Missionary Methods - Columba or Augustine

A paper presented to the Focus on Europe Seminar on 19th November 1997, at St. Andrew’s Hall Missionary College.

The State of the Church in Britain

The Observer on the 9th November ran an article with the title “The British believe in not putting bums on pews”, by their religious affairs correspondent Martin Wroe.  The article opens with the words 

	“People would rather join a bird society than the Church, but God is still safe”

and then reflects on the details of a survey published as UK Religious Trends, in which the author Dr. Peter Brierley details statistics that show that the church going in Britain is in a sad decline.  Over the past 20 years the over 800,000 people have stopped going to church regularly in England. Birmingham, by no means the most irreligious place in England, can now only claim that 12% of the population attend church regularly, and that does not mean every Sunday.  At the same time the article expresses the interesting observation that the statistics about church attendance do not necessarily indicate the level of religious awareness in Britain.  The Muslim community would like to claim about 10% of the population of Britain (but I suspect that this figure does not represent regular mosque-goers), and there are other very visible faith communities in Britain.  Further there is a high level of faith awareness within the population of Britain that is not expressed in any organised form, which would range from enthusiastic “New Agers” to people who would be prepared to claim a belief in God, if only in private, and those who would more publicly claim a belief in the Divine, the spiritual and miracles.  The fascination with such subjects and phenomena is clearly betrayed by the type and number of television programmes related to the miraculous, unexplained and extra-terrestial beings.  

The Death of Princess Diana clearly evoked latent spiritual awareness of the vast majority of the population of Great Britain. What seemed evident is that many people were both emotionally and religiously affected by the events.  Accepting that there rapidly developed a roller-coaster of response to the events, one can has to be impressed, and maybe concerned as well, by the reaction of the crowds.  There was a great need to express grief and mourning to such a level that surely was not wholly related to the death of one person.  The event was almost a festival and pilgrimage that allowed people to loose their English reserve and allow emotion, religion and spirituality to take over.  A major problem may have been that they did not know what to do with these largely unfamiliar aspects of their persona, and so it was allowed to overflow in aspects of glorification and idolatry.  David Cornick in a paper published in the Expository Times relates such concerns to the events of the Anfield Stadium tragedy, and draws the conclusion that there is a much folk spirituality either evident or just under the surface in Britain and Europe today.

Tourism, too, indicates the rise in level of spiritual awareness, as there has been a notable increase in the interest in not only the so-called “heritage industry”, but in the religious and spiritual heritage industry.  Churches and religious sites are back in fashion.  One example is a small chapel in the remote Welsh valley of Pennant Melangell. Visiting this place on a summer’s Sunday afternoon the approach road to the valley will be strewn with walkers and holidaymakers, on pilgrimage and the site of the chapel will be overwhelmed with human activity.  Attending evensong the worshippers will not fit inside the building and inevitably there is the bookstall and the souvenir shop to attract a cash input to the place.  Many of the visitors will have little connection with the established church.  Is this the new expression of Christian faith?  This experience, is far from unique, and similar phenomena will be discovered at Iona, Lindisfarne, and Holy Wells across Wales and Cornwall. 

But what is clear from all this is that Church attendance may no longer the primary expression of faith and religion, nor the primary expression of Christianity in Britain today.  Christianity is much bigger than the church and for the majority of Christians must be non-institutional.  Indeed there has been a probably small, but significant move away from the institutional church with the development of present day religious communities.  These communities such as the community of Aidan and Hilda, the Northumbria community and possibly the Iona community exhibit the need for some people to establish a different type of church, where Christian faith can be expressed through a commitment to people and purposes rather than institutions.  

This new discovery we can considered to be part of the development of a church for a new age, or in the contemporary parlance, the new paradigm.  Bosch is not alone in considering that the world and in particular Western Society is undergoing a paradigm shift, although different scholars are still at odds as to whether we are in a new paradigm or are encountering a paradigm shift in progress.  This new paradigm is called post-Modernism.

