Reimaging Christianity

Listening For The Heartbeat of God: A Celtic Spirituality -by Dr. John Philip Newell — Book Review — Part 1 of 3

Introduction: What a Reawakened Christianity Might Look Like

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth…And God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light. God saw that the light was good…Then God said, ‘Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness’… male and female he created them…God saw all that he had made, and it was very good.” -Genesis 1:1,3, 7,31

As a spiritual seeker of nearly a half-century, I must confess that my ability to miss the point never ceases to amaze me! In this case, the “original goodness” of all mankind and of God’s creation, the earth — which are increasingly becoming foundational truths at the heart of all major wisdom traditions.

Perhaps it is because I’m more inclined toward speaking my mind and less inclined toward listening to the heartbeat of God. Listening carefully requires humility, speaking does not. Listening requires discernment, speaking does not. Listening requires making more space for grace, speaking does not.

Prior to reading John Phillip Newell, I must confess my affinity toward Celtic spirituality was mostly in my fondness of the spiritually-reflective music of the Irish superstar singer-songwriter Enya Patricia Brennan and her somewhat lesser-known Celtic folk-singer sister, Máire Brennan.

However, after reading Newell, I’ve instantly become a fan of his wisdom, spiritual clarity and ability to simplify the root issues that must be addressed to help facilitate a “Rebirthing of God” in our time.

For nearly a decade I have been seeking to listen carefully to more and more diverse godly voices, both modern and ancient. Men and women who embrace the centrality of the two Great Commandments of Christ; Loving God and Loving Our Neighbor.

It seems almost natural to believe that one is more important that the other. In fact, tracing back over the last 2,000 years of church history, we can discover how and why these two great spiritual missions — inner relationship with our loving Creator (contemplation) and an outer response of loving all creation/creatures (action) — have been pitted against each other to short-circuit the purposes of God.

Thankfully, today there’s a restoration of balance being voiced by a growing number of modern mystics, such as Father Richard Rohr and John Philip Newell, who are dedicated to reconnecting the historical dots, so that spiritual seekers like us can more clearly hear (and then see) a golden thread that will connect us to a more unified, inclusive and compassionate spiritual and material world in the future. As Rohr says, “First comes Order, then Disorder, then Reorder.” Let the Reordering begin!

A Loud Clashing of Spiritual Perspectives

In the Introduction of Listening to the Heartbeat of God, Dr. Newell immediately helps readers grasp the origins of the dual (or shall we say dueling) spiritual missions/perspectives (contemplation and action) in a unique fashion — by giving us a historic, iconic name and face for each.

Newell says the Celtic emphasis upon seeing the image of God in everything and everyone is best reflected in John the Apostle, who is referred as Jesus’ “beloved disciple” no less than six times and is usually depicted in paintings intimately leaning on the chest of Christ during the Last Supper. The Gospel of John offers a universal or divine perspective on the nature of Christ from the very first verse; “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”

This is in sharp contrast with the growing “Roman” perspective/mission with its emphasis upon doctrine, order and church traditions, writes Newell, which is best reflected in Peter the Apostle, who is referred as “the rock” upon which the church is built upon, the leading disciple in preaching and establishing churches, as well as the first bishop of Rome, or pope. The Gospel of Matthew offers the particular or human perspective on Christ from the first verse; “The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.”

Newell then proceeds to systematically explain how these two competing perspectives have divided both the church and the world throughout the last 1,700 years of history — with those following the Roman (exclusive) perspective dominating history and very often persecuting those who embraced the (inclusive) Celtic perspective.

Newell helps readers grasp how and why these two different ways of seeing and listening to God — both of which have important elements of truth — clashed with each other starting in the fourth century after Roman emperor Constantine declared the entire Roman empire to be “Christian” following his conversion.

Virtually overnight Christians went from being a relatively small, often persecuted family of believers who sought to live faithful to the example of Christ… to suddenly being merged into this newly formed “Holy Roman” empire — complete with a new privileged class of leadership known as “clergy.”

Born Into Original Goodness or Original Sin?

In the fourth century the first major conflict between the Celtic and Roman perspectives would be championed by two of the most outspoken theological figures of early church history — Saint Augustine of Hippo (345–430AD) and Pelagius of the British Isles (360–420AD).

Augustine was the first theologian to articulate the doctrine of “original sin” based on Adam and Eve partaking of the forbidden fruit by the serpent in the Garden of Eden. His books, “Confessions” and “The City of God” helped lay the foundation for much of medieval and modern Christian thought. Augustine associated himself with the “official” Roman branch of the church, approved by emperors.

Pelagius was the first major Celtic theologian who stressed the essential and “original goodness” of human nature and the freedom of the human will. Pelagius believed that if God commanded something, then humans have the ability to fulfill it. Augustine claimed that due to the Fall of man, the Bible and human nature, there is no way that a human could follow God of his or her own volition.

Pelagius offered a powerful example of his premise of humanity’s ‘original goodness’, which he said can be seen clearly simply by gazing deeply into the face of a newborn baby which reflected the glory of God. He acknowledged that although this essential goodness can be obscured by sin, it still fundamentally exists at the heart of every person, just waiting to be released by the grace of God. This was a direct challenge to Augustine’s teaching and the growing acceptance of his doctrinal theory of “original sin”.

