How the Irish Were Saved Issue 60 | 1998 Purchase this issue

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Celtic Christianity seems archaic, a Christian tradition exiled to an obscure past, when druids and magicians roamed the green hills of Ireland. Spiritual nostalgia hypnotizes us with the fabled heroics of Patrick and Brigit, of Aidan and Hilda, among others. But that very nostalgia, even if celebrated in the spirit of an Irish wake, seems to signal that Celtic Christianity is dead and buried.

And yet it lives—not simply in the New Age mysticism that reaches back to Celtic paganism for inspiriation. An increasing number of Christians rooted in historic, orthodox Christianity are rediscovering the faith of the ancient Irish.

Take the Community of Aidan and Hilda, which recently started in the British Isles. These people describe themselves as "a body of Christians who wish to live wholeheartedly as disciples of Jesus Christ, and to express this in a way that draws inspiration from the lives of Aidan and other Celtic saints." They don't live together, but they do make common vows to live in simplicity (not necessarily poverty), chastity (that is, virtuously, whether single or married), and in obedience to God.

Their mission, they say, arises out of "a heart for the lost." They want to evangelize our neo-pagan age just as the first Celtic missionaries did their pagan age: by first creating communities that "develop a disciplined spirituality that will make us effective in our witness to Christ in the world."

Then there are all the environmentally concerned Christians, like myself, who find inspiration in Celtic prayers, which show a profound appreciation for creation without mistaking it for the Creator.

Others still find the study of Celtic Christianity historically fascinating. This branch of Christianity was not nurtured in a ...