Ancient Lessons from Celtic Christianity for Today: Part 1 - How Patrick Converted Ireland

[James Nored]

Recently I was blessed to be able to take a trip to Scotland to visit one of our missionaries there. Following this, I went Lindisfarne Island to take a seminar in "Exploring the Celtic Heritage," a class offered through Fuller Theological Seminary, taught by John and Olive Drane.

This was a seminar that I had long wanted to take, and it was quite an experience. In this series of blog posts I hope to share some of the lessons that I learned from the experience, seminar, and the reading. I will begin sharing with the conversion of the Irish to Christianity. I had been interested in this mission history and its application for today ever since reading the book The Celtic Way of Evangelism by George Hunter some ten years ago (a book that has recently been updated and still well worth the read).

First, however, a note about the use of the term "Celtic." There was no one Celtic people or one Celtic church. The Celts were a diverse group of peoples held together primarily through a common underlying Gaelic language. In around 400 c.e., the time of "St. Patrick," as he was later known, there were the Irish Celts, the Picts or Scottish Celts, and the Briton Celts. The Irish Celts invaded modern day Scotland, creating the similarity in language and accents between these two peoples. And the Britons were invaded by the Anglo-Saxons (the Angles were one of the Saxon tribes, which were Germanic in origin). This pushed the Britons mainly into Brittany and Wales (creating the Welsh people), while the rest of the Britons mixed with the Anglo-Saxons.

Patrick, later known as St. Patrick, was born a Romanized Briton. Rome had conquered modern day England, and had built Hadrian's Wall to keep the barbarian Picts (Scottish) separate from the Britons. Rome never conquered Ireland, however, and this allowed the rise of a distinct, though not separate, expression of Christianity in the first few hundred years after Patrick's missionary efforts.

Patrick had been a nominal Christian, even belittling the faith. When he was sixteen, however, a band of Celtic pirates from Ireland capturing him and some of his friends, took him back to Ireland, and sold him to a tribal chief (and Druid) named Miliuc. He spent time as a slave both with the Irish Celts, as well as working as a cattle herder/shepherd. As Hunter relates, this brought about three things: 1) Patrick came to appreciate nature and how it revealed God; 2) Patrick came to know the Irish Celts; and 3) Patrick came to love the Irish Celts. 

Patrick, however, escaped from Ireland by following the instructions that he received in a dream to walk along the coastline for a ship that would carry him away. Then, many years later, he received another dream in which he felt the call to go back to Ireland and seek to convert his former captors. He was appointed a bishop and sent on this mission to the Irish, becoming the first "missionary bishop."

There are several aspects of Patrick and his companions' missionary approach to be noted:

1. They traveled in missionary/apostolic bands, seeking to do mission in community, not alone.
2. They conversed, sang, played, worshiped, and invited the Irish into their apostolic bands and worship.
3. They sought to convert tribal chiefs, who were, of course, people of incredible influence.
4. They learned the language of the Irish, and spoke, composed, and worshiped in their language.
5. They redeemed the Irish's love of nature, moving them from worship of nature and nature gods to worship of the God of nature.
6. They found positive spiritual and cultural themes to explain biblical truths, such as the Irish's emphasis of the "sacred three" and comfort with paradox to explain the trinity. They also challenged certain aspects of culture, such as slavery.
7. They composed songs and prayer dealing with first (basic daily living) and second level (worries, the near future, etc.) concerns, not just third level (heaven/hell). Thus, they emphasized God's immanence more than his transcendence.
8. They had the Irish memorize these native songs and prayers, and the Psalms, capitalizing on their oral culture, so that they learned to "pray without ceasing." 
9. They would "plant new churches" by sending off different small groups to evangelize another tribe.
10. They did not let structure hamper their mission efforts, and indeed, saw roles that had traditionally been pastoral, such as the bishop, as there to help the church fulfill its primary missional purpose.

This missionary approach was hugely successful. Within Patrick's lifetime, some 30 to 40 of the approximately 150 Irish tribes were converted to Christianity. It is estimated that he planted 700 churches. And later generations would send Aidan down to Lindisfarne Island to convert the Anglo-Saxons.

Patrick and his missionary band's approach to mission clearly has much application for today. What application do you see for today?

[James Nored]

Wow, Don. Those are a lot of personal attacks, attacking my character, motive, and more. That is sad.

Do you believe that a person who believes that Jesus is the Son of God and is baptized into his name is a Christian? These early Christians believed that Jesus was the Son of God and were baptized (immersed) into his name. Are we saved by grace, or by getting everything right? Are you confident that everything that you believe, practice, and interpret is 100% correct and completely free of error? Is this how we are saved? Or are we saved by Christ and his grace?

[Don Morgan]

One more brief thought,  I have already gone on far past my intent.  you asked if I could show historical facts regarding the church?  If i or any Christian has to resort to Historical writings of men, instead of having faith in the word of God and accepting the bible as the True and complete word of God,  I have faith which is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen, as all of the evidence that I or any honest sincere Christian needs to find and identify the true Church and the path that we must follow to salvation through the blessed Grace of God and the Sacrifice that our Lord and Savior made for us on the cross.  Noone needs all of the science and works of man to follow obedience to our God.  Like the writer of Ecclesiastes said,  All Else is Folly.  you have spent years pursuing something that was right in front of you all of the time.  All you learned is how to speak fairly well and dress like a college student.  that is your privilege but it cheapens the whole worship process like so many of the other things that are designed to appeal to the vanity of the world. Leave your ego at home for a day or two and quit trying to be one of the mega preachers with their churches of 20,000 and get a good night's sleep and accept that you are just a man like the rest of us and you don't have to be a hero for anyone.  All you have to be is a Christian and all you need to do that is the Bible.  all of this other stuff is folly and will only get you and a whole lot of other folks sent to Hell.  All you gotta is Trust and Obey,  lose the fancy's and join Jesus,  spend a few nights sleeping on the ground with a stone for a pillow and nothing to eat unless one of the group got lucky and lose the attitude.  we all sin and fall short of the Glory of God and we all have the same promise for salvation.  you don't have a quota,  you don't have to get rich or be the leader of the universal church,  all you gotta do is Love the Lord.   As for me and my house,  we will serve the Lord,  that is all,  no biggie, no pomp, no circumstance,  just love God and love his people and then you will be quallified to share his word with them,  your sights are set way too high right now for you even truly see the plight of the world one sinner at a time.  there is no score keeping James,  if all you manage to save are your wife and those two precious little girls,  you are a hero and that is what will get you the "Enter in faithful servant."  Love you and yours  or I wouldn't bother because I love God more and it became my job to answer you when you asked my opinion.

[Don Morgan]

Based on your apparent position that

Catholicism was the dominant form of Christianity back in the time of Patrick, or any other time,  I guess that would make folks like Martin Luther and those other "leaders of the church" then the inference there would be that the catholic church was established back in the beginning, as a result of the teaching of the  Apostles and based on that,  Could Peter have actually been the first Pope,  Is the history of the Church that Christ built and the church whose members were first called Christians at Antioch,  have actually been a spin off of the Catholic church?  If that all computes and I would  propose that we not try to cover all of the nuances of this in this forum,  I feel that your position here would be that the Catholic church was the church that Christ built and was crucified for and that we as the Church of Christ kind of appeared out of whole cloth in the 1800's in rural Kentucky and now had a totally different Bible which is the word of God,  a totally different structure,  based on the autonomy of the local church as opposed to the "catholic" or universal nature of the Catholic church?  All of a sudden, this little group of hillbilly Christians fell out over the presence of a piano and then the Church of Christ was born on one side and the Christian church on the other?  you would have any persons who bows their head to Jesus be a christian, no matter what their beliefs or practices are,  speaking in tongues or healing or handling serpents or whatever,  just as long as you can count coup on them as a victory.  There is one Lord and one Faith and one Church and one Bible and we must follow the teachings of God's word if we are to be found worthy.  making a carnival out of the church,  with friday nite movies and popcorn and all of the frivolity is only another way that Satan has found to weaken Christ's church.  If the Melinnials can't see that they have two options,  walk in faith and follow the teachings of our Lord, or to burn in the lake of fire.  The bible has not changed, it is not a social club,  My heart breaks everytime I see another brilliant scholar like you led so far afield from the word of God and to be teaching such error to innocent people who don''t know any better and listen to you  instead of Studying to show their selves approved unto God and to rightly divide the word of truth,  Satan wins another victory every time you find another seeker.  It is not complicated,  it is so simple that higher education has to mess it up to justify their existance.  I love you with the Love of the Lord, but I detest the work that you are doing for Satan.  

[James Nored]

By the way, Don, did you know that the early Celts practiced baptism by immersion? They also were not influenced nor did they believe in Augustine's doctrine of original sin.

Check out this source on the Celtic practice of baptism: http://books.google.com/books?id=qJDYAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA49&lpg=P... 

[James Nored]

Don, it is interesting that you say that Catholicism was not the main form of Christianity at any time. Can you share some historical facts on this subject? Did the church disappear after the first and second centuries, and then reappear in the 1800s? 

[James Nored]

Great thoughts, Kyle! 

[Don Morgan]

You are right, Kyle,  I misspoke when I gave the catholic church credit for sending Saul,  It was the Sanhedrin that controlled him.  however,  the rest is pretty close,  I think,  My point in commenting was wondering why anyone was celebrating the planting of so many Catholic churches,  appointing a Bishop to be over them all and then ordaining 1000 priests.  We as  Christians and members of the church that Jesus Christ built know through study of his word that there are many different organizations and beliefs in the world that consider them selves Christians but are not living or worshiping in accordance with biblical teaching..Catholicism was the prevailing religion during those days,  it was not the main form of Christianity at any time.  The Catholic church profess to be christians but they are not biblical christians due to the many diverse teaching that they live under.  I cannot judge them beyond to say that their teachings do not in any way conform with the teachings of the bible and of Jesus Christ and they do not adhere to the principals that did the persons that were called Christians first at antioch.  My point is that Patrick was not christian,  he was catholic,  he was not bringing christianity to Ireland,  he was bringing a form of apostocy   known as Catholicism.

[Kyle Parker]

I am certainly very grateful for Patrick's influence on the Emerald Isle, as it had consequences on my own faith and my family's conversion.  My family came over from Ireland and I have heard and read about the vibrant Celtic Christianity.  Patrick changed the view of churches from "ringing the bell" so that all would come to a building and hear about God to actually going into communities and sharing the good news with people where they lived.  Jesus told us to GO into the world...Not stay here and let people come to you to hear the good news.  Thank you for sharing this.

As for Don, I'm not exactly sure what you mean by your comments.  Patrick was, indeed, Catholic, but it was also the main form of Christianity at the time.  Catholic means "universal", so it was the one universal church.  They certainly got things wrong at times (as do we), but they were the ones carrying the light into the darkness.  Men sometimes do terrible things in the name of God, but that doesn't change who God is.  Patrick was sharing the good news with people in their communities, in their homes, and in a way that they could understand, much as Paul did 250 years before.  Paul had a mission to reach gentiles in parts of Asia and Greece, Patrick had a mission to the Celtic lands.

One other note...the Catholic church did not send Paul out to kill Christians, God's people did.  In Acts 9, we see that Paul went to the high priest to get orders to make prisoners of those who followed Jesus.  I think you may have your facts mixed up a bit.  

However you view the Catholic church, it is clear that Patrick brought the gospel of Christ to the Celtic lands.  For that, I am thankful.

[Don Morgan]

Am I confused or am I seeing Patrick and his fellows planting "churches" of Catholicism?  I t  feels like I am reading about them having a central Bishop and Patrick ordaining 1000 priests of the Catholic faith.  Where did I miss the fact  that,  among other things, wasn't it the Church in Rome, which would be the Catholic church that actually sent Paul to persecute the christians as well as a plethora of other folks and even that the Catholic church were the instigators of the Spanish Inquisition?  If so,  how is it that this St Patrick was converting christians or even planting christian churches or that those 150 Irish tribes were converted to Christianity and not to Catholism?  Just wondering,  you are apparently a minister in the Church of Christ,  what happened to One Lord, One Faith and One baptism, what happened to the oneness of the Church and the Church that Christ built of which there is but one..