What exactly is a Celtic Christian?

[gurlygurl2004]

Could you explain please?

[Lahmi]

I don't know that there is an "exactly" in this path.
And it's not ~really~ my path. :)
However, since Stephanie Aine is a bit under the weather I shall
endeavor to sketch it in for you.

From what I have gathered in my interactions with Celtic christians, it goes
something like this;
First and foremost is Christ.
There is no compartmentalizing of your life between spiritual and secular.
It all flows together, including your interaction with the natural wonders
around us.
From what I have seen, they strive for the ultimate "walk the walk" Christian lifestyle.
And as a general rule seem pretty quiet about it.
All in all, it is what I tend to see as what a christian walk should be.

And, hopefully, Stephanie Aine will be able to swing through later to
correct my errors. :)
It is seriously hard to put into words, you know.
and I think this is the first time I have even attempted it.:santasmil

[gurlygurl2004]

I don't know that there is an "exactly" in this path.
And it's not ~really~ my path. :)
However, since Stephanie Aine is a bit under the weather I shall
endeavor to sketch it in for you.

From what I have gathered in my interactions with Celtic christians, it goes
something like this;
First and foremost is Christ.
There is no compartmentalizing of your life between spiritual and secular.
It all flows together, including your interaction with the natural wonders
around us.
From what I have seen, they strive for the ultimate "walk the walk" Christian lifestyle.
And as a general rule seem pretty quiet about it.
All in all, it is what I tend to see as what a christian walk should be.

And, hopefully, Stephanie Aine will be able to swing through later to
correct my errors. :)
It is seriously hard to put into words, you know.
and I think this is the first time I have even attempted it.:santasmil

At least someone answered.

[Willow Rosette]

Ive always wondered the same thing.

[LostSheep]

There's various branches, as there are in most things, but here's a few sites ...

http://celticchristianity.org/index.html
http://www.grailchurch.org/celtic.htm
http://www2.gol.com/users/stuart/celtihs.html

[gurlygurl2004]

There's various branches, as there are in most things, but here's a few sites ...

http://celticchristianity.org/index.html
http://www.grailchurch.org/celtic.htm
http://www2.gol.com/users/stuart/celtihs.html

Thanks

[gurlygurl2004]

I don't know that there is an "exactly" in this path.
And it's not ~really~ my path. :)
However, since Stephanie Aine is a bit under the weather I shall
endeavor to sketch it in for you.

From what I have gathered in my interactions with Celtic christians, it goes
something like this;
First and foremost is Christ.
There is no compartmentalizing of your life between spiritual and secular.
It all flows together, including your interaction with the natural wonders
around us.
From what I have seen, they strive for the ultimate "walk the walk" Christian lifestyle.
And as a general rule seem pretty quiet about it.
All in all, it is what I tend to see as what a christian walk should be.

And, hopefully, Stephanie Aine will be able to swing through later to
correct my errors. :)
It is seriously hard to put into words, you know.
and I think this is the first time I have even attempted it.:santasmil

So is Stephanie-Aine going to come?

[David19]

So is Stephanie-Aine going to come?

I don't know her that well, but from what I've seen of her posts, I think she's full of knowledge on Celtic Christianity, maybe PM her instead, she may not have seen this thread.

[Lahmi]

So is Stephanie-Aine going to come?

I fear that it shall be awhile since she has been taken to the hospital.
I shall see if I can find my notes on the matter and confer with
a celtic christian I know and get back with you upon the subject.

[IrishDancer]

I may get some of this wrong, but Stephanie Aine was my mother and talked to me a lot about Celtic Christianity. I don't consider myself a Celtic Christian -- but just a strict, by-the-Bible sort (but the humble kind, not the scream-in-your-face kind), so I don't know NEARLY as much about this as my mom did. But I plan on learning.

From what I remember, the apostle Dan went to Ireland in order to spread the Word of God, and this was pretty much the only place that the Romans didn't get to first. When the Romans went around, they pretty much used force to convert. But in Ireland, at first, it was a very natural transition. The Pagans there already believed in similar things, and when they were taught about Christianity, it basically just helped them put names and faces to what they already believed. Once the Romans got there, that's when Catholicism came in.

