pat loughery

Students at Bakke Graduate University do a lot of reading, and for each book we are asked to write a 2-3 page paper that describes the book’s thesis and arguments, then interprets the author’s intention, and then applies the book to our ministry context. The specific format is this:

Description of the Book

a) Thesis: The main point or main concept of the book, often found in the preface or first chapter, that the author is trying to communicate; simply one or two sentences;

b) Summary of major themes/concepts/ideas.

Interpretation of the Book

[An analysis of what the author means and is trying to communicate.]

Application

[What did this book mean to you, how can you apply it to your situation, what questions, issues, disagreements were raised for you, what were some transferable principles to your context.]

I’ll post my summaries of these books (or at least the best ones) here.

Below is my summary of Brother Timothy Joyce’s excellent work “Celtic Christianity: A Sacred Tradition, A Vision of Hope“, which is on the reading list for the upcoming Following the Celtic Trail course.

Celtic Christianity: A Sacred Tradition, A Vision of Hope

by Timothy Joyce

Orbis Books (1998)

180 pages

Description of the Book

Celtic Christianity looks at the Celtic worldview and historical developments in Celtic peoples’ lives in order to trace the development of Celtic spirituality. It begins with pre-Christian paganism, continues with the arrival of Christianity in Celtic lands and through the influence of the Roman Catholic church, and finishes with a discussion of how Celtic spirituality can be incorporated in contemporary Christianity.

An American of Irish descent and a Benedictine monk, Joyce begins his book asking the question, “what was the reality of Celtic Christianity?” by describing the historical origins Celts and the Celtic personality. He identifies six “fault-lines” which underlie the Celtic personality from its early history through contemporary times:

1. The Celts were “an intensely verbal people who lived in an acutely oral culture” (16).
2. They had an “imaginative way of seeing, hearing, touching, and feeling reality” (16) and a “peculiar non-linear way of apprehending time and space” (16).
3. The social unit of the Celts was the tribe, the clan; while this contributed to a tightly communal feel, it also gave no over-arching authority between clans (16).
4. Celts had a “great respect for heroes and warriors” (16) wherein “the warrior spirit was balanced by the gentleness of the poet and mystic” (16).
5. Celtic mysticism included “great love of creation” (16).
6. Lastly, the Celts had a “tendency to wander, to roam, to explore” (16).

Christianity came to the Celts peacefully, with little bloodshed and few martyrs. The Celtic church developed peacefully as well, though it developed remarkably independently from Roman Christianity. In particular, it developed through different flavors of monasticism than Roman monasticism.

Celtic Christianity continued Druidic respect for holy places, establishing monasteries and pilgrimage sites in holy places often established in mountains and islands. These monasteries incorporated the basic belief that Christians were not just called to salvation, but to holiness.

Monasticism greatly flavored Celtic Christianity. Compared to its Eastern predecessors, the Celts “were much more open to people and more evangelistic” (37), and they were “much more open to study and the intellectual pursuit of learning”(37). Celtic monasticism was led by men as well as women, and Bridget is given nearly as much honor as Patrick is given.

Joyce continues with more discussion of the golden age of Celtic Christianity and its heroes, and then turns to his second question: “Why did something so good and beautiful pass into history?” (57).

To answer this question, Joyce describes “theological problems, practices different from the rest of the church, and pressure points from within and without” (57).

In the first section, Joyce describes the Celtic view of humanity and specifically Pelagianism, which he describes on its own terms and not in the words of its accuser Augustinianism. The Celtic Christian view, like the Eastern view, believed “creation to be a graced universe full of the grandeur of God” (60), and Augustine “stressed the incapability of nature and creation by themselves to either know or find God” (60). While both perspectives are correct, in contrast Augustine’s doctrine developed into a view that humanity was incapable of doing anything good at all, and “a view of human nature as intrinsically debased evolved” (60). The doctrine of original sin grew from this supposition. This was difficult for the Celtic worldview, and charges of heresy flew at Celtic theologians.

In the second category, Joyce discusses the differences in monastic hairstyles (tonsure) and more importantly the Celtic dating of Easter which was different from the Roman dating. On the surface a simple disagreement, Joyce details the meaning behind the disagreement by describing the Celtic history of celebrating Easter on the pagan spring fest of Beltaine and tells fascinating stories involving Patrick.

Finally, Joyce describes differences in monasticism, and in particular monastic reforms, before turning his attention to the arrival of the Vikings and their impact on Christianity, and then looking at the distinctive architecture of Celtic round towers and high crosses.

Continuing into its decline, Celtic Christianity was impacted by Cromwell’s colonization of Ireland in the 17^th century, the penal laws of the 18^th century, and the great famine of the 19^th century. Joyce works to describe the social impact of these areas in the Christians as the Celtic nations developed.

Joyce continues by describing the waves of emigration from Ireland to America and the spirituality that these Irish brought with them to the new country, detailing the traumas and their effects but also the place of honor the Irish Christians held in the American church.

Finally, the author turns to the question, “Is the Celtic tradition worth recovering for today?”. He argues that Celtic spirituality can have a deep impact on contemporary Christian faith.

Because the Celtic Christian faith is not an abstract theology but instead a historical stream of faith, it can make specific impacts in the faith both in the community form of church and in individuals’ spiritual lives.

Joyce applies Celtic Christianity’s historical development to contemporary Catholicism and describes how the Roman church can learn from this tradition.

The author summarizes Celtic spirituality by saying that “we are not speaking of a spirituality that represents a romantic escape from reality. To follow the spiritual worldview of the Celtic Christians is to embrace a way of life that is a real commitment to the belief that the Trinitarian God is alive in this world, that Christ remains incarnate in his church, that each Christian is called to active discipleship in building the Kingdom of God. Celtic Christianity opens us up to a viewpoint that cannot separate Sunday and the rest of the week, this world and the next, the spiritual and the secular, the individual and the community. It would have great difficulty in understanding the privatization of religion that is now characteristic of Western culture and American life in particular.”(153-154)

Interpretation of the Book

Joyce’s intent with this book is to rediscover the historical reality of Celtic Christianity, as distinct from the contemporary images of leprechauns and rainbows. His goal is to describe the strengths and weaknesses of this portion of the Christian church, and then to describe the ways in which this ancient form of spirituality can be incorporated into today’s forms of spirituality in ways that help the individual and corporate church.

Application

As an Irish American with deep interests both in the Celtic church and Benedictine spirituality, I have enjoyed the unique perspectives that this book brings. In particular, it includes the most thorough historical discussion of the Celts and Christianity in Celtic lands of any of the dozens of books on Ireland and Celtic Christianity that I have read.

I also have greatly appreciated Joyce’s discussion of the Irish-American mentality. During his descriptions of the discipline methods of Irish fathers, I found myself remembering my father, and through the section I heard my grandfather’s stories again in my memory.

One area of disagreement that I had with the book was Joyce’s understanding that the differences between the Roman and Celtic churches. Specifically, I believe that Joyce underemphasizes the Roman church’s issues of control and power, and Joyce does not discuss the impact that Rome’s excommunication of Celtic leaders has on the Celtic church. It is this minimization which made me feel that as a Roman Catholic, Joyce missed key points in his historical discussion.

After finishing this book, I find myself wanting to understand Pelagius and his beliefs more deeply. Until this book and others, I’ve only read the Augustinian position that Pelagianism essentially meant that people could earn salvation by perfect faith, and I was not aware of the relatively late historical development of the doctrine of original sin. I plan to study this issue in greater depth. This issue would seem to have great impact on the areas of infant baptism and pastoral responses to infant and child death, among other issues.