Celtic Pneumatology the Druids

First let us look closely at the term. Noting it is most often show in Abramic Light and not Pagan or Druidic !

Pneumatology:

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pneumatology [noo-muh-tol-uh-jee, nyoo-] 

noun  > 1. Theology., doctrine concerning the Holy Spirit, the belief in intermediary spirits between humans and God.

2. the doctrine or theory of spiritual beings.

3. Archaic. psychology.

4. Obsolete, pneumatics.

Origin of pneumatology :

1670-1680 1670-80; pneumato- + -logy

Related forms:

pneumatologic  [noo-mat-l-oj-ik, nyoo-, noo-muh-tl-, nyoo-] (Show IPA), pneumatological, adjective

pneumatologist, noun

Dictionary.com Unabridged

Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2015.

Historical Examples:

There has been a great change of late years in connection with the science of pneumatology and with the manner of treating it.

Atlantic Monthly, Vol. XII. September, 1863, No. LXXI. 

Various: 

The first part is cosmology, the second rational doctrine of the soul, pneumatology and theology.
A Commentary to Kant's 'Critique of Pure Reason' 

Norman Kemp Smith 

But neither the physiology, nor the pneumatology had been placed in organic connection with the central cerebral science.

Buchanan's Journal of Man, September 1887 

Various :

We have now mind as mind, divested of its naturalness and subjectivity, and as such, it is an object of pneumatology.

A History of Philosophy in Epitome 

Albert Schwegler 

As to the psychic half of the cerebral functions, they omitted entirely that portion which relates to pneumatology.

Buchanan's Journal of Man, October 1887 

Various 

pneumatology was no science, but the mere fancy of an excited imagination.

Atlantic Monthly, Vol. XII. September, 1863, No. LXXI. 

Various 

British Dictionary definitions for pneumatology :

pneumatology /ˌnjuːməˈtɒlədʒɪ/

noun > 1. the branch of theology concerned with the Holy Ghost and other spiritual beings

2. an obsolete name for psychology (sense 1)

3. an obsolete term for pneumatics

Derived Forms:

pneumatological (ˌnjuːmətəˈlɒdʒɪkə l) adjective 

pneumatologist, noun

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REf. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/pneumatology

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Pneumatology is the study of spiritual beings and phenomena, especially the spiritual aspect of human beings and the interactions between humans and God. 

Pneuma (πνεῦμα) is Greek for "breath", which metaphorically describes a non-material being or influence. Pneumatology as the study of the spirit is to be distinguished from psychology, the study of the soul. 

As many religious denominations do not distinguish between soul and spirit, this has been somewhat problematic. In general, the ABCs of psychology are the study of cognition, affect, and connation, or to put it into words more generally recognized, thinking, feeling, and willing. 

Thoughts, feelings, and acts of will (motivations, intentions, willfulness) is what fills the psyche, but when psychology is done what is primarily of interest is the actual nature of the collecting, organizing, and clarifying of thoughts, that is, thinking characterized as cogent, logical, run-on, disconnected, tautologous, symbolic, or psychotic (schizophrenic). 

Similarly feelings may be brought to the center of attention, but in psychology what is of interest is the actual nature of feeling itself, characterized as intuitive, sympathetic, empathic, inappropriate, projective, easily changeable, fixed and not easily changeable, or psychotic (manic-depressive). 

Similarly a person's will acts may be considered, but in psychology it is the actual nature of using the will that is of interest, characterized as unconscious, weak, self-serving, magnanimous, informed by thinking and feeling, overly influential over thinking and feeling, or psychotic (psychopathic or sociopathic). 

In contradistinction to psychology, pneumatology involves the study of the spirit (German Geist, Greek pneuma). In general, the ABCs of pneumatology are the study of technique (craftsmanship, German Kunst, Greek techne), science (conceptualization of ideas, German Wissenschaft, Greek episteme), poetry (inspiration, German Einatmung, Greek poises), belief (opinion, German Glaube, Greek doxa), and recognition (holding in mind, German Erkenntnis, Greek gnosis).

In Christian theology

Main article: Pneumatology (Christianity)

In Christian theology pneumatology refers to the study of the Holy Spirit. The English word comes from two Greek words: πνευμα (pneuma, spirit) and λογος (logos, study of; teaching about). 

Pneumatology would normally include study of the person of the Holy Spirit, and the works of the Holy Spirit. This latter category would normally include Christian teachings on new birth, spiritual gifts (charismata), Spirit-baptism, sanctification, the inspiration of prophets, and the indwelling of the Holy Trinity (which in itself covers many different aspects).

 Different Christian denominations have different theological approaches.  << Ref. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pneumatology

For the Pagan Celt or Druid this defination should be the interactions with the Gods Goddesses, AOS Si / Creideamh Sí , genii locorum , Otherkind and all aspects of SummerLands - the World of Spirit or as many call it the Astral Planes. 

Both sent from and by our Dindsenchas, Seanchas, Taibhsearachd and Ár nDraíocht Féin .