Celtic Christianity is a very *natural* sort of Christianity. It's sort of like Paganism in that... you know how Pagans tend to respect the earth more than Christians do? Well, Celtic Christians realize that God made the earth and one of our responsibilities is to take care of it. We're to tend to nature, including animals, and live and breathe God in all that we do. Also, like the Messianic Jews (Christians that still celebrate the Jewish holidays as commanded in the Bible), Celtic Christians still celebrate the harvests and such, thanking God for them.

I think of it as REAL Christianity. Christianity untainted by the force used when it was being spread around the world. The kind the Bible talks about -- gentle, humble, loving and sincere, while still being honest. Just like Christ.

[IrishDancer]

Gosh, I totally can't do my mom any justice in here, but I really want to learn more about this so I can teach people the way she did.

Here are some links she provided in another thread that may be helpful also.

The Celtic Christianity E-Library
http://www.lamp.ac.uk/celtic/ccelibrary.htm

CELTICA: Journal of the School of Celtic Studies (Dublin Institute of Advanced Studies)
http://www.celt.dias.ie/publications/celtica/

"Saving Celtic Christianity" (Christianity Today, April 24, 2000)
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2000/005/2.78.html

Old Irish and Early Christian Ireland, a Basic Bibliography, by Charles D. Wright
http://www.ucc.ie/locus/oldirishbib.html

[IrishDancer]

My mom posted this, answering the same question for someone else on November 4th, 2005.

I think that many people, particularly those in the pagan community, assume that Celtic Christianity is basically paganism with Christian flavoring, of paganism 'under a thin veil of Christianity' - or paganism blended together with Christianity.

Perhaps in some cases that could be true. But I think that the vast majority of Celtic Christians, regardless of their particular theological stance (denominational or philosophical), would disagree. Most would say that Celtic Christianity is Christianity as a natural outgrowth of the previous beliefs and practices of the pre-Christian period.

Another way to say it would be that because the Celtic Christians learned the Christian faith and began practicing it with very, very little influence of outside cultures, the faith was able to develop within their own culture. So, this is a Christianity influenced by the Celtic mind, the Celtic ways of being and doing, the Celtic understanding of life - brought together with the Christian understandings.

These were not contradictory to the earliest Celtic Christians; they were quite natural, because they saw Christianity as an explanation for their previous beliefs... not necessarily an answer requiring rejection of certain practices, but an answer that shed light on things in a new way. This is why the Celtic lands had the interesting situation of Celtic Christians and pagans living together side by side rather peacefully and happily; they were really just the same people of the same culture, yet with differing beliefs. The Celtic Christian didn't approach the notion of teaching their beliefs with heavy-handedness or domineering attitudes, but rather concerned themselves with remaining available to people who wanted to learn in their communities... and they went outside the community, traveled, and went to remote areas in order to spread the teachings to people who may have otherwise not had opportunity to learn them. (I imagine this was a helpful counter-balance to the methods of the Roman Church).

The Celtic Christians - when teaching of their beliefs - were of the mind that faith must be taught within the culture of the people who would be hearing their words. This was different than others who would essentially feel that the culture itself should be made to fit with Roman culture, perhaps to prevent any reminder of previous beliefs - and introduce the new faith within the newly planted culture.

Celtic Christians today are just as diverse as any other Christians - and they're also just as Christian in their beliefs. They are also passionate about the preservation of culture and heritage - and the importance of living faith interwoven with daily life. This means that culture and faith are tightly connected, not removed from one another... life isn't a sanitized laboratory full of people who are all alike. We who are Celtic Christian see our heritage as a gift from God... so we care about living it fully and passing it along to our children. We keep our hearth fires burning in the name of God the One-in-Three - but in many ways we're the same as our brothers and sisters who druid or pagan. Yep, we celebrate Samhain... just for very different reasons!

-Stephanie

[Drouach]

Celtic Christianity, from I see tends to be a traditional you are born into.

Not so much choose.

