Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #184073 in Books
• Published on: 2000-07-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 280 pages

Customer Reviews

Irascible uncle mocks the tree-huggers
This is a gem of a book - a highly energetic and bracing debunking of some of the more garbled fictions about the so-called 'Celtic Church'.
Meek is an academic specialising in Celtic studies, but nothing about this text is stodgy or scholastic. Instead he peels away the layers of 'Celtic Twilight' which distort a genuine uderstanding of early Christianity in Britain and Ireland, and does it with enormous humour. But there is a serious point behind it all. Much written on 'Celtic Christianity' tries to provide a justificiation for a sort of vague pantheism. The 'anything goes' spirit is very different from the spirit of Christian communities with some of the most stringent penitential practices in Europe at the time.
Meek seems to revel at times in a slightly curmudgeonly persona - particularly when exposing the romantic excesses of certain types of enthusiasts, but this actually adds to the book overall.

In this book Meek has antcipated books like Ian Bradley's latest, 'Celtic Christianty: Making Myths and Chasing Dreams' but, unlike Bradley, he isn't recanting on a former postion.

This is a magnificent book, pellucidly clear, witty an devastatingly original. Can't recommend it too highly.