The point I hope people will see from the below article is the great 
similarity between the Charismatic tales of early Irish Christian converts receiving “charismata” or special gifts and powers via pneumatology of (claimed) Holy Ghost, (I believe) .

And (to me) the Pre-Christianity “Celtic-Pneumatology” of Awen and (Imbas) “Iombhas Forosna”, creating truly ancient Charismatic Vates, Bards and Druids that received gifts from the Aos Si, Gods or Goddesses, SummerLands  or other kinds of Otherkind.

While the below article only approaches our rich Druidic / Celtic heritages of these seemly magical realities.

 It does serve as a great reference to us all to rediscover our true natures and powers:
TDK

Christianity and the appeal of Celtic Pneumatology:

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 179

NIGEL SCOTLAND

Charismatic Christianity and the

appeal of Celtic Pneumatology

Nigel Scotland notes that Celtic Pneumatology has become a significant

resource for charismatics and post-charismatics in recent years. The

section of this article considers some of the possible origins and content

of Celtic culture and Christianity. Drawing on the writings of Bede and

other early Christian writers, he reflects on the many stories of the

northern saints under headings related to spiritual gifts: healing and

wholeness conflict with the demonic and prophetic and knowledge gifts.

Charismatic Christianity

The word ‘charismatic’ derives from the Greek word ‘charismata’ which means gift

of the Holy Spirit. Peter Hocken asserted that Harold Bredesen (b. 1918) and Jean

Stone (b. 1924) ‘have the distinction of coining the term ‘charismatic’ to denote

the new movement of the Holy Spirit which emerged within the mainstream

denominational churches in the late 1960s and early 1970s. At the end of their

article entitled ‘Return of the Charismata’, they stated ‘we call this movement “the

charismatic renewal”’.1 Charismatic Christianity is a worldwide experience of the

Holy Spirit which is rooted in the Day of Pentecost. It emphasises an ‘overwhelming

filling of the Holy Spirit’ and the practice of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, most notably

speaking in tongues, prophecy and healing but also other speaking, helping and

miraculous gifts listed in the New Testament. Professor Max Turner has suggested

that ‘charisma’ means no more than ‘gift’.2 Charismatic Christianity therefore

emphasises the importance of the indwelling ‘Charisma’ or gracious gift of the Spirit

and the use of the ‘Charismata’ or gifts of Holy Spirit.

There are a number of reasons why charismatic Christians have found

themselves drawn to Celtic pneumatology. By the 1980s the charismatic movement

had grown steadily and impacted on the life and worship of numbers of the historic

denominational churches but at the same time many were beginning to feel the

need for a more ‘rooted’ spirituality. Charismatics knew what they had reacted

against but somehow they weren’t altogether sure what they should be standing

for. They still valued the filling of the Holy Spirit, the practice of the charismata

and freedom in worship, but there was now a growing sense that charismatic

Christianity had become introverted and insular and that the experience of the Holy

1 Hocken, P., Streams of Renewal, Paternoster

Press, Carlisle 1997, p 185.

2 See Turner, M., The Holy Spirit and Spiritual

Gifts: Then and Now, Paternoster Press,

Carlisle 1996, pp 252-255.

180 ANVIL Volume 23 No 3 2006

Spirit was an end in itself. There was increased concern that an unless the

‘anointing’ was related and directed into the surrounding world and its culture it

would dry up like an unused well. In short, it needed to be earthed in what was

objective and solid. It was at this point that some with an interest in early church

history began to discover that Celtic pneumatology had something very definite

to bring to this situation. The Celts like the Charismatics valued the gifts and the

Baptism of the Holy Spirit but their experience of his person was much more

integrated with the life of God’s created universe. They loved to use the gifts of

the Holy Spirit and delighted in spontaneous worship but they focused these

blessings on the presence of Christ as they reverentially shared the bread and wine

of the sacrament of Holy Communion. The Celts also found that they could draw

on the Holy Spirit’s presence through the created world around them. They

delighted to stand in the sea to praise God or walk in the rain reciting the psalms

or share in the Eucharist in the open countryside. Indeed Patrick had portable a

communion table for this very purpose. The Celts also made much use of Christian

art forms and symbolism particularly the cross as another means of allowing the

Holy Spirit to direct their attention on to Christ. For the Celts appropriate physical

touch was also a way of making the Holy Spirit’s presence a practical reality

particularly in times of sickness, worry and uncertainty. Hence they valued

sacramental oil, consecrated water, icons, art forms, holy relics and sacred treasures.

Two books in particular sought to demonstrate the possibilities of Celtic

pneumatology for those Charismatics who were feeling rootless. These were

Michael Mitton’s Restoring the Woven Cord: Strands in Celtic Christianity for the Church

To-day and Ray Simpson’s Exploring Celtic Spirituality: Historic Roots for our Future.

Both were published in 19953 and both sought to indicate the relevance of Celtic

worship and spirituality for Charismatic Christianity. Mitton asserted that the early

Celts were thoroughly comfortable with a God who would have readily understood

John Wimber’s concept of ‘Power Evangelism’. On a personal note he also related

that in Celtic spirituality he had ‘discovered something that he had been searching

for during the past twenty years’.4 Earlier in 1992, a group of Charismatic Christians

that included a Baptist minister, an Anglican Priest and a Roman Catholic layman

established the Northumbria Community in a large house that is situated in close

proximity to the cave where Cuthbert’s body is said to have been taken by monks

who were seeking refuge from Viking insurgents. Then in 1994 a group led Michael

Mitton and Ray Simpson launched The Community of St Aidan and St Hilda which

aims to bring healing to the land and calls its members ‘to commit themselves to

reproduce the quality of the lives of the Celtic Saints’. In 1996 Ray Simpson left

his Norwich parish and took up residence in a small cottage in Lindisfarne from

where he holds retreats, provides resources and actively encourages interested

churches to explore Celtic mission, worship and spirituality.5

Interest in Celtic Pneumatology was further prompted by the ‘Toronto Blessing’

which began with a series of meetings at the Toronto Airport Church in January

3 See Mitton, M., Restoring the Woven Cord:

Strands of Celtic Christianity for the Church of

Today Darton, Longman and Todd, and

Simpson, R., Exploring Celtic Spirituality:

Historic Roots for Our Future, Hodder and

Stoughton, 1995. See also Simpson, R., Celtic

Worship Through the Year, Hodder and

Stoughton, 1997.

4 Mitton, R., Restoring the Woven Cord p1.

5 See Bradley, I., Celtic Christianity Making

Myths and Chasing Dreams, Edinburgh

University Press, 1999 pp 208-210.

 181

1994 and spread all over the world. Indeed the Toronto experience is ongoing in

many places at the present time. It was and is associated with a variety of emotional

and religious phenomena, most notably seemingly uncontrollable ‘holy laughter’,

people falling and lying on the ground in a semi-conscious state, running on the

spot, pogoing, roaring like a lion and jerking or twitching like pigeon. These

‘religious exercises’ have since become the subject of much ongoing debate not

only in the wider Christian world but among Charismatics themselves. To many

this was and is God moving in a ‘new wave’. It’s a time to ‘drink’ or ‘soak’ or in the

words of one church notice-board ‘to come and have a spiritual carwash’. For other

charismatics the phenomena are regarded as a psychologically induced human

response to preachers’ rhetoric coupled with a mild hypnosis generated by lengthy

sessions of calming worship songs. At best all this was held to be the

‘MacDonaldisation’ of charismatic Christian experience and at worst it was

unbridled ‘enthusiasm’. In the view of concerned Charismatics it had depersonalised

the Holy Spirit. In short, the Toronto experience resulted in the emergence of ‘PostCharismatics’.

These are Charismatics who still value and endorse the ‘Baptism of

the Holy Spirit’ but they reject outright the phenomena associated with Toronto

as psychological aberrations that are without Scriptural precedent. They also stand

four-square against the irrationality of what R.T. Kendal rejoices in and calls the

‘Yuk factor’! The Yuk factor is happy to endorse what many might take to be a

fetish as the moving of God’s spirit.6 In summary, Post-Charismatics feel that

Charismatic pneumatology has ‘run thin’ on content and doctrine and lost its

Christological focus. For the Post-Charismatics therefore Celtic pneumatology has

much to offer because it gives greater weight to the rational and promotes a Holy

Spirit experience that has less potential to become an end in itself. At the same

time it embraces the world which the Spirit, as the third person of the Trinity, helped

to bring into being

Celtic Christianity

The origins of the Celtic race are shrouded in obscurity. They are generally believed

to have first emerged as a distinct linguistic group in the Black Sea area about

1000BC. By 600BC they had moved from this central European base to the

Pyrenees in the south, the Rhine basin in the north and as far as Ireland in the

west and to what is now Rumania in the East. During the years 400 to 1000AD

the Celts came to dominate Ireland, Scotland and parts of Wales and the West

Country.

The Romans first established the province of Britannia in 50AD but they never

really exerted much influence north of Hadrian’s Wall which had been built for

defensive purposes in 122 A.D.. Celtic peoples were chiefly located in the

geographical regions of Ireland, Scotland and Wales. However by the time of Bede

Celts were settled in many parts of England and the influence of Celtic Christianity

stretched as far south as the Thames estuary. It is probable that Roman

6 See Kendall, R.T., Out of the Comfort Zone

(Hodder and Stoughton, 2005) especially pp

154-155 where he describes how Rodney

Howard Brown prayed for Randy and Nancy

Wall. Nancy was ‘left with an urge to utter

Ho! Involuntarily whether at home, church

or in a restaurant’. She asked Kendall why

she had this urge. He replied, ‘God does this

to see if you want the anointing more than

anything else in the world’. She immediately

cried out, ‘Ho!, Ho!, Ho!’.

