Christianity - the first de-Romanized Christianity in human history, a Christianity without the sociopolitical baggage of the Greco-Roman world, a Christianity that completely inculturated itself into the Irish scene.” It was a Christianity that embraced the Irish acknowledgement of sacred landscape, where hallowed hilltops and sanctified oak groves, rather than any building made by man, set the scene for devotion and worship. The mystical bent of the Celt to whom Patrick and his followers would appeal was especially evident in the great love, respect and even fear of nature. The Celtic evangelists knew this, embraced it, and utilized it to proclaim a gospel that nature has the power to reveal, giving the evangelists a platform to proclaim
God, himself. Therefore, using chapter one of John to frame their position, that in the beginning was the word and that through the word all things came into being, the Church asserted that Creation was fashioned out of the “substance” of God - Creatio Ex Deo. In this view the elements of creation are not, therefore, neutral, nor was creation set in motion by a distant deity. Rather, for the Celtic Christians, the universe is an expression of God, not only because God spoke it into being, but also because it was birthed from His very heart, and if you listen close enough, they would add, you may still very well hear the beating of that heart. BUT HOW ARE WE TO UNDERSTAND this theology in light of the fact that we
PATRICK’S WAS A CHRISTIANITY THAT EMBRACED THE IRISH ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF SACRED LANDSCAPE, WHERE HALLOWED HILLTOPS AND SANCTIFIED OAK GROVES, RATHER THAN ANY BUILDING MADE BY MAN, SET THE SCENE FOR DEVOTION AND WORSHIP. Creation, Covenant, Community and New Creation while maintaining the centrality of nature’s position within the Irish religious consciousness. EMBRACING THE TEACHINGS OF Irenaeus of Lyons, a second century Christian Father who notably integrated nature and the Sacred within his theology, the Celtic Church stood opposed to the doctrine of Creatio Ex Nihilo, the belief that God created the universe out of nothing. Along with Irenaeus, the Celtic Church fathers asserted that there was something before the beginning - that something being
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live in a post Genesis 3 “fallen” world where God’s intentions for creation have been twisted by humanity’s sin, and our connection with the very ground from which we came has been severed? The Celtic Church very much maintained this position, and to answer it, they embraced the atonement theory of Recapitulation. Among the accomplishments of Christ’s life death and resurrection, Christ inaugurates New Creation. As the apostle John asserts, Jesus’ resurrection is his 8th miracle - symbolic for an 8th day - a new day - a new “first day” where Mary, in her confusion, doesn’t recognize Jesus and supposes him to be