With a growing interest in Celtic Christianity, one might ask why would a 7th Century faith be relevant to a 21^st Century world. Put more directly: how would a 7^th Century Celt respond to the predicament of 21^st Century man faced with global warming? And if this ancient individual were magically transported to the 21^st Century, what would he think of the movie “An Inconvenient Truth”?

In all likelihood he would be dismayed and saddened. He would be dismayed that a spiritual world had been so thoroughly displaced by a material world. He would be saddened that the significance of creation had been so totally lost. He would wonder how reverence for a natural world had been completely forgotten. He would ask, “Had modern man no appreciation for any of God’s creatures, himself included?” To understand this “older world view”, it is necessary to step back a few thousand years.

Several centuries before the birth of Christ, Celtic territory extended all across continental Europe and into what is now Asia. By the time of the 2nd Century AD, this territory was reduced to the British Isles. Pushed relentlessly westward by the Roman Army, the Celts could only claim these remaining islands. Oddly, it was here that initial Celtic contact with Christianity occurred, provided by a few Roman soldiers who were Christians themselves. Except for the missionary work of St. Alban in the 3^rd Century, no further Roman presence would occur for another 300 years. The Celtic church would develop in isolation, influenced only by local custom and tradition. These would leave traces of Druid mysticism, a genuine reverence for the natural world, and a strong sense of interconnectedness between the seen and unseen worlds.

Late in the 4^th Century, the first Celtic theologian Pelagius would develop Celtic beliefs a bit further. Significantly, that:

1. Christ commanded man to love not only his human neighbor, but all life forms.

2. Christ was the perfect fulfillment of wisdom and humility, and what mattered more than believing in him was becoming like him.

3. Every child was conceived and born in the image of God – the embodiment of the original unsullied goodness of creation. This did not deny that man was capable of sin, only that sin masked man’s essential goodness. Redemption, as offered through Christ, liberated man from his “failures” and returned him to his fundamental goodness.

During the time of St. Patrick, circa 430, new aspects of Celtic Christianity emerged. These included a sense of the Goodness of Creation, an awareness of heaven’s presence on earth, and creation of endlessly interwoven designs representing the inter-relatedness of spiritual and material realms, of heaven and earth, and of time and eternity. Ultimately these found expression in the high crosses of Iona, the glorious illustrations of the Lindesfarne Gospels, and countless hymns and prayers.

There existed also an extraordinary desire to integrate the gospel with the older Celtic traditions. Rather than discard these older beliefs, the Celts merged them with newer Christian ones. They welcomed a gospel that offered hope of an eternal life, and a living spirit that was not confined to matter alone. They allowed the gospel to do its transforming work, and in the process found the fulfillment of their older Celtic mythologies.

The gospel of St. John the Evangelist was particularly significant. It represented the heart of Celtic Christianity. Rich in metaphors (expressed as “Light” and “Word” and “Stillness”), this gospel appealed to Celtic imagination and spirituality. Their special love for St. John was their memory of him leaning against Jesus at the last supper. It is said that St. John heard the heart beat of God. The related imagery of stillness and listening, of heart and Love, became central to the Celtic understanding of the word of God.

Likewise the Creation Stories were seen as an expression of God’s Goodness in all aspects of the natural world. It is here that the truth of God is revealed. Not hidden away, it’s found deep within all that has life. In God’s Creation, all creatures are equal, and all that God has created is good. God’s command to “Be still and know that I am God” is a command to appreciate the natural world, to listen to the words of the heart, and to see the goodness creation offers. Mankind is not an alien to the natural world; he is a part of it. If he loves not the natural world, then he loves not his neighbor, and he loves not God.