Nigel Scotland Charismatic Christianity and the appeal of Celtic Pneumatology

182 ANVIL Volume 23 No 3 2006

administrators and soldiers were the first to impact the indigenous Celtic peoples

of the province of Britannia with the Christian faith. Their influence was

supplemented by monks from Gaul.

In 409 Rome was taken by the Goths and from that point on Roman rule came

to an end in Britain. After about 410 onwards the Roman military began to withdraw

from England and the country was invaded by Angles, Saxons and Jutes from various

parts of Europe. This meant that for much of the fifth and sixth centuries Celtic

Christianity was pushed north and west by the pagan invaders. Expressions of Celtic

Christianity were nevertheless in evidence in the British Isles until about 1000 AD

but it was most prominent in the period before the Venerable Bede completed his

Ecclesiastical History of the English People in 731. The golden age of Celtic Christianity

is usually regarded as mid fifth to the mid seventh century. This was the era which

saw the best known of the Irish and British Saints. Patrick’s arrival in Ireland in or

about 432 and marks its start. Others followed in his steps – Brigid, Ninian, David,

Columba and Aidan whose death in 651 represents the end of the era.

With the coming of Augustine, the monk from Rome, sent by Pope Gregory in

597, the influence of Roman Christianity began to mingle with and eventually

predominate over the Celtic expressions of the faith. Bede detects two campaigns

from Rome against the Celtic tradition. The first was about the beginning of the

seventh century under Augustine of Canterbury against the British Church in the

West; the second was made at the time of Bishop Wilfrid at the Synod of Whitby

in 663 when the issue turned on the date of Easter.7

As has been noted Charismatic Christianity places particular emphasis on the

Holy Spirit experience and the practice of the Holy Spirit’s gifts. What therefore

follows is an examination of the appeal for Charismatics of these two aspects within

the life and worship of the Celtic Church. The principal sources for this are found

in Bede’s Ecclesiastical History of the English People, his Life of Cuthbert written in

716 and the writings of Patrick, most notably his Confession written about 470.

The Venerable Bede (673-735), a priest and monk at Jarrow, was the first great

English Church historian. He wrote of the period between Caesar’s invasion of

Britain in 55BC and the year 731 and described the situation in both Britain and

Ireland. He makes mention of a British King called Lucius who ruled under the

Romans and who sent a letter to the Bishop of Rome in 167 asking to be made a

Christian. Before Bede began his work, he collected and sifted his materials which

included ancient traditions and sources, recent letters and acts of church councils.

However, although Bede checked and sifted his witnesses, he is rarely

questioning of the evidence they produced or the stories which they related. De

Paor criticised Bede’s work on the ground that he took some of his information

from Gildas, a Welsh monk, who wrote about 540 AD and whose knowledge of

the events a century and a half before his own time was very far from perfect.8

Against that, it should be noted that Bede did have access to the library at Jarrow,

which was almost unequalled by any in England and he did cross-check his evidence

with other sources and with other individuals whom he knew personally. In

summing up his account of Aidan in Book 3 of his History, Bede made it clear that

7 See Chadwick, N.K., The Age of the Saints in

the Celtic Church, OUP, London 1963, p 121.

8 De Paor, L., St Patrick’s World, University of

Notre Dame Press, Dublin 1993, p 11.

 183

he aimed to be faithful to his sources. He wrote, ‘…as a truthful historian, I have

given an accurate account of his life, commending all that was excellent and

preserving his memory for the benefit of my readers’.9

It is generally acknowledged however that Patrick, Columba and other Celtic

saints had their reputations enhanced with additional accounts of the miraculous

by later generations for varying reasons. Sometimes it was to strengthen the status

of a particular See or to promote their relics as a means of increasing pilgrimage

and racheting up monastic income. Bradley is of the view that Bede ‘almost

certainly over-exaggerated both the peculiar missionary zeal and the monastic

character of the Irish church’.10 Leaving aside these criticisms for the present, it

has to be said that many of the miracles in the Celtic Church which Bede records

are not out of keeping with the writings of his contemporaries. Additionally, many

of them resonate with the miracles reported by Luke in the Book of Acts.

The Holy Spirit Experience in Celtic Christianity

Contemporary Charismatic Christianity is generally held to begin with an

overwhelming presence of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer. This kind of

experience was by no means unusual among the Celts. Early in the fourth century,

shortly after the martyrdom of Alban, Bede related that Germanus, a bishop who

had come from Gaul, was ‘filled with the Holy Ghost, called on the name of the

Trinity’ and restored a girl’s eyes ‘in the sight of them all’.

Patrick (385-461) was a British man who was captured in a raid and taken to

Ireland as a slave for six years. He then escaped to Gaul where he trained as a

monk. He eventually found his way back to Britain from where he was

commissioned to take the gospel to Ireland. Towards the end of his life he wrote

in his Confession: ‘He who wants can laugh and jeer, but I shall not keep silent nor

keep hidden the signs and wonders which have been shown to me by the Lord

before they took place as He who knows all things before the world began’.11

Patrick is quite clear that these miraculous occurrences were accomplished by

the power of the Holy Spirit. He reminds his readers at the beginning of his

Confession that Jesus ‘poured out on us abundantly His Holy Spirit, the gift and

pledge of immortality, who makes those who believe and obey to be sons of God

and heirs along with Christ’.12 Patrick recalled how when he first reached Ireland

as a captive, he was able to pray before dawn in all weathers, snow, frost and rain

‘because the Spirit was fervent within me.’13

On occasion Patrick was profoundly conscious of the Holy Spirit praying from

deep within his own spirit. His description of this experience is not dissimilar from

that recounted by people who pray in tongues or who enter a state of constant

intercession by praying the Jesus Prayer. Patrick related.

I saw Him praying within me and I was, as it were, inside my own body and I

heard His voice above me, that is to say above my inner self, and He was

praying there powerfully and groaning; and meanwhile I was dumbfounded and

9 The sources for the descriptive material

related to the lives of the Celtic saints are

Bede’s History and Bede, Life of Cuthbert,

Penguin Books ,Harmondsworth 1986,

unless otherwise stated.

10 Bradley,I., Celtic Christianity, Edinburgh

University Press, Edinburgh 1999, p 27.

11 Patrick, Confession, Declaration 45.

12 Patrick, Confession, Declaration 4.

13 Patrick, Confession, Declaration 16

Nigel Scotland Charismatic Christianity and the appeal of Celtic Pneumatology

184 ANVIL Volume 23 No 3 2006

astonished and wondered who it could be that was praying with me, but at

the end of the prayer He spoke and said that He was the Spirit … The Spirit

helps the weaknesses of our prayer; for we do not know what to pray for as

we ought; but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with unspeakable groans

which cannot be expressed in words. (Romans 8.26) and again: ‘The Lord our

advocate intercedes for us.’ (cf 1 John 2 v 1) 14

When he later reflected on his time in Ireland as a captive exile, Patrick wrote that

God protected him from all evils ‘because of His Spirit dwelling in me’.15

In his Life of Cuthbert Bede also stressed the work of the Holy Spirit. He wrote

that it was the bishop’s in the habit to go round the diocese ‘giving saving counsel

in all the houses and hamlets of the countryside, and laying his hand on the newly

baptised so that the Grace of the Holy Spirit might come down upon them.’. On

another occasion Bede reported that Cuthbert (634-687) arrived in a certain village

where ‘he preached twice to the milling crowds and brought down the grace of

the Holy Spirit by imposition of hands on those newly regenerated in Christ’. It is

clear therefore that in the years up until the time of Bede that Christian people

sought for and cultivated a conscious awareness of the Holy Spirit’s presence in

their lives. Equally, it is evident that they expected the charismata or gifts of the

Holy Spirit to feature in the Church’s life, ministry and worship.

Spiritual Gifts in Celtic Christianity

Of the charismata or gifts of the Holy Spirit which were in evidence in this early

Celtic churches, healing and wholeness, conflict with the demonic and prophetic

and knowledge gifts appear to have been particularly prominent.

Healing and Wholeness

The writings of Bede and Patrick abound with examples of healing. In the case of

Bede however it has to be said that some of his sources may have suffered from

embellishments either through word of mouth or as written creations in the years

before he encountered them in his researches in the monastic library at Jarrow.

Leaving the possibility of such fabrication aside for a moment, what is not in

question is the fact that Bede himself evidently valued the gifts of the Holy Spirit

and believed them to be a vital aspect of the church’s life and worship.

The New Testament emphasises healing as one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit.

Bede certainly gives many instances of its use in the Christian churches in the

years before his own time. For example, he related the case of a youth whose

arm was healed by the power of the cross, which King Oswald (d. 642) had

erected before going into battle in 634. Some years after the King’s death, this

young man, a brother named Bothelm from the Church at Hebron, who Bede

stated ‘is still living’, slipped on the ice and fractured his arm which caused him

agonising pain. At length another brother decided to go up to the site of the cross

and brought back a piece of its revered wood. At supper he passed a few strands

of the old moss that grew on the surface of the cross to the injured man. He

had nowhere to put it and so thrust it next to his breast. When he awoke next

14 Patrick, Confession, Declaration 25. 15 Patrick, Confession, Declaration 33.

 185

morning he was perfectly healed. Bede went on to relate several other miraculous

cures that took place at the site of Oswald’s death. ‘Many people’, he wrote, ‘took

away the very dust from the place where his body fell, and put it in water, from

which sick folk who drank it received great benefit.’ Bede felt this to be no

surprise, for during his life time Oswald ‘never failed to provide for the sick and

needy and to give them alms and aid’. A paralysed young girl was healed on being

laid down at the place of Oswald’s death and even a horse that happened to fall

at the spot was soon restored and ready to ride. Stories about other Celtic saints

also featured miraculous healings. St Brigid (c450-523) of Ireland cured a child

who was mute.16 It was not always the actual person who caused the healing.

The relics of the saints, or a visit to a saint’s tomb, often brought about miracles.

Bede gives the account of a man named Baduthegn who suddenly became

paralysed on one side of his body from head to foot. The man crawled on his

hands and knees to the tomb of Saint Cuthbert. He prayed and fell asleep there,

and when he awoke he was completely cured. Another individual with a tumour

on his eyelid was suddenly cured by the goodness of God and by means of

Cuthbert’s relics. Cuthbert brought healing to a woman who sipped water that

he had blessed and to a bed-ridden man called Hildmer who ate bread which he

had blessed and to Aelfflaed, a nun who was unable to walk, who touched a linen

cincture which he sent to her. Whilst not all Charismatics or Post-Charismatics

will be happy with the use of relics there is something of importance here. There

has been a tendency among some Charismatics, possibly stemming from

Protestant roots, to shy away from the physical. To be able to sip water that has

been consecrated in the name of the Trinity or to hold a small wooden cross

can be a powerful aid to the faith of someone who is sick or discouraged.

Cuthbert not only healed people but his prayers also brought healing to the

land. Bede recounted how Cuthbert went to live alone on Farne Island, a few miles

to the south east of Lindisfarne. He was, says Bede, ‘the first brave man to live

there alone’, for the island ‘had no water, corn or trees and being the haunt of evil

spirits was very ill-suited to human habitation’. However, when Cuthbert arrived

he ordered all the evil spirits to withdraw, and the island became quite habitable

and ‘a rich crop quickly sprung up’. Here we observe an important outward thrust

to Celtic pneumatology with obvious practical implications for C21st Christianity.

For Charismatics who feel that their worship or personal experience of the Holy

Spirit has become too introverted, Cuthbert and his associates present us with a

pneumatology that seeks to bring healing of the created order.

Bede also recounted healings by Bishop John, first of Hexham then of York.

The information was given to Bede personally by Berthun, the bishop’s deacon.

Among many instances, a dumb youth who had many scabs and scales on his head

and was partially bald, began to speak freely after ‘the bishop took him by the chin

and made the sign of the holy cross on his tongue’. Later ‘with the assistance of

the bishop’s blessing and prayers his skin healed, and a vigorous growth of hair

appeared’. When he was at York, John blessed and prayed over a nun who was

lying in bed with a wounded and badly swollen arm. Just as the bishop was leaving,

‘the pain left her, the swelling subsided and the girl gave thanks to our Lord and

16 Liam de Paor, St Patrick’s World, Four Courts

Press Ltd., 1993, p 212.

Nigel Scotland Charismatic Christianity and the appeal of Celtic Pneumatology

186 ANVIL Volume 23 No 3 2006

Saviour’. Another individual with a tumour on his eyelid was suddenly cured by

the goodness of God and by means of Cuthbert’s relics. On another occasion he

prayed for one of his clergy who had fallen from his horse and cracked his skull.

The bishop spent the night with him in prayer asking God to restore him. Early

next morning the priest was able to sit up and talk and within a short while was

again riding his horse.

Conflict with the demonic

Early Celtic Christianity both understood and grappled with the demonic. The

Celts lived in a world that they felt to be populated not only by Christ, angels

and saints, but also with demons and wicked spirits. It has been suggested that

part of the reason for this may have been the pagan religious practices and

backgrounds out of which the Celts had been converted. Ian Bradley posited that

the pattern known as the Celtic Knot was used to ward off the devil’s powers.

Patrick, when evangelising the Irish, had many a conflict with the forces of

darkness. For instance when he came to the heathen city of Tara he discovered

there was an idolatrous feast which was kept at the same time as Easter. By

tradition no one could light a fire before one was kindled in the King’s house.

Unconcerned by this pagan custom Patrick began his Easter celebration with an

enormous fire. The result of this was that the King went with a number of his

counsellors and wizards to remonstrate with Patrick. One of the wizards called

Lochra spoke against the Catholic faith in ‘the most arrogant terms’. In response,

Patrick shouted out aloud, ‘O Lord, who can do all things … may this impious

man who blasphemes your name, be now carried out of here without delay.’

Almost immediately the man fell headfirst and crashed his head against a stone

and died.17

Patrick recorded another instance during his labours in Ireland when he was

attacked by the devil. He wrote in his Confession: ‘I was asleep, and Satan attacked

me violently, something which I shall remember as long as I am in this body;

and there fell on top of me a huge rock, as it were, and I was completely

paralysed’. He was, he says, on shouting out, aided by Christ and his Spirit and

set at liberty.18

Celtic Christians developed a range of prayers and rituals to invoke God’s

protective powers against evil and fear. In times of danger some would draw a

circle round themselves and their loved ones.19 Using their index fingers they would

point and turn round sun-wise while reciting a prayer. The breastplate prayers, of

which the one attributed to Patrick is best known, seek in a similar way to surround

those who pray with the protective clothing of God’s presence. This of course has

clear Scriptural precedent in Ephesians chapter 6 verses 1 – 10 where Christians

are exhorted by the apostle Paul to take to themselves the whole armour of God.

The verses of Patrick’s breastplate show clearly the wide range of powers which

the Celts invoked for protection – the strong name of the Trinity, the life, death

and resurrection of Jesus, the angelic hosts, the faith of the confessors and the

word of the apostles.

17 Muirchu, Life of Patrick, paragraph 17.

18 Muirchu, Life of Patrick, Declaration 20.

19 Bradley, I., The Celtic Way, Darton, Longman

and Todd, London 1993, p 47

 187

Christ be with me, Christ within me,

Christ behind me, Christ before me,

Christ beside me, Christ to win me,

Christ to comfort and restore me

Christ beneath me, Christ above me,

Christ in quiet, Christ in danger

Christ in hearts of all that love me,

Christ in mouth of friend and stranger.

Cuthbert, like Patrick, was acutely conscious of a personal conflict with the devil

and evil spiritual forces. While preaching on one occasion he warned his hearers

to be on their guard whenever they heard the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven

being preached. For, as he went on to say, the devil ‘has a thousand crafty ways of

harming us.’ A little later Bede described how the wife of Hildmer, King Egfrid’s

sheriff, was possessed of a devil. ‘She was’, says Bede, ‘so sorely vexed that she

would gnash her teeth, let out frightful howls, and fling her arms and legs about’.

‘It was’, Bede reported, ‘a terrifying sight to see her.’ However as the man of God

came to Hildmer’s house the situation was transformed. Bede records that ‘as they

approached the house the evil spirit, unable to bear the coming of the Holy Spirit

with whom Cuthbert was filled, suddenly departed’ and the woman’s affliction

vanished. Bede wrote of Cuthbert: ‘He became famous for miracles, for his prayers

restored sufferers from all kinds of disease and affliction. He cured some who were

vexed by unclean spirits not only by laying on of hands, exhorting, and exorcising

– that is by actual contact – but even from afar, merely by praying or predicting

their cure, as in the case of the sheriff’s wife’. Cuthbert, Patrick and other Celtic

church leaders demonstrate a thoroughly positive Trinitarian and Christocentric

way of dealing with the forces of evil. At the same time Bede does not give the

impression that the Celts were overly captivated by the demonic or engaged in

lengthy exorcism sessions. Yet they nevertheless had a quiet authority which

recognised that the power of God’s Spirit was released through godly and prayerful

living.

Some years later Wilfrid (634-709) who was nurtured in the Celtic traditions of

the monastery of Lindisfarne, became bishop of York. But he then spent further

time at Lyons and Rome and became an intransigent supporter of Roman church

customs against the Celtic ways of northern England. After his return to his native

homeland he was imprisoned at the command of King Egfrid. He had not however

lost his Celtic openness to the Holy Spirit. When therefore the wife of the sheriff

who had put him behind bars was in a paralysed and dying state, Wilfrid agreed to

be taken to her. He sprinkled her face with holy water and poured some drops into

her mouth. She thanked God aloud and then like Peter’s mother-in-law,ministered

to them.20

Prophetic and Knowledge Gifts.

Celtic Christians also valued and practised prophetic and knowledge gifts. In his

Confession Patrick recounted eight visions which he saw in dreams, all of which

20 Eddius Stephanus, Life of Wilfrid (circa 720),

chapter 37.

Nigel Scotland Charismatic Christianity and the appeal of Celtic Pneumatology

188 ANVIL Volume 23 No 3 2006

were direct messages from God. The most vivid and most important in so far as

his life’s direction was concerned was his divine summons to return to Ireland and

to proclaim the gospel. His call as he described in his Confession is written in the

style of Paul’s vision of the man in Acts chapter 16 verse 19 saying come over to

Macedonia and help us.

And then I saw, indeed in the bosom of the night, a man coming as it were

from Ireland, Victorinus by name, with innumerable letters, and he gave one

of them to me … And while I was reading aloud the beginning of the letter, I

myself thought indeed in my mind that I heard the voice of those who were

near the wood of Foclut, which is close by the Western Sea. And they cried

out thus as if with one voice, ‘We entreat thee, holy youth, that thou come,

and henceforth walk among us.21

One of Patrick’s contemporaries, St. Ailbe, prophesied the coming of a great

bishop. He noticed a pregnant woman in the congregation and then was filled with

the spirit of prophecy. He told the priest, who was unable to speak at that moment,

‘This is why you are unable to speak: God wished that first you would hear the

news of the infant whom that woman carried in her womb. He will indeed be a

chosen one of God, a renowned bishop and he will be called David’.22 David was

born soon after and later became the principal bishop in Wales.

