What do you think?
Rate this book
Celtic Christianity: Making Myths and Chasing Dreams
The current fascination with Celtic Christianity is the latest manifestation of a lingering love affair stretching back over the last 1300 years. This book explores how the native Christian communities of the British Isles from the fifth to the tenth centuries have been idealized and appropriated by a succeeding generation who have projected their own preconceptions and prejudices onto a perceived "golden age" of Celtic Christianity. It provides a fascinating study of the chasing of dreams and the making of myths.
246 pages, Hardcover
First published March 1, 1999
2 people are currently reading
68 people want to read
About the author
Ian Bradley
101 books7 followersIan Bradley is a Church of Scotland minister, academic, broadcaster, journalist and lecturer. He has written over 40 books. He is currently Principal of St Mary's College and Reader in Church History and Practical Theology at the University of St. Andrews.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
March 7, 2016
This book caught my eye at one of the college libraries I raid for books. What I was hoping for was a book to give me a bit of a historical perspective on Celtic Christianity; an understanding of Christianity which offers an alternative vision of how the Christian church should operate. That is what the book delivers, albeit in not quite the way that I was looking for. It is not so much a history of Celtic Christianity as the a history of the reception of Celtic Christianity. That is, of course, fine and Bradley goes on to illuminate how Celtic Christianity has been understood, used and, sometimes, abused over the last millenium and a half. He reviews the various revivals of Celtic Christianity, from the 7th century to now.
In the course of his study, he reviews the characteristics of these revivals and the intellectual/religious/spiritual projects which drove them. Bradley's insights are interesting and clearly argued in a fairly approachable academic style. He does bounce around a bit between the Celtic centres- Scotland, Ireland, Wales, Cornwall- which can get a bit confusing. Because his topic is so large, he does succumb to the temptation to list influences like a Celtic Catalogue of Ships, but that is a difficult thing to avoid. It is a vast topic and one can only sympathize with his predicament.
I think I would like to have a brief summary chapter on the original Celtic saints and their times, even though I'm familiar enough with the period. Bradley does weave in much of this original material and content throughout the book, but I'd like to see a kind of base line- what were these saints and Celtics actually like. That would have increased the size of the book, I'm sure, but I'd think it would have made the book rather more approachable.
Still a good book to read, although be prepared for the academic tone (which even the author, mindful of his other more enthusiastic books on the Celts, apologies for). It is informative and sound in its reasoning.
In the course of his study, he reviews the characteristics of these revivals and the intellectual/religious/spiritual projects which drove them. Bradley's insights are interesting and clearly argued in a fairly approachable academic style. He does bounce around a bit between the Celtic centres- Scotland, Ireland, Wales, Cornwall- which can get a bit confusing. Because his topic is so large, he does succumb to the temptation to list influences like a Celtic Catalogue of Ships, but that is a difficult thing to avoid. It is a vast topic and one can only sympathize with his predicament.
I think I would like to have a brief summary chapter on the original Celtic saints and their times, even though I'm familiar enough with the period. Bradley does weave in much of this original material and content throughout the book, but I'd like to see a kind of base line- what were these saints and Celtics actually like. That would have increased the size of the book, I'm sure, but I'd think it would have made the book rather more approachable.
Still a good book to read, although be prepared for the academic tone (which even the author, mindful of his other more enthusiastic books on the Celts, apologies for). It is informative and sound in its reasoning.
October 23, 2019
Bradley demystifies Celtic Christianity one century at a time. Mostly discouraging for the enthusiast, but honest.
July 10, 2021
Back in Red Moon Rising: How 24-7 Prayer Is Awakening a Generation which I read a few months ago, I came across an intriguing comment about the origin of the wild goose as a symbol of the Holy Spirit. Suggesting that it was a modern invention rather than an ancient icon, the comment referred to this book by Ian Bradley.
It's a tough book - tough because it inexorably strips away the romanticism, the myth-making, the dream-chasing, the distant longing for margins, the memory idealised by exile and a rosy-eyed view of edge-of-the-world solitude. It takes the beautiful illusion and punctures it, showing how different images of Celtic Christianity have come to prominence in different ages.
