good job to illuminate theological issues with penetrating philosophical perspectives. The obtuse subject matter leads at times to boring digressions. However, embedded throughout are lofty theosophical insights that suprisingly redeems the workmaking this book a profitable read and a keeper in one's library. For the sake of salvaging a really good work, one only hopes that in future editions, Bamford tones down the trendy Celto-mania introductions and places Eriugena where he rightly belongs in the heart of Medieval Occidental Christianity.

Good work., bad marketing
This is a fine work on Eruigena's Homily on the Prologue to the Gospel of St. John. Eruigena was deeply influenced by Neoplatonic thought and it shows in this work. Bamford does a fine job of translating it and does Eruigena's homliy justice. His prose is first rate and is a joy to read.

The book can be divided into roughly two sections. The Homily itself which constitutes about 50 pages and the rest is Bamford's take of it, which is roughly 250 pages. Bamford's hermenutics of the Homily can be skipped - it really tells the reader more about Bamford's thinking than anything else.

I must take issue with Bamford's misleading advertising he used to market his book. Like the previous reviewer I am in agreement that this work has nothing to do with Celtic Christianity unless one would equate it Greek thought. Rest assured they are not the same thing. In a sense Bamford does an injustice to both neoplatonism and Celtic Chrisitanity by doing this.

Ratings wise it gets 3 Stars. 5 stars for the Homily itself.-2 stars for misleading advertising and marketing Neoplatonic writings as a work of Celtic Christianity.

Dubious Marketing
While Eriugena's work is of significance and importance, I find that marketing this as Celtic Spirituality is somewhat deceptive. Eriugena lived and worked in France and his relationship to "Celtic" thought and spirituality is nowhere as strong as the influence of Greek Neoplatonism. 5 stars for Eriugena, none for Branford, hence 2.5, which can be rounded up to 3. ... Read more

Product Description
On the isolated island of Staffa, next to Iona in Scotland, stands one of the natural wonders of the world. Fingal's Cave--an extraordinary Cathedral-like space, with sides and roof of hexagonal balsatic columns, with a floor made of the ocean, which is constantly making musical sounds as the tides ebb and flow. The tides ebb and flow. This cave has been been a source of mystery, spiritual insight, and artistic inspiration for centuries. To understand Fingal, and his importance in Celtic culture, we must understand both the poems of Ossian, collected by the 18th century poet James Macpherson, and the development of Celtic Christianity from the druids and bards of long ago.

Paul and Joan Allen describe the history and importance of Fingal's Cave and The Poems of Ossian to contemporary culture today, and show why they have influenced many diverse figures including Medelssohn, Jefferson, Napoleon, Turner, and others. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

fascinating
Rudolf Steiner described Fingal's Cave as "a temple built by the spirits of nature". Anyone wanting to understand Celtic Christianity should read this book, and anyone visiting Scotland should visit this sacred site, only 5 miles from Iona. This site has had a profound influenceon many artists and writers, and the Poems of Ossian are one of the greattreasures of spiritual literature. Read, learn and enjoy. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Celtic Fire
The book was sent to me as a gift. I haven't read it yet. However, I was very disappointed that it was advertised and sold as a "hardcover" which it certainly is NOT! At least I don't consider a soft paper cover as a "hardcover".

Excellent Anthology!
This is a wonderful anthology of early Celtic Christian writers and thinkers. Contains great information about each person and a goodly portion of their writings and philosophy. I love this book and plan to read it manymore times in the future. ... Read more

Product Description
This work is a groundbreaking study of the varieties of holy life available to, and pursued by, early medieval Irish women. The author explores a wide range of source material from legal texts, saints' lives, litanies, penitentials, canons, and poetry in order to illuminate female religious life and changes in attitudes towards it over time. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Women, Celts, Religion
Traditionally scholars viewed Irish Christianity as idiosyncratic and often characterized by an openness to nature and a revulsion to ecclesiastical authority, views still maintained but more by New Age types than by scholars, who in the last half century have pulled the Irish into the Western Latin mainstream. Harrison accepts this basic approach; her Irish Christians consider themselves good members of the Western Church. But she makes a good case for their willingness to push the envelope, especially on the role of women.

Realizing that the traditional view has managed to hang on, she starts by debunking that view, yet she does so in a sympathetic way, acknowledging that it enjoys longevity largely because most books on Celtic Christianity for popular audiences are not written by scholars. She also puts to rest the notion that pagan attitudes toward women as powerful figures and avatars of earth religion influenced Christian attitudes. Yet if the sources of Irish Christian attitudes toward women were Christian, they were not the usual ones. Irish women had a freedom of movement as well as an acceptance by men unheard of on the continent. Why? Because "the builders of the new Irish Church adopted foreign ideas about women and holiness more selectively than has hitherto been imagined" (48). Harrison effectively demonstrates that the apocryphal Acts, known both early and well in Ireland, determined the view of women. Thus, Thecla and other women who evangelized, moved among the people, and worked with the male apostles provided the toposi for women's hagiography rather than the submissive, sheltered virgins of the continent.

This attitude maintained itself for centuries. Harrison focuses on Brigit, the best known of the women Irish saints and the one about whom the most was written. The vitae portray Brigit as an abbot of a double monastery, as an abbess who held her own and won the respect of male monks and as the superior of men who worked at the monastery or on its lands. Brigit's influence gave her church, Kildare, a status second to only one other church, Armagh, and Brigit's successors, both monastic and episcopal, managed to keep Armagh's primatial hopes at bay so effectively that an unknown Armagh writer composed a life in which Saint Patrick, traditional founder of the see, acknowledges that Brigit is supreme in the Kildare area. The Irish frequently settled controversial matters by literarily transferring them back to the time of the founders. This way the successors of Patrick could acknowledge Kildare's independence by following the saint's example. Indeed, so extensive was Brigit's posthumous influence that later hagiographers actually claimed that she had been consecrated a bishop. Significantly, the male hierarchy did not condemn these vitae, although they also avoided giving them credence.

This more open attitude toward women manifested itself in another very salubrious way. The great Irish male saints were all virgins, as one would expect, and every so often they encountered temptresses to their virtue. As Harrison points out, during the drive for celibacy in the eleventh century, continental hagiography frequently treats these women as hopeless harlots who deserve the beatings they get and who sometimes risk eternal perdition. But in the Irish lives, the male saints, after safely preserving their virtue, forgive the women, talk with them, urge them to a better life, and, in some cases, convince them to enter nunneries. Unlike Peter Damian, Irish reformers of this period managed to introduce celibacy without denouncing the lawfully married wives of priests as "whores, prostitutes . . . and chambers of filthy spirits" (270).

A substantial body of legal literature survives from early Christian Ireland, and Harrison writes considerably about the legal status of women. Much of it deals with property and family rights, such as whether a family could install one of its own as abbess and how the family could maintain the succession. Since headship of a monastery or nunnery brought great prestige to a family, issues of rank and stature also appeared in the law tracts. As continental influences grew, they threatened the status of the abbesses. In general, the abbesses held their own, relying upon a centuries-old tradition of active women who bore ecclesiastical responsibilities.

Harrison has done a very thorough job. She has researched extensively in the primary source material, and her bibliography shows her to be current with the secondary literature. She clearly demonstrates that the Irish Church followed the general trend of Latin Christianity-for example, there was no real thought of ordaining women-but it also gave women a leeway unknown in Romanist circles. Irish ecclesiastics seem to have avoided the petty, stupid misogyny that harassed so many Medieval women on a daily basis.

