continued from my examiner column . . . http://www.examiner.com/interfaith-spirituality-in-columbus/spirituality-and-the-celtic-heartbeat-of-god-reviewLike the late John O’Donohue, Celtic poet, author, philosopher, Rev. John Philip Newell connected matter and Spirit, nature and divinity without losing, but loosing Christ from the heavy Augustinian emphasis on ‘original sin’ which had emerged in the early church. This doctrine is that we are fallen people, tainted with the sin of disobeying God in the Garden of Eden –from the Genesis story. He contrasted the Manicheistic roots of St. Augustine -who influenced Western Christendom, with Pelagianism and said the Celtic Monk Pelagius had been unjustly deemed heretical and came out the loser in a time when the early church was attempting to establish a uniform belief system within the entire Holy Roman Empire.
[Manicheism emphasizes dualism of good and evil; light and dark. It originates with Mani of Persia and echoes some beliefs of Zoroastrianism.
http://www.philosophyprofessor.com/philosophies/manicheism.php
You can read more about this heresy and understand how very fluid, intermingled and threatened by other ancient beliefs early Christianity was: http://www.nd.edu/~afreddos/courses/264/manicheism.htm; Also see charges against Pelagianism http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pelagianism]
Celtic Christianity thrived with the very earliest Christian missionaries to the British Isles. When Roman Christians later arrived (after departing to fight off the Barbarian hordes), they demanded correction and conformity to the church which had emerged in Rome under the Pope. [Newell’s books include: Christ of the Celts, Listening for the Heartbeat of God, One Foot in Eden, Ground of All Being, and The Book of Creation, Echo of the Soul and Promptings from Paradise.] He has added a new prayer book, Celtic Treasures to Celtic Benediction and Sounds of the Eternal, with a CD to come. For more books & resources see: http://www.jphilipnewell.com/ or visit the First Community Church, Grandview, OH bookstore.
Newell, a Church of Scotland minister explained that the‘Secret Book of John’ from the Nag Hammadi collection of more recently unearthed manuscripts has Jesus say, ‘You have forgotten who you are; look to me and you will remember.’ There are three symptoms of forgetting: ‘1) ignorance (vs. wisdom); 2) falseness (out of touch with our true identity); 3) anxiety (captive to falseness and out of touch with the root of stability).’ To heal this, one has to remember and name the brokenness; reverence the suffering, but do not forget the wounds. We are supported in our suffering; underneath are the everlasting arms of God.
Because all life was created by God, everything in the universe is moving interdependent and in harmony. It is like standing in a river, the stream flowing by is never the same in any second. The new physics has determined that the sound of the beginning is a vibration- like B flat- which emerged from its initial creation with the Big Bang. Newell resonated with some examples of Medieval mystic Hildegard of Bingen’s work- ‘God says: Ever you are before my eyes. God, I am your opus. Before the beginning of time, already then, I was in your mind.’
You can read more about this heresy and understand how very fluid, intermingled and threatened by other ancient beliefs early Christianity was: http://www.nd.edu/~afreddos/courses/264/manicheism.htm; Also see charges against Pelagianism http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pelagianism]
Celtic Christianity thrived with the very earliest Christian missionaries to the British Isles. When Roman Christians later arrived (after departing to fight off the Barbarian hordes), they demanded correction and conformity to the church which had emerged in Rome under the Pope. [Newell’s books include: Christ of the Celts, Listening for the Heartbeat of God, One Foot in Eden, Ground of All Being, and The Book of Creation, Echo of the Soul and Promptings from Paradise.] He has added a new prayer book, Celtic Treasures to Celtic Benediction and Sounds of the Eternal, with a CD to come. For more books & resources see: http://www.jphilipnewell.com/ or visit the First Community Church, Grandview, OH bookstore.
Newell, a Church of Scotland minister explained that the‘Secret Book of John’ from the Nag Hammadi collection of more recently unearthed manuscripts has Jesus say, ‘You have forgotten who you are; look to me and you will remember.’ There are three symptoms of forgetting: ‘1) ignorance (vs. wisdom); 2) falseness (out of touch with our true identity); 3) anxiety (captive to falseness and out of touch with the root of stability).’ To heal this, one has to remember and name the brokenness; reverence the suffering, but do not forget the wounds. We are supported in our suffering; underneath are the everlasting arms of God.
Because all life was created by God, everything in the universe is moving interdependent and in harmony. It is like standing in a river, the stream flowing by is never the same in any second. The new physics has determined that the sound of the beginning is a vibration- like B flat- which emerged from its initial creation with the Big Bang. Newell resonated with some examples of Medieval mystic Hildegard of Bingen’s work- ‘God says: Ever you are before my eyes. God, I am your opus. Before the beginning of time, already then, I was in your mind.’
The gathering was led in a chant for peace, and a mantra of joy to connect with the beat of presence at the heart of all life. (The music and chants incorporate elements of Judaic and Islamic sound. He noted that the Indian Harmonium and bagpipes share some similarities in sound.) Through all, ‘The conclusion is always the same: love is the most powerful and still the most unknown energy of the world’ according to Jesuit priest and paleontologist, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, whom Newell quoted from and talked of with admiration.
He noted that scholars have found the Gaelic tongue has similarities with the Sanskrit language of India. There are resonances also between the Celtic approach to the sanctity of life and teachings of the Native American peoples. It is especially meaningful and timely to value the natural world in a time when so many species are disappearing; so many children are dying of hunger; so much vegetation is being destroyed. ‘But all shall be well, and all shall be well and all manner of thing shall be well,’ said the mystic, Julian of Norwich, whom Newell quoted.
He noted that scholars have found the Gaelic tongue has similarities with the Sanskrit language of India. There are resonances also between the Celtic approach to the sanctity of life and teachings of the Native American peoples. It is especially meaningful and timely to value the natural world in a time when so many species are disappearing; so many children are dying of hunger; so much vegetation is being destroyed. ‘But all shall be well, and all shall be well and all manner of thing shall be well,’ said the mystic, Julian of Norwich, whom Newell quoted.
May this be so.
[note: photo image of the North End of Iona was taken from the Geograph project collection. The copyright on this image is owned by Alan Stewart and is licensed for reuse under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 license. ]
[note: photo image of the North End of Iona was taken from the Geograph project collection. The copyright on this image is owned by Alan Stewart and is licensed for reuse under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 license. ]
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