My notes for future reference:
Brigit, the Irish saint, has echoes of old paganism in her story. Her birth, out of wedlock, is foretold by a druid and she is born on a threshold. (p 11)
The Norsemen venerated Columba, believing he had many qualities of Odin. (p 24)
Many poems describe Columba as looking back wistfully to his birthplace in Gartan, Donegal, or to the monastery in Derry. The story about Drum Ceatt comes from the 12th century. (p 59)
Glastonbury was notorious for creating legends about its own antiquity involving Joseph of Arimathea, Philip the apostle, Patrick of Ireland, Brigid, David, Aidan and of course Arthur and Guinevere. (p 72f)
The Celtic Twilight movement focussed on the pagan past rather than the Christian golden age. (p 140)
George MacLeod delighted in calling Iona a "thin place" where heaven and earth were particularly close, laying claim to a remark made to Evelyn Underhill by an "old Scotsman". His concern with ecology influenced the image of the Celtic Church as "green". MacLeod shamelessly made up stories about Columba. (p 182) The wild goose as a symbol of the Holy Spirit seems to have come from the fertile imagination of MacLeod. (p 211)
The current revival (dating mainly from 80s but beginning in 60s) is very bookish and commercialised and was prompted by Carmina Gadelica: Hymns and Incantations and New Moon of the Seasons: Prayers from the Highlands and Islands as well as The Sun Dances: Prayers and Blessings from the Gaelic. (p182 f)
The Celtic Cross has become a statement of ecumenism (especially in Scotland). (p 219)
In 1963, Tolkien noted that "Celtic" was a "magic bag into which anything may be put, and out of which almost anything may come... Anything is possible in the fabulous Celtic twilight, which is not so much a twilight of the gods as of reason." (p 226)
It's a tough book - tough because it inexorably strips away the romanticism, the myth-making, the dream-chasing, the distant longing for margins, the memory idealised by exile and a rosy-eyed view of edge-of-the-world solitude. It takes the beautiful illusion and punctures it, showing how different images of Celtic Christianity have come to prominence in different ages.
My notes for future reference:
Brigit, the Irish saint, has echoes of old paganism in her story. Her birth, out of wedlock, is foretold by a druid and she is born on a threshold. (p 11)
The Norsemen venerated Columba, believing he had many qualities of Odin. (p 24)
Many poems describe Columba as looking back wistfully to his birthplace in Gartan, Donegal, or to the monastery in Derry. The story about Drum Ceatt comes from the 12th century. (p 59)
Glastonbury was notorious for creating legends about its own antiquity involving Joseph of Arimathea, Philip the apostle, Patrick of Ireland, Brigid, David, Aidan and of course Arthur and Guinevere. (p 72f)
The Celtic Twilight movement focussed on the pagan past rather than the Christian golden age. (p 140)
George MacLeod delighted in calling Iona a "thin place" where heaven and earth were particularly close, laying claim to a remark made to Evelyn Underhill by an "old Scotsman". His concern with ecology influenced the image of the Celtic Church as "green". MacLeod shamelessly made up stories about Columba. (p 182) The wild goose as a symbol of the Holy Spirit seems to have come from the fertile imagination of MacLeod. (p 211)
The current revival (dating mainly from 80s but beginning in 60s) is very bookish and commercialised and was prompted by Carmina Gadelica: Hymns and Incantations and New Moon of the Seasons: Prayers from the Highlands and Islands as well as The Sun Dances: Prayers and Blessings from the Gaelic. (p182 f)
The Celtic Cross has become a statement of ecumenism (especially in Scotland). (p 219)
In 1963, Tolkien noted that "Celtic" was a "magic bag into which anything may be put, and out of which almost anything may come... Anything is possible in the fabulous Celtic twilight, which is not so much a twilight of the gods as of reason." (p 226)
May 6, 2023
As someone who has recently taken an interest in Celtic Christianity, this book has been invaluable. Bradley gives a clear and comprehensive history of how the Celtic saints have been used and abused over the centuries. It's a more academic text than I was expecting, and sometimes I was little overwhelmed with detail, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. It answered many of my questions and makes me feel able to pursue Celtic Christianity with more integrity.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews