Shalom
Gallovidian
Shipmate
in Epiphanies
It strikes me that who we are deep within and how that manifests in our daily living is more important than any amount of right doctrine. Above all else, let the שָׁלוֹם of God rule in our hearts and minds and show forth in our words and actions. For this Christ came into the world.
The Biblical concept of shalom is often translated as 'peace', but embraces far more. It implies a divinely centred state of well-being, of justice, equity and fulfilment, where humanity and nature are united in harmony with their Creator. This is the state of Creation portrayed in Eden before the Fall. It has a lot in common with the Hindu/Buddhist concept of moksha (a state of liberation, knowledge, peace and bliss) or the yogic concept of samadhi or cosmic harmony. Most pagan and neo-pagan religions aspire to a harmony between humanity and the natural and supernatural worlds.
In Christianity, this theme is picked up particularly within Celtic traditions, but appears to have been largely overlooked by much of Western - particularly protestant/reformed - Christianity today. However, the underlying aim of the Torah can be seen as geared towards establishing this state of all-pervading wellness. And in the New Testament it is the motivating force behind the Gospel - that God was in Christ reconciling the whole of creation to Himself, enabling us to enter into His shalom.
The Biblical concept of shalom is often translated as 'peace', but embraces far more. It implies a divinely centred state of well-being, of justice, equity and fulfilment, where humanity and nature are united in harmony with their Creator. This is the state of Creation portrayed in Eden before the Fall. It has a lot in common with the Hindu/Buddhist concept of moksha (a state of liberation, knowledge, peace and bliss) or the yogic concept of samadhi or cosmic harmony. Most pagan and neo-pagan religions aspire to a harmony between humanity and the natural and supernatural worlds.
In Christianity, this theme is picked up particularly within Celtic traditions, but appears to have been largely overlooked by much of Western - particularly protestant/reformed - Christianity today. However, the underlying aim of the Torah can be seen as geared towards establishing this state of all-pervading wellness. And in the New Testament it is the motivating force behind the Gospel - that God was in Christ reconciling the whole of creation to Himself, enabling us to enter into His shalom.
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I'm not convinced there was much that was distinctive about the 'Celtic' Christianity of these islands back in the 7th century other than the way things were organised - with abbots rather than bishops - the style of monastic tonsure and the way they followed the Eastern Mediterranean dating of Easter.
I doubt very much whether there was any great difference between Christianity here in Britain at that time to how it panned out in the Iberian Peninsula, North Africa or the Middle East.
Be all that as it may, the concept of 'shalom' as you've outlined it is most associated I think with Noel Moules and his very impressive 'Workshop' course which flourished for a while until more conservative evangelicals stopped supporting it.
FWIW I think there were some interesting ideas and approaches associated with that in the late '90s/early 2000s that both anticipated and influenced some strands of post-evangelicalism and what became known as the 'emergent church'.
I'm not sure they gained a great deal of traction beyond the more reflective end of the evangelical and post-evangelical spectrum. As the late (great) Dr Andrew Walker the sociologist observed, much of the stuff Moules et al were coming out with wouldn't have raised eyebrows in more liberal or mainline Protestant circles such as the Methodists or URC.
Whatever the case and whether we call it 'shalom' or anything else, the Gospel ought to make a difference to the way we live our lives and treat other people, the natural world and everything else.
We all fall short. But we can try.
For the Northumbria Community there was never any design or intent to be this or that, including Celtic. It was and is a simple fact that as we...researched an authentic Northumbrian spirituality, we discovered (in the history and teaching of the Celtic church in Northumbria) rays of light in the darkness, coherence in the confusion that made sense of the nonsense within us and around us and gave us an understanding of our own spiritual journey in God. The ‘here and now’ of our own journey began to make sense as the there and then’ of some aspects of Celtic spirituality became a treasure chest of wisdom that gave us a language to explain and express what God had laid on our hearts
"In actuality, the Irish Penitentials were the most austere and most restrictive of the Penitentials."