The book has only two real shortcomings, one stylistic, one historical. In her attempt to be thorough, Harrison has included material that does not advance her case, for example, the vita of Saint Gobnat or the abbey of Clonburren, which she could have relegated to an appendix and thus not detract from the main themes. She also could have spent more space than she does-and could have done so much earlier in the book-on the notion of Woman in Irish Christianity. The reader is uncertain what was the ideal held by both women and men in the Irish Church, and thus by what standard were women imaged. There are inevitably some small points about which one might quibble-why was Ian Bradley's superb Celtic Christianity: Making Myths and Chasing Dreams (1999) not included in the discussion of "modern Celts"-but these do not detract from Harrison's overall achievement.

This book has great value for students of Irish and Celtic Christianity; Anglo-Saxonists will also find it helpful as will all those interested in Medieval women's history. Alas, the price will deter many scholars; may we hope for a paperback edition?

Excellent
An excellent book by the foremost scholar of this field. Dr. C. Harrington presents this book in a user friendly way which is what i'd expect from one of the best lecturers at university that I ever had.

Praise
This scholarly investigation of the medieval celtic church is 'user friendly'. The use of old-Irish and Latin texts to build up the arguement may take time to display itself, however, given time to absorb it is the best of its kind. Dr. Harrington is the foremost scholar in her field, and an excellent tutor as she taught me as a history undergraduate at St. Mary's University in England.

Excellent reappraisal of the subject...
Considering that this is a scholarly publication, I found it to be a surprisingly smooth read.The author has delved deeply into the maelstrom of Irish and Latin texts that make up the source material, resulting in a fresh and sometimes penetrating analysis of the state of holy women of various sorts in the church of Ireland circa 450-1150.However, this book is not for the impatient, the argument can sometimes take some time to build; be patient though.While most passages from the sources are provided in english translation, a knowledge of Latin would be helpful for the numerous short bits that are left untranslated (so I was fine), but this is not crucial for following the argument.Typos do appear from time to time in the text.If this ever came out in an affordable paperback I would definately be tempted to buy it instead of merely checking it out of my college library. ... Read more

Product Description
Faithfully presenting the lives and legacies of twenty Celtic saints of the sixth to ninth centuries, Edward Sellner reveals their wisdom in a way that can be understood and appreciated by modern readers. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

Good, but...
The introduction is too popularized - "buddy-Jesus" etc. This is sad, since the lives presented in the book are really good. No foot notes / references, which is also a little annoying. Illustrations are absolutely horrible! Modern B/W art - why not Icons instead? It is a modern protestant book, introducing some of the Celtic saints. Concept is good apart from missing references and the illustrations, but it could get much better with little efforts.

Best Lives of Celtic Saints I've Read
This is the best lives of the Celtic saints I've read. The stories are shortered down and edited down slightly yet still in the same style and language translated right from Irish and Latin. I highly recommend it.

Celtic Saints Made Easy
Edward Sellner attributes his interest in Celtic spirituality to his Irish ancestry and delved into the topic while in graduate school. Since that time he has contributed a great deal to this area of spirituality, particularly the notion of companions on the spiritual journey known as soul friends. His book THE WISDOM OF THE CELTIC SAINTS is one of his contributions in this area.

The book contains some factual information about Celtic Christianity which serves as an introduction to the writings of the saints themselves. Sellner includes excerpts from the writings of the better known Celtic saints such as Patrick, Brendan, Bridget, Columcille, and David of Wales, as well as some lesser known saints. It is set up like the collections of the desert fathers and mothers, and can be used for spiritual reading in a similar manner.

Readers of this book will find the writings spiritually enriching, imaginative, and rather practical. It will also help readers see that this ancient form of Christian spirituality has a great deal to say to us today.

Great Introduction!
The Introduction is worth the price of the book.In the beginning of the book, the writer does a great job of introducing the reader to the Celtic way of sprituality.It is impossible to do justice to this section of the book in just a few words here.Suffice it to say that this one section of this one book is one of the best I've ever read as an overview to the way the Celtic person viewed the world and spirituality.The rest of the book is full of stories about numerous Celtic saints, and after following the great intro, was a bit of a let-down for me. Still,although I read this book three years ago, I have not forgotten how helpful this introduction was to my understanding.

Huh?
"Huh?" about sums up this rather silly book.The extremely brief summaries of the more notable Celtic saints is plush with legends that no critical, modern mind could put on a level above fairy tale.Granted fairy tale can be very educational, but there is no room in Sellner's summaries for a modern critique of what these legends indicate about the mind or faith of the hagiographers, much less the actual saints. [...] ... Read more

Product Description
This digital document is an article from Church History, published by American Society of Church History on June 1, 2001. The length of the article is 997 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Celtic Christianity: Making Myths and Chasing Dreams.
Author: Garry J. Crites
Publication: Church History (Refereed)
Date: June 1, 2001
Publisher: American Society of Church History
Volume: 70Issue: 2Page: 351

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Product Description
A collection of 26 hymns in celebration of the rich heritage of Celtic Christianity, including Irish music from raditional sources and original songs derived from ancient prayers. Each song is presented with an explanation of its background, allowing the reader to delve deeply into this fascinating era of Christianity marked by the missionary work of St. Patrick and St. Brigid. All of the songs include lyrics, some in both English and Gaelic. The music is presented as simple melody arrangements with guitar chords. Audio available online. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

songs of celtic Christianity
This book contains lots of celtic hymns you can't find elsewhere without a lot of digging ... Read more

Product Description
Irish music from traditional sources and original songs from ancient prayers. Companion music book for "Saint Patrick: The Contemplative Celt" and "Abbess: Songs of Saint Brigid". Simple arrangements with guitar chords and explanations of the songs. A collection of 25 hymns in celebration of the rich heritage of Celtic Christianity. ... Read more

Product Description
Chapters: Celtic Christianity, Maronite Church, Lindisfarne, Synod of Whitby, Celtic Rite, Christianity in Cornwall, Insular Art, Celtic Mass, Culdee, Hiberno-Scottish Mission, Nendrum Monastery, John D. Faris, Faddan More Psalter, Our Lady of Lebanon, Vergilius of Salzburg, Abbot of Clonard, Papar, Twelve Apostles of Ireland, List of Maronite Patriarchs, Constantine, Abbot of Iona, Kormakitis, Abbot of Glendalough, the Maronite Chronicles, Marina the Monk, Celtic Chant, Saint Moura, Abbot of Cork, Awtel, Kingarth, Mar Sarkis, Ehden, Shrine of Our Lady of the Cedars, Abbot of Clonfert, Our Lady of Bechouat, Maronite Youth Organization, Qozhaya, St Nectan's Kieve, Prior of Loch Leven, Maronites in Cyprus, List of Abbots and Abbesses of Kildare, Mariamite Maronite Order, Lebanese Maronite Order, Ashaig, Antonin Maronite Order, Bkerké, Eparchy of Saint Maron of Montreal Maronites, Strath Fillan Priory, Our Lady of Bekaa, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Notre Dame Des Secours Jbeil, Sculptured Stones, Maronite Diocese of St Maroun, Abthain, Synod of Brefi, Our Lady of Miziara, Our Lady of the Wind, Church of Saidet et Tallé. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 256. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: The term "Celtic Rite" is applied to the various liturgical rites used in Celtic Christianity in Great Britain, Ireland, perhaps in Brittany, sporadically in Northern Iberia and also in the monasteries founded by the Irish missions of St. Columbanus in France, Germany, Switzerland, and Italy during the early middle ages. The term does not imply homogeneity; the evidence, scanty and fragmentary as it is, is in favour of considerable diversity. Cartmel on Morecambe Bay in north-west England, the location of an early monastic communityBefore the 8th century CE there were several Christian rites i...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=3074727 ... Read more

Product Description
This digital document is an article from Presbyterian Record, published by Presbyterian Record on May 1, 1999. The length of the article is 566 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Celtic Christianity: a sacred tradition, a vision of hope.
Publication: Presbyterian Record (Magazine/Journal)
Date: May 1, 1999
Publisher: Presbyterian Record
Volume: 123Issue: 5Page: 45-6

Article Type: Book Review

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