Visions while awake were common among the Celts. Columba (521-597) who

landed on the island of Iona in 563 with twelve disciples and founded a new

monastery was said on several occasions to have seen angels. He wrote that

‘Heaven has granted to some to see on occasion in their mind, clearly and surely,

the whole earth and seas and sky’.23 In his Ecclesiastical History Bede gives an

extended account of the Irish monk, Fursey , or sometimes Fursa, (d. 648). He

was born in Ireland and first came to England fairly late in his life, sometime after

630 and was welcomed by King Sigebert of the East Angles who was encouraged

by the work of Felix at Dunwich. Fursey proved to be an effective evangelist and

established a monastery probably at Burgh Castle near Yarmouth. Bede relates that

many were ‘inspired by the example of his goodness and the effectiveness of his

teaching.’ Many unbelievers were converted to Christ and a large number of

believers were provoked to greater love and faith.

Once when Fursey was ill ‘God gave him a vision in which he was directed to

continue his diligent preaching and to persevere with his routine of vigils and

prayer’. Prompted by what he saw, Fursey lost no time in constructing a monastery

on a site given to him by King Sigbert. On another occasion, Fursey had an

experience which appears to have been something akin the Apostle Paul when he

was caught up in the third heaven.. Fursey entered a trance and felt that he had

quitted his body. He was then carried up to a great height and told to look down

on the world. From this vantage point he saw four fires burning in the air and was

informed that they were Falsehood, Covetousness, Discord and Cruelty. He was

then informed that these fires destroy men’s bodies and that after death everyone

must make due atonement for their sins by fire.

21 Patrick, Confession, Declaration 23.

22 De Paor, L., Op. Cit., p 234.

23 Bradley, I., The Celtic Way p 93.

 189

Aidan, (d. 651) another Irish monk, came to England about the same time as

Fursey and settled in the north of England at Lindisfarne. He was consecrated a

bishop and encouraged by King Oswald made long journeys on foot establishing

missionary and teaching centres. Aidan evidently had a strong gift of prophecy

since on one occasion he burst into tears and foretold the death of Oswald’s

successor, King Oswin. Aidan declared, ‘the King will not live very long; for I have

never before seen a humble King. I feel that he will soon be taken from us, because

this nation is not worthy of a King’. Bede noted that not very long afterwards the

bishop’s foreboding was borne out by the King’s death. Bede goes on in his narrative

to relate how Aidan foretold a storm at sea and gave the seafarers holy oil to calm

the waves. He summed up Aidan’s life stating that ‘he took pains never to neglect

anything he had learned from the writings of the evangelists, apostles and prophets,

and set himself to carry them out with all his powers.’ There is no doubting that

the Celtic churches took the prophetic with seriousness. Knowledge and prophecy

certainly helped to envision evangelistic enterprise and church planting. What we

don’t know from Bede and the other early historians is to what extent prophecy

failed or led men and women into extremes of behaviour.

Conclusion

In summary, it is clear that while some of what Bede relates may have been

embellished either by himself or by those from whom he derived his information,

miraculous stories of charismatic gifts were regarded as an important and integral

part of the Christian faith. It must also be remembered that Bede claimed in his

own words to be ‘a truthful historian’ who accurately recounted the facts as he

knew them to his readers. What he appears to do, is to use his historical sources

in a similar way to the gospel writers. Sometimes there is extended narrative but

at certain points there are core events which are presented in a form and style

which he anticipates will persuade the readers of the truth of the Christian faith.

Contemporary charismatic Christians clearly share the Celtic experience of the

Holy Spirit that awakened their awareness of Christ’s presence and deepened their

love and respect for the earth’s resources. Some Anglican and Roman Catholics

Charismatics can fully identify with those Celts who had an almost sacramental

view of the universe and literally found themselves able to imbibe God’s presence

as they delighted in the landscape and the changing of the seasons. Not only were

they respectful of the land, they prayed and worked for its healing and

transformation much in the way that contemporary Charismatics have been doing

in parts of Africa and South America.

In the matter of conflict with the forces of evil there is much in Celtic life and

worship which resonates with contemporary charismatic experience. Celtic

Christians shared the charismatic heightened awareness of the presence of evil

and spiritual conflict in both the socio-political and domestic spheres. It does

however seem to have been the case that the Celts did not share the tendencies

of the more extreme section of contemporary Charismatics, some of whom display

a capacity to interpret everything which goes amiss as the work of malevolent

beings.

Nigel Scotland Charismatic Christianity and the appeal of Celtic Pneumatology

190 ANVIL Volume 23 No 3 2006

From this brief survey it is clear that Celtic pneumatology has a wealth of riches

to give to both Charismatics and Post-Charismatics. At a moment in time when

many are re-assessing and seriously questioning aspects of their Holy Spirit

experience, Celtic Christianity offers a solid Trinitarian, contemplative, practical

and applied biblical Pneumatology which is rooted in British ecclesiastical and

historical tradition.

Dr Nigel Scotland is Field Chair, Theology & Religious Studies, University of

Gloucestershire

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