Heck, I've read hyper-Calvinist 'Banner of Truth' material that tries to make out that the 'Celtic Church' were effectively Reformed Protestants 1500 years before the Reformation.
I well remember hearing Dr Ian Paisley declaiming on the radio, 'People say St Patrick was a Catholic. St Patrick was not a Catholic. St Patrick was a Protestant!'
The Copts and the Orthodox also lay claim to the early British Church and yes, who knew? there is some evidence of Egyptian missionaries in Ireland before St Patrick.
Some of this stuff gets pretty daft.
I get @Nick Tamen that the Northumbria Community don't claim to be 'Celtic' as such but then they cite 'the teachings of the Celtic Church' (as quoted in posts above) as if there is a coherent body of doctrine that can be so described.
The reality is, there isn't.
A lot of the so-called 'Celtic prayers' and invocations of the natural world date from much later.
I see no reason to suppose that Celtic Christians were any 'closer to nature' than Christians living in harsh and remote parts of Greece or the Iberian Peninsula or Egypt or the Balkans or anywhere else for that matter.
Sure, their modus operandi was affected by their environment. They operated within tribal societies with distributed populations rather than cities. But they cosied up to the powers-that-be in royal courts and so on just as Christian missionaries did elsewhere. They couldn't have operated otherwise.
Ok, so St Aidan is said to have given away the horse the Northumbrian king gave him, but it's no accident that Lindisfarne is in sight of Bamburgh.
Yes, there was a degree of asceticism that probably went further than it did in most places but the idea that Celtic monks were tree-hugging hippies is a complete anachronism.
Apart from anything else, the thing you tend to notice living close to the centre of Celtic monasticism is that there are no bloody trees.
@Arethosemyfeet, sure, but you get my drift ...
Don't get me wrong folks. As a Welshman (or Anglo-Welsh more accurately) and very susceptible to these things I'm a sucker for views of Bardsey Island, for holy Wells and whishty-whishty Celtic stuff of all kinds. I go goo-ey and weak at the knees with harps or Male Voice choirs and Welsh hymns in the minor key ...
Nevertheless, I do think it's anachronistic to talk of 'Celtic Christianity' as a 'movement' when what we are really talking about is simply a regional form of early medieval Christianity that wasn't essentially that different to what was on the menu elsewhere at that time.
Be all that as it may, on the more substantive issue, that of 'shalom' ...
It seems to me that whatever we may choose to call it, the emphases associated with the term as used in this thread are essentially those of the 'Peace Churches' that developed from the radical Reformation of the 16th century- as opposed to the state-churches of the Magisterial Reformation - only with a more contemporary slant.
Groups like the Hutterites, Mennonites and other Anabaptists often adopted pacifism, a degree of withdrawal from 'the world' and an apparently holistic approach to living out the Gospel.
I'm not knocking that, but any relationship with 'Celtic Christianity' or with pre-Reformation breakaway groups is purely coincidental.
I remember hearing Noel Moules talking about 'shalom' and it seemed a fusion of Anabaptist ideas and values with vegetarianism and ecological concern. That's fine and I'm not dismissing it and am sure we can find parallels with various ascetic or communitarian groups throughout history.
I think the key thing is to evaluate whatever we mean by 'shalom' under its own terms. Yes, reference to the broader Christian tradition where there may be parallels is fine of course, but we shouldn't read back our own contemporary values or emphases into historic circumstances very different to our own.
We have three books about Ninian: St Nynia with a translation of The Miracles of Bishop Nynia by John and Winifred MacQueen, Pioneers of Scottish Christianity: Ninian, Columba and Mungo by Graham Roderick, and Saint Ninian by Aelred of Rievaulx, translated by Iain MacDonald.
Human intervention in pre-historic time is my understanding - the archaeological evidence points to beech scrub in the neo-lithic period which didn't long survive the arrival of humans.
The context was distinctive Orthodox though - a discussion of 'chronos' and 'kairos' with reflections on time and eternity.
In the here and now, as it were, we are to act with 'shalom' and work for the peace and well-being of all.
That was the gist of it.