Sacred Earth, Sacred Soul: Celtic Wisdom for Reawakening to What Our Souls Know and Healing the World

by John Philip Newell

A leading spiritual teacher reveals how Celtic spirituality—listening to the sacred around us and inside of us—can help us heal the earth, overcome our conflicts, and reconnect with ourselves.

John Philip Newell shares the long, hidden tradition of Celtic Christianity, explaining how this earth-based spirituality can help us rediscover the natural rhythms of life and deepen our spiritual connection with God, with each other, and with the earth. Newell introduces some of Celtic Christianity’s leading practitioners, both saints and pioneers of faith, whose timeless wisdom is more necessary than ever, including:   Pelagius, who shows us how to look beyond sin to affirm our sacredness as part of all God’s creation, and courageously stand up for our principles in the face of oppression. Brigid of Kildare, who illuminates the interrelationship of all things and reminds us of the power of the sacred feminine to overcome those seeking to control us. John Muir, who encourages us to see the holiness and beauty of wilderness and what we must do to protect these gifts. Teilhard de Chardin, who inspires us to see how science, faith, and our future tell one universal story that begins with sacredness. By embracing the wisdom of Celtic Christianity, we can learn how to listen to the sacred and see the divine in all of creation and within each of us. Human beings are inherently spiritual creatures who intuitively see the sacred in nature and within one another, but our cultures—and at times even our faiths—have made us forget what each of us already know deep in our souls but have learned to suppress. Sacred Earth, Sacred Soul offers a new spiritual foundation for our lives, once centered on encouragement, guidance, and hope for creating a better world. 

Genres: Spirituality, Nonfiction, Religion, Nature, Philosophy, Theology, Faith

288 pages, Hardcover

First published July 1, 2021

About the author

JOHN PHILIP NEWELL is an internationally acclaimed spiritual teacher and popular speaker and the widely read author of several books, including Listening for the Heartbeat of God and A New Harmony. The former Warden of Iona Abbey in the Western Isles of Scotland, he is the founder of The School of Earth and Soul (A Celtic Initiative of Study, Spiritual Practice and Compassionate Action) and teaches regularly in California, New England, Virginia, Colorado, New Mexico, and Canada as well as leading international pilgrimages to Iona.

Reviews

[Deacon Tom (Feeling Better) · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book “Sacred Earth, Sacred Soul” by John Phillip Newell was simply outstanding! If were asked to teach a class on Celtic spirituality, my text would be this one!

The outstanding qualities of this book arewas extremely well developed with dates, places, folktales and poems. Additionally, it has a rare clarity and simplicity.

As for content, it embraces Celtic Mystery, the Celtic Saints, and Walking the Celtic Path.

For me, as someone who focused Celtic Spirituality in graduate school and much of this book was a good refresher. Nevertheless, I learned something new in every chapter. The connection between the desert fathers/ mothers and Celtic Christianity was enriching.

The glaring weaknesses were the end of chapter exercises. I would have appreciated more direction in the meditations. Also the collection of the same exercises in the rear of the book was redundent.

It is a great book that I highly recommend.

I just reviewed Sacred Earth, Sacred Soul by John Philip Newell. #SacredEarthSacredSoul #NetGalley

[Vickie Schafer · Rating 5 out of 5]

This will awaken your deepest soul

I started the book a bit overwhelmed and confused. But as I read this book it awakened in me memories of how “odd” I had been as a child. I could watch the clouds for hours and listen to the music of the creatures and plants around me. I could brush my horses and feel such communion with them. I enjoyed making them happy. Then adulthood came and slammed the door shut. Now I am retired and can listen again to the songs around me. Thank you for this glorious book! It has been a pleasure and a treasure!

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 A journey through Celtic spirituality through nine voices, including Pelagius, St Brigid, John Muir and others, all deemed heretics by western Christianity for their rejection of original sin, inclusion of women, and love of the natural world (God-in-everything). It continues to be relieving to my soul to discover a thread of Christian faith that rejects dualism and sees ALL as sacred, including the body of the earth. Newell’s writing style can be a bit repetitive, but I am grateful for his voice. This is my favorite of his books.

[Eric Hannemann · Rating 1 out of 5]

I did not realize this book will lean heavy on Christianity and God. The indescribable names and context took away from the wisdom that could have been presented here. The book should go back into development and take a different approach.

[Mattyk · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this book. But the author either really didn’t do his research, he has some axe to grind, or is just interested in selling books just in the new age category. This could have been so uplifting and unifying in its thought and its connection to the Christianity of today. But if the author isn’t attacking Calvinism, then it’s the Roman Catholic Church, or the Empire. And sadly it seems the author is making these attacks not the people he is writing about.

The book is broken down by spiritual thinkers and gives a very nice history and/or introduction to each and connects them to the idea of Celtic Christianity but he is purposefully inaccurate explaining the reactions to these thinkers. The author insists for example that some of them were forbidden reading for Christians and still forbidden today. And it takes about five minutes of searching online to find numerous popes who constantly quote these same thinkers who he insists were completely rejected by the Catholic Church. When in fact these thinkers did create some controversy in their time but most of their writings and thoughts have been accepted since then, embraced, and actually held up as models of good Christians and Catholics. Yet the author insists that this can’t be the case and that we modern people must revolt against the empire church just like these people (who of course actually didn’t).

It’s such a loss because if the author had been more thorough or honest he could have showed how by reconnecting with the thought of these great spiritual thinkers we can connect it to our lives and the church today. This book could have been a great unifier in exemplifying these people and showing how they are very much in tune with the Church of today. I would give the book 2 stars but I was introduced to a few great people I did not know about and the writing style is quite good. But I would recommend strongly looking elsewhere to see the real interpretation of these spiritual thinkers.

[Kathy Shimpock · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a companion for learning, living, and embracing Celtic spirituality. It’s a spirituality firmly grounded in nature, in which God is found within everything and humanity is simply part of creation (rather than lord over it). The teachings are filled with community, connection and love. In each chapter, Newell shares the life and teachings of nine historical Celtic leaders. These include Pelagius, St Brigid of Kildare, John Muir, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin and Kenneth White. His goal is to equip the reader “with the teachings and practices of past Celtic leaders so we can listen for the sacred and reverence it within us and all around us today.” Each chapter ends with a meditation based on the message presented. This provides a nine-day cycle of meditative awareness. Celtic spirituality is both ancient and modern. Its connection to life leads to action for environmental and justice causes. For many today who struggle with religious dogma, these teachings will resonate deeply. It is a book to be read slowly and often.

[Stan · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is not about Celtic wisdom, but about some Celtic traditions and myths heavily overlaid with Christian theology. Each chapter contains what the author describes as an aspect of Celtic wisdom, which he then explains how it is really Christian theology. One chapter uses what is generally accepted as a myth and uses that to create Christian duality. Later chapters become major reaches as they take an "aspect" and use a person whose heritage may be Celtic to connect between the "wisdom" and Christian faith.

[Meghan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book isn't perfect, but it's damn near close. Newell is a masterful researcher and storyteller. He develops an excellent thesis and gives us beautiful examples to support it. Modern Christianity does not have to reinvent the wheel to respond to the ecological crisis we face today. We have a rich tradition deep with relevant thinkers, and only need to rediscover them. Newell helps us along this journey. I deeply recommend this book to those who no longer feel like their Christian tradition is relevant, who feel lost or homeless in Christianity, and who want to discover a Christianity in right relationship with the natural world.

[Cynthia · Rating 5 out of 5]

This would be an excellent book for church history fans or even for seminary course on church history. The content is rich, chronicling the history of natural-based spirituality from early times up until the twentieth century. The book is beautifully and thoroughly researched and presented in a highly readable format. There are reflection questions and prayers at the end of each chapter. Highly recommended for adult formation courses and for those interested in the rich background of nature-based Christianity.

[Katie Brown]

This was so pleasant

[Ginger Hudock · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a Christian with strong Scottish, Irish and English heritage I was interested in this book. It gives an historical review of a number of people who were important in the Celtic stream of Christian thought and practice. This includes such diverse people as the heretic, Pelaguis, the Irish Saint Brigid of Kildare, and the naturalist John Muir. It was very enlightening to me to learn about each of the persons included in the book, their thoughts and influences. The theologian Alexander John Scott, included in one chapter, influenced a number of the greatest literary figures of his day such as Dickens, Thackeray, and Chopin.
Celtic Christianity is an important theme in Christianity as it calls to reverence and steward well all created things, not just people. I encourage anyone interested in Celtic history or Christian history and thought to read this book.
I received a complementary copy via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was absolutely wonderful in many ways. I have always been curious about Celtic Christianity and this book gives a pretty great overview of how the Irish/Scottish Christians connected with both the Sacred Spirit of God and also appreciated the sacredness of the Earth and all that lives on it. It's a book I have referred to at least 100 times since I've read it and keep telling my friends that once it comes out it is a MUST read. I was honored to read it before print, and I honestly can't wait to have a physical copy in my hands!