But there are a lot of Druid Christian, which can be a type of Celtic Christianity.

But Celtic Christianity tends to be a traditional ethnic thing.

[David19]

I'm not the OP, but thanks for the info IrishDancer, I'm Pagan, but I think Celtic Christianity seems very cool, and I'm sure you'll do your mum proud with all the knowledge you have, and carry on her work :).

[IrishDancer]

:hugz: Thanks, David. Celtic Christianity is very cool, and I think it's a good introduction to pure Christianity for Pagans who are interested too. After all, it was what made sense to the Pagans of Ireland, and all without Roman force. That's what I love about it.

Jesus let his apostles CHOOSE to follow him. He never said, "HEY YOU'RE GOING TO BURN IN HELL IF YOU DON'T PUT THAT FISHING NET DOWN, ABANDON YOUR FAMILY AND POSSESSIONS AND FOLLOW ME RIGHT FRICKIN' NOW!" God gave everyone Free Will, and Christians need to respect that and let people choose.

Celtic Christians do that. So it's a very gentle way for Pagans to get to know Christianity, without being afraid of being lynched, you know? (Not that all Christians would, but we all know that many here have had that experience.)

[Lahmi]

Thank you for finding that post from your mom Irish Dancer.

She put it much better than I could have.

[Lahmi]

I may get some of this wrong, but Stephanie Aine was my mother and talked to me a lot about Celtic Christianity. I don't consider myself a Celtic Christian -- but just a strict, by-the-Bible sort (but the humble kind, not the scream-in-your-face kind), so I don't know NEARLY as much about this as my mom did. But I plan on learning.

From what I remember, the apostle Dan went to Ireland in order to spread the Word of God, and this was pretty much the only place that the Romans didn't get to first. When the Romans went around, they pretty much used force to convert. But in Ireland, at first, it was a very natural transition. The Pagans there already believed in similar things, and when they were taught about Christianity, it basically just helped them put names and faces to what they already believed. Once the Romans got there, that's when Catholicism came in.

Celtic Christianity is a very *natural* sort of Christianity. It's sort of like Paganism in that... you know how Pagans tend to respect the earth more than Christians do? Well, Celtic Christians realize that God made the earth and one of our responsibilities is to take care of it. We're to tend to nature, including animals, and live and breathe God in all that we do. Also, like the Messianic Jews (Christians that still celebrate the Jewish holidays as commanded in the Bible), Celtic Christians still celebrate the harvests and such, thanking God for them.

I think of it as REAL Christianity. Christianity untainted by the force used when it was being spread around the world. The kind the Bible talks about -- gentle, humble, loving and sincere, while still being honest. Just like Christ.
I like that as well, and it seems to fit with what I know.
It looks like you learned a good deal from your mom about it. :)

[IrishDancer]

Thank you for your kind words, Lahmi :hugz: You made me feel very proud :)

[LostSheep]

Those were some very nice explanations. Since I started reading about it , it's kind of been making sense to me, in that it seems to combine what I think Jesus meant (i wouldn't say "what Jesus meant Christianity to be", because I don't think he set out to found a whole new religion), but what he wanted, how he wanted people to behave, and combine that with the reverence for nature inherent in the old religions.

[LostSheep]

I just found this which maybe neatly blends Christianity with the older ways.

Here is a great sentiment attributed to St. Brigid that well expresses the Gaelic view of God's provision:

I would like to have the men of Heaven in my own house:
With vats of good cheer laid out for them.
I would like to have the three Marys, their fame is so great.
I would like people from every corner of Heaven.
I would like them to be cheerful in their drinking,
I would like to have Jesus too here amongst them.
I would like a great lake of beer for the King of Kings,
I would like to be watching Heaven's family, drinking it through all eternity.

Jesus liked a drink, after all, didn't he.

from here. www.heartoscotland.com/Categories/CelticChristianity.htm Which ties it in with Lord of the Rings in a novel slant.

[Nitefalle]

I like that a lot, Lost Sheep. I think Heaven should be a cheerful place with a party-like atmosphere. Lake of beer, indeed!!! :cheers: