Drinking The Green Beer

Reviewing J. Philip Newell’s “Sacred Earth, Sacred Soul”

As the month of February comes to a close, March’s entry into the calendar emerges along with warmer weather and the upcoming celebration of St. Patrick’s Day. Known in Gaeilge as Lá Fhéile Pádraig, this venerable holiday commemorates the emergence of Christianity in Ireland while celebrating Irish culture and heritage. This is an especially important holiday among Irish-Americans, celebrating with religious observance, a few pints, and copious amounts of green.

The color is so prevalent that some Irish-Americans are known for dying their beer green, a quirky practice that began in 1914. Despite those practicing this odd custom believe it is traditional in Ireland, it is often received with confusion and disgust among Irish natives. Such is often the case among Gaelic Christians, where Neo-Celtic authors make sweeping claims regarding “Celtic spirituality.” These claims are often wholly disconnected from these communities, and severely devoid of historical truth.

One such exemplar is John Philip Newell’s book Sacred Earth, Sacred Soul, a short text that illustrates the nature of “Celtic spirituality” from a variety of sources. For many who are looking to reconnect with their roots and faith, his book is often one of the first obtained and studied. For this reason, I decided to pick it up and read through it with discernment. With the spirit of Naomh Pádraig falling upon the season, let’s explore some of the facets of this book – for better or worse.

Upon initial reading, I find it refreshing that he explores a plethora of sources. This is particularly the case with the juxtaposition of Eriugena with Carmina Gadelica, a synthesis of ideas borne from an Irish-born Christian Platonist and a compendium of Scots Gaelic metrical prayers. Newell’s counterbalance of opposites - Latin ecclesiastical with Gaelic folk - demonstrates a wide breadth of influences to be studied, adopted, and lived. If only his exploration included more Welsh sources, such as the works of Taliesin, then it could be described as generally Celtic.

Upon further reading, I found myself increasingly frustrated and losing patience with his insistence of narrative over historical truth. The sources are frequently misquoted or mischaracterized in a manner that demonstrates a superficial understanding, lacking in depth the phronema of the Celtic peoples. What I found most egregious is the insistence that Celtic expressions of faith as a collective of dead traditions with a decline beginning with the arrival of St. Augustine of Canterbury. This isn’t even wrong, but it is a baffling opinion from someone who served as the Warden of Iona Abbey.

Within the section on Pelagius alone, I found numerous inaccuracies that follow the stereotype of the nature-loving Celts against the domineering Latin Imperium. This completely ignores that St. Patrick referred to himself as a Roman Briton, and that the earliest liturgical texts contain prayers dedicated to the Roman Emperor and his army. An extension of this theme is found in the section regarding Pelagius and St. Augustine of Hippo, which is odd given that St. Augustine was highly influential in the works of Eriugena and that even his fellow Britons ruled Pelagius was a heretic. St. David became the patron saint of Wales because of the Synod where Pelagianism was ruled as a heresy.

Upon further reflection, I can understand how so many historical inaccuracies have permeated among the Celtic diaspora. Newell is the “green beer” of Celtic Christianity, that appears traditional at first glance but has only propagated among the diaspora due to cultural disconnect. Sacred Earth, Sacred Soul is a brief primer into Celtic Christianity, made possible by conveniently ignoring inconvenient truths. For this reason, I side with my brethren across the pond – not in disgust or confusion – but in concurrence that this isn’t Celtic. I cannot encourage myself to obtain it for my personal library, and neither can I do the same for anyone else.