[Ellery Frost · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely breathtaking — reading this felt like coming home, finally having language for the sacredness found in all things. Highly recommend!!

[Dominique · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was so lovely and hope filled, I encourage anyone who cares about the planet to pick up a copy. I enjoyed it as part of a book discussion group and we met weekly after each chapter to discuss. The overarching theme is a focus on the connection between people (humans), nature and the Divine. The backdrop is a bit of a history lesson (beautifully shared and not academic at all) around Celtic spirituality in contrast and in relation to the empirical church (Roman Catholic Christianity).

The main focus is on the Celtic believe of original goodness vs the empirical Christianity's original sin as well as the latter belief that the earth and her resources are for us to use up at our whim, vs the believe that the Divine is in ALL things ... which includes the earth and her resources.

I loved the history of the church and how some of the greatest and most loving minds were sent away and not allowed to share their ideas because it threatened the church and the power it was amassing.

At the heart of Celtic spirituality is the ideal to simply live life, traveling the journey with everyday awareness of life - the pain and the pleasure, the heartaches and the hopes, the disappointments and the dreams.

I consider myself a spiritual person and I do prefer the term Beloved or Divine over God. God makes me think of all the ways man/humans have taken the Word and twisted it to create wealth and power for the church. I share this in case you are hesitant to read this book because of the mention of Christianity. Don't let that hold you back!

Whatever your spiritual and/or religious journey is this book is for you. We are at a place and time when we need to hear the message of innate goodness, how to embody compassion around those that we "other", and think about what we are willing to do to love and help reverse the damage we are doing to our planet. What sacrifices are we willing to make for the common good?

[Bridget Mainor · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wasn’t looking for this book. It found me, and in it, I rediscovered myself.
“Soul-Forgetfulness” is a term used by John Eriugena to describe society’s denial of our innate sacredness. For me, this book by John Newell, cleared away the fog shrouding my soul and reawakened in me a hope for the future of our world. Learning has never felt so right, and I drank in the words from this book as if it were a fountain of youth. Truly, this book seems to be some ethereal pool of wisdom which I desperately needed. It healed my abandoned hope, and comforted me in my humanity. Every sentence provides some wisdom from a Celtic scholar, and the pages seem to be interlaced by a divine thread which shouts that the earth is sacred. I recently separated myself from the organized Christianity which I grew up practicing, and this book was the salve that offered me a reconnection to spirituality in a way that I feel a deep sense of kinship and rightness with. This is a belief system which honors the earth, the divine, and the human. It is how I feel life should and can be. This book is a balm. I am grateful that it caught my eye from the bottom of an unassuming bookshelf. I’m not sure what I am going to do with all of my newfound inspiration, but I am excited for my future in a way that I feared I wouldn’t be able to discover.

[McKinley Terry · Rating 4 out of 5]

“What shines most deeply in the face of a newborn child is sacredness.”

Newell traces a history of scholars and poets, advocates and theologians, all influenced by ancient Celtic wisdom and Christianity. As such, he explored a worldview where all creation is sacred because God has created it. Divinity indwells all, and we see this most purely in the sacredness of a newborn child. He challenges us to imagine a world where the spiritual and material are recognised as eternally intertwined, where the mundane is marvellous because God is present.

This is an excellent starting point for anyone wanting to explore Celtic Christianity. Newell’s writing style doesn’t seem best served by this style of biographical vignettes, but the content is superb and makes up for some occasionally stilted wording.

[Kathy Helms · Rating 4 out of 5]

Certainly learned a lot about Celtic wisdom and “the invitation to wake up to the earth and the human soul as sacred and to see this sacredness as beyond limitation, uncontainable by any system or religion.”

[Dee Anne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ten stars +++. Really a compilation of his lectures, worth reading slowly and repeatedly, outside if possible.

[Maureen Corbett · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book about the sacredness of everything??? Sacredness of all humans & the Earth…
LOVE.

[Liz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really interesting series of chapters on various people from the Celtic tradition through the ages. Naturally, some resonated more than others, but I found it a very helpful introduction to some of the ideas of Celtic Christianity and it left me with some welcome food for thought.

[Stephanie Barko]

This is the November 2026 selection of South Austin Spiritual Book Group.

[Nathan Edgell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yeah, amazing.

[Adelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a beautiful book. I am currently in Ireland. This book lends a depth of understanding to what I am witnessing in the art and architecture, not to mention the worship services. Favorite chapter? Glad you asked :) Bridgid of Kildare and the Sacred Feminine. I reread the chapter three times and am still pondering.

[Alanna · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great introduction to Celtic Christianity. It gives a mini biography of 9 different important figures in Celtic Christianity, from Pelagius and St Brigid to 20th century saints and scholars like Kenneth White.

[Anthony Thompson · Rating 4 out of 5]

As an edgy atheist teenager, I may have said or thought, "If you want truth, just look into who the Church has excommunicated over the last two thousand years."

As an edgy believing adult, I would say the same, and be more correct now than I was in the past.

[Christine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just finished reading Sacred Earth Sacred Soul by John Philip Newell and it has awakened a curiosity in me to learn more about the great Celtic prophets he spoke about in this book. I have already began to do further research and add new book titles and names to my reading list.
It has fueled a commitment in me to honour that which is deeply sacred in my soul, my connection to nature and the earth. It has made me commit myself to make time to nuture that healing connection.

It reaffirmed what I already knew in my soul to be true spiritually -the Celtic view of original blessing, the interconnected of all things and that God is not outside or above us but is the divine spirit that lives in each and every one of us.

I have been on a spiritual journey that has been leading me to dig deeper into the wisdom and truth of my Celtic roots. This book was a great read to help with that. It also reaffirmed for me that I am on the right path, a path I did not choose but have been called to walk on. It reminded me that truth tellers always encounter opposition for challenging institutions and systems of power.

This book will gain it's place on my night stand and continue to inspire me to listen to the voice of my sacred soul, and to keep on courageously speaking my truth.

We are at a turning point in history and the only hope we have of saving our broken world is by honouring the sacred bond of our connectedness. I highly recommend you read this book.

#SacredEarthSacredSoul
#JohnPhilipNewell
#BookReview
#CelticSpirituality
#SpiritualJourney

[Meepspeeps · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book challenged my thinking about religion’s role in caring for the earth. I’m sure most of my religious teachers from long ago would call the author a heretic. The author addresses what he calls the imperial church and how it’s wedded to its power and exploitation of natural resources. He goes through a Celtic history and its prominent teachers to make his points. He says “we need to let go of our notion that what the earth primarily needs is us, our sophisticated civilization and our advanced technologies. Our role, rather, is to remember that we need the earth and the wildness that is within her. We are not called to be masters of the earth but lovers of the earth…” I appreciated the meditations at the end of each chapter. I recommend this book to anyone who wants to consider how everything in the universe may be sacred, what supports this belief, and how we should care for everything as a result.

[Jo Cox-Brown · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book had moments of brilliance and wisdom, it also challenged me, all good things. I disliked how a Christian bias took hold of the beauty of Celtic spirituality, and spoke through a lens of condescension and manipulation, knowing how and even referencing early in the book how Christianity had negatively impacted Celtic spirituality from the beginning. One day I hope the church and its leaders apologise for all of the past and continuing destruction of the simplicity of love and spirituality. Christians should not speak of or write about Celtic Spirituality, for they are the ones who destroyed it to start with. Having read this book for my people, I feel deeply aggrieved.

[Matthew Camlin · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Necessary Read for Those Awakening to the Sacred

Newell delves into historic Celtic Christianity, often suppressed by those for whom the world order was designed to privilege, in order to highlight the constant theme of the sacred nature of all creation. “Matter matters,” as one entry in this book declares, and such notions as the separation of the sacred and the profane or the doctrine of “original sin” are antithetical to the Divine will of unity and reconciled relationship.

[Jane · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book for an upcoming retreat with the author. While I appreciated deeply the introduction to some great and often courageous Christian thinkers, I didn’t find the commentary to be especially radical—unless you’re a staunch Presbyterian and/or have had little exposure to non-Christian religions. Still, I confess to having littered the book with 20-30 post-it notes, so I must have liked parts of it.