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Title: Christ of the Celts: The Healing of Creation
ISBN: 0470183500
Author:
J. Philip Newell
Publicate Date: 2008-05-02
Publish: 2008-05-02
List Price: $19.95
Average Customer Rating: 4.0
Format: Hardcover
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Amazon Lowest New Price: $10.72
Amazon Lowest Used Price: $10.74
Amazon Merchant Price: $13.57
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| Customer Review: |
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1: Christ of the Celts
The book was in excellent condition, but the most impressive aspect of this purchase was the response when the order did not arrive. After ordering, an email was received that the book had been mailed. After almost 3 weeks, I sent an email regarding the problem and the immediate response was an apology and the mailing of another book. No questions. No hassle.
My only suggestion is that the method of response when there is a problem be part of the notice of mailing. For example, a statement that the book has been sent with a link to send an email if it does not arrive or is in bad condition.
Thanks for excellent marketing.
Mike Kellett
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2: Excellent viewpoint on collaboration
Today, we need this message more than ever. As a future ecopsychologist, this work resonates with me both intellectually and spiritually. I am also a recovering evangelical Christian who has come, through my personal journey and studies, to see that the path to wholeness is the truest hope for salvation...and that it must be communal rather than individual...this work is powerful and precious. The message is timely.
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3: Full of solace and inspiration
This is a lovely exploration of the Celtic image of Christ as what Newell calls "the Memory of what we have forgotten." I found this book to be full of solace and inspiration. It is wise and personal and I highly recommend it to anyone searching for a deeper understanding of the Sacred, no matter what spiritual path you travel.
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4: Mostly metaphors
I liked Listening for the Heartbeat of God far better than this work. In Christ of the Celts, Newell makes God to look like what he wants humanity to look like. The metaphorical language quickly becomes laborious, and leads to sentimentalism, in my opinion. It's simply vague metaphor after metaphor until the vision of Christ he creates is far more cloudy than clear. This work is full of abstract ideas and words that the author uses to validate his viewpoints. It's heavy on emotion and wanting for balanced perspective. For example, Newell's criticism of Christianty as influenced by the Roman empire does not give due justice to the many branches and traditions of the Christian faith that have developed since the fourth century (including many of the Protestant descendants of the Reformation) - who take very seriously the call to safeguard truth.
Newell villainizes the impact of the Roman Empire, and though correcting the romanticized view of Western historical influence is important, the author seems to write off centuries of sincere and faithful Christian thinkers, and relegate them to pawns of the power-obsessed Roman ("Western") worldview. I'm sorry, but I simply will not buy that the "Christ of the Celts" is diametrically opposed to the Christ of the Apostle Paul, or that Celtic theology is irreconcilable with orthodox Christianity as defended for the last 1500 years - and more to be honest, for the books of the Bible are older than the non-biblical sources Newell cites, and their teachings confirm many of the ideas he tries to dismiss. The book has a pretty cover, though ... but you know what the old saying is about a book and its cover...
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5: Christ of the Celts- Which Celts?
I basically like Newell's book, and agree that the Celtic vision he evokes answers some deep longings in the post-modern cultural-religious desert we all wander in. Sometimes I found myself a little annoyed when Newell is clearly working out his Presbyterian religious issues assuming them to be universally shared by other Christians, and by a de-valuing of the vitality of the Catholic vision and experience and especially the sacrementality which the reformed tradition is now reclaiming. That there once was a historic Celtic church that identified itself as distinct from the Catholic communion, and was crushed by the nefarious forces of Rome is a Protestant fantasy. Certainly,there was in the Celtic lands a local church with distinctive Celtic customs and emphases in spirituality, but Newell's rhetoric over-reaches the historical realities. Also, he simplifies the conflict between Augustine and Pelagius, overplaying the dark sides of the late Augustine, and failing to point out the problems in Pelagius' de-emphasis on grace in the human equation. But enough kvetching! This is a pretty good book, an excellent introduction to Celtic Christian spirituality. John Hayes
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