Creation’s Goodness & Women’s Role Challenged

“The most typical mark of the spirituality of the Celtic tradition apparent in Pelagius’ writings is the strong sense of the goodness of creation, in which the life of God can be glimpsed,” writes Newell. The Celtic tradition envisioned a unified field rejoining heaven and earth, matter and spirit, male and female.

According to Pelagius, “Everywhere narrow shafts of divine light pierce the veil that separates heaven from earth…The presence of God’s spirit in all living things is what makes them beautiful; and if we look with God’s eyes, nothing is ugly.” Pelagius saw God within all life. He understood Jesus’ command to ‘love your neighbor as yourself’ to include every living thing as well as the earth itself.

In contrast, Augustine saw a huge divide between earth and heaven, matter and spirit, and mankind and God. Augustine viewed a newborn child as depraved and contaminated from birth — with a sinful nature which was sexually transmitted from one generation to the next — from Adam to present, unless restored via the sacrament of baptism.

Pelagius and Augustine were also at odds on the issues of this importance of complete doctrinal agreement and the role of women. “Doctrines are inventions of the human mind as it tries to penetrate the mystery of God,” said Pelagius. “It is not what you believe that matters most; it is how you respond with your heart and actions. It is not simply believing in Christ, it is becoming like Him.”

The Celtic tradition offered a greater scope and role for women. Unlike the Roman tradition, the Celts fully incorporated both the feminine and masculine into their religious life and imagery. Pelagius would often stop in the public square to discuss and teach women to read Scripture.

Pelagius did not deny the presence of evil, but held that deeper than any wrong is the light of God and no darkness is able to overcome it, as it says in John 1:5. “Evil is like a fog that blinds us to our true selves,” Pelagius wrote.

In the Celtic view, at the heart of humanity is a light which enlightens every person coming into the world. The redemption that Christ brings is then understood as liberating the good that is in us and at the heart of all life.

Augustine’s emphasis upon man’s depravity, which leads to a loss in confidence in our essential goodness was both unhealthy and immoral, according to Pelagius. “The more wrong is multiplied the more our essential nature is buried, thus harder to recover…or we suppose, as Augustine did, that it is entirely lost.”

Will the Real Church Heretic Please Stand Up?

Another major area of disagreement between the Roman and Celtic traditions Newell underlines, in addition to the importance of doctrinal unity, was the proper role of the local church in the life of believers and in its interaction with the surrounding culture.

Pelagius articulated the Celtic perspective that the grace of salvation received through the church is given not to replace our sinful nature, but rather to release what is most fundamental to all people, although bound by the oppression of sin and wrongdoing.

Augustine viewed the role of the church as accentuating the distinctions between the church and the surrounding culture, while Pelagius taught that the ministry of the church is to set free the goodness of God already at the heart of all life. The church thus becomes the liberator of salvation vs. Augustine’s view of the church as the custodian of salvation.

The difference in perspectives between the Roman and Celtic is reflected within the Celtic cross design — which illustrates visually the inter-relatedness between all of life and the connection between the divine crucifixion cross of Christ and the circular icon representing the earth, sun and moon.

Celts believed the church could provide the key that gives access to the treasures of God, instead of the Roman perspective that the church was the source of richness. The treasure, Pelagius argued, is already present in every person, though hidden, waiting to be unlocked by the light and love of God reflected in the godly actions of believers.

In matters of the training and discipleship of new believers, the Celtic emphasis was less upon looking to the organized church for formal doctrinal teaching and more upon finding a “soul friend,” — someone whom the inner self could be opened up to reveal everything — in order to know and explore what is in one’s own heart.

The ability to trust each person’s capacity to intuitively know what’s right and what’s wrong, via the conscience, is rooted in the Celtic worldview of original righteousness of the soul and the goodness of the image of God we are all created in — which they believed has not been lost.

All of these distinctions added up to a serious challenge to both Augustine and the organized Roman church. Therefore, in 418AD Augustine used his considerable influence to have Pelagius banished from teaching in Rome and excommunicated from the Roman Catholic church.

Pelagius then returned to Wales and Ireland to the protection of a Welch monastery and Celtic church. His humble response; “Wisdom consists in listening to the commandments of God and obeying them…to be generous and share what one has with the poor is truly wise…A person who heard God commands people to forgive…and to reach out in love to persecutors is truly wise.”

It is important to note that although both the Catholic and Protestant church historically have systematically rejected nearly all the core beliefs of Pelaguius (referred to as “the Pelagian heresy”) today a growing number of spiritually wise teachers, like Newell, are challenging long-held church traditions which are increasingly seen as contrary to the teachings of Christ, the beliefs and practices of the early church, as well as the flow of history toward interspirituality.

In Part 2 we examine the role that four important Celtic leaders played in carrying and spreading the tradition during the 6th through 9th centuries — the well-known Irish evangelist Saint Patrick, Columbo, the Scotish evangelist and founder of the Iona Abby, Ireland’s patron saint Brigit of Kildare, and John Scotus Eriugena, considered the greatest teacher the Celtic tradition has ever produced.

In Part 3 we briefly cover the turbulent and violent dispersion of the Celts during the Middle Ages, but primarily focus on the post-Reformation Celtic leaders from the 19th and 20th Century — Scottish theologian John Alexander Scott (1805–1866) , Scottish author, poet and minister George MacDonald (1824–1905) and Church of Scotland minister and social reformer George MacLeod (1895–1991).