Celtic Spirituality

In recent years Celtic spirituality has attracted a great deal of interest, and has been regarded as a manifestation of a world religion that can be seen as separate from Christianity as well as being linked to it. In pre-Christian Ireland, the Celts had their own sophisticated rituals of worship, as sites like Newgrange in the Boyne Valley, which predates the Pyramids of Egypt, make clear. The seasons, astronomy, nature and their perception - as a farming people - of the bounty of the earth; all these elements formed part of the celtic way of worship. When Christianity came to Ireland it was grafted on the native plant, so that the Islands of Saints and Scholars became the glory of Europe and the salvation of Christianity in the barbarian West. But for ordinary people too, a distinct spirituality was born, different from that of any other country, and remnants of which survive to this day. This succinct and informative book looks at the belief systems for the Celts and links them to the development and growth of Christianity in Ireland.