What is it about?
Why are the Celts popular today? This article discusses the views of scholars Anton van Hamel and Joep Leerssen on this question and analyses two bestselling publications on Celtic Christianity (The Celtic Way by Ian Bradley; The Celtic Way of Prayer by Esther de Waal). Elements such as aesthetics, imaginative worlds and the posited lost beauty of pre-industrial nature and traditional society are keys in explaining ‘our’ attraction to the Celts, but the romantic search for a lost paradise is present in medieval Irish literature itself too.
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Why is it important?
Knowledge of the past is necessary as a fact checker and as critical tool in religious-political persuasive rhetoric about identity constructs.
Perspectives
Knowledge of historical sources is not only a critical tool but may also serve as inspiration for one's outlook on life by mirroring and contrasting one's view with those of others. If these sources are aesthetically pleasing and of a complex nature, reading and studying them contributes also to intellectual and spiritual joy.
Jacqueline Borsje
Universiteit van Amsterdam
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This page is a summary of: The Secret of the Celts Revisited, Religion and Theology, January 2017, Brill,
DOI: 10.1163/15743012-02401007.
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