The Lessons of the 6th - 8th Century

The Church has been aware of a shift in attitudes to religion and to organised religion for some decades, although it would have been good if it had recognised them at the turn of the century and not as late as the 1960's. Some would say that the Church in Britain has still not accepted the trends of decline because they are unwilling to deal with a situation for which they have no skills.  But what all this leads us to, is that the Church is beginning to recognise that the western world is moving into a new era, with new understandings, new thoughtforms, new models of philosophy and theology and new understandings of the role of faith and religion. But it is not a movement that the Church finds easy to understand, let alone respond to. This modern to post-modem paradigm shift, is only the most recent example of such evolutionary shifts that we find throughout the history of culture and thought. It seems drastic and confusing to us only because we are pale of it. Other paradigm shifts have taken place and the Church has had to respond. The obvious one is that of the Reformation, but the shift that we are concerned with in this paper is the shift that brought Europe into the Medieval period - what Bosch calls the Medieval Roman Catholic Missionary Paradigm shift[]. In Britain it was the time of the clash between two forms of Christianity, commonly known as the Celtic and the Roman, which according to Bede came to a head at the Synod of Whitby in A.D. 664. Bede clearly overstates the case, but we must take his history seriously, largely because it is the major document that we have of the time, but also, because reading between the lines we gain much insight into the events of the time.

Bede had lived through a very important era in English history. It was a missionary era, but it was also an era of change and development that brought insecurity to the people, the nations of England and the Church. How was the church to respond to the modernising change of England, first of all becoming England and at the same time being drawn closer and closer into mainland Europe. The mission of the Roman Church was paramount in the process, although there were other social, economic and political factors that worked together to bring about the change. In this new era the Roman Church had the unity, structure and above all the power to become supreme, while local and contextual expressions of the Church were largely unable to deal with the changes, because they were tied to a context and a tradition that was largely being lost.

The Augustinian Model

The value of the Roman Tradition that was brought to this island through the work of Gregory the Great and his apostle Augustine, in the sixth century, could then be seen to be highly significant  It had the structures to deal with the changes and was able to bring the church into the new era. Indeed it may have been strongly influential in developing the society of which it was a part. 

The Augustinian mission was founded on the structures of the Church of Rome and the mission in Canterbury was staffed by priests who had to become evangelists rather than monks. This church had largely rejected the ideas of the desert fathers and in its place developed the Benedictine order of monasteries. Augustine had been given by the Pope authority over all the dioceses of Britain, and we can immediately deduce from this, without the need to look at other evidence that Augustine's church had an hierarchical structure. There was central and defined control leading all the way back to Rome. In this sense, also it understood itself to represent the Universal Church, and Bede clearly states that the Augustinian Church in Britain was one in all its structures, liturgy and organisation with the rest of Christendom[]. This was one of the arguments used at the synod of Whitby to convince King Oswy. However it needs to be noted that both Wilfrid at Whitby and Bede in describing the events substantially overstated the case, as it is unlikely that there was such a concept of uniformity of structures and liturgy in the western Church in the 6th - 8th centuries. Such statements of structures speak of the need for stability and certainty in a time of change and uncertainty.

Yet in the contemporary paradigm shift the legacy of the Roman Church in Britain, in terms principally of its expression in the Anglican Church and its remnants in the Reformed Churches has little authority, authenticity or integrity. It is perceived as an imported or even alien element in the church that is related to a bygone era and has little to contribute to a society and culture that despises and rejects authority, absolutes, traditions, dogma and Truth claims. Rather, then it is to the Celtic expression of Christianity that reformers are turning. Van der Weyer claims that the reforms that he is part of are not reforms, but radical changes in the church, hence he uses the term “resurrection”.  Likewise he relates them to what he perceives the Celtic Church to be, expressed in its faith and structures. Although I must admit that in reading his book “Celtic Resurrection”[]. I find little that can really claim to relate to the Church in these islands in the 6th - 8th century. Much of it is wishful thinking, but I will return to this later.

The Celtic Model

Understanding the characteristics of the contemporary era in Britain, the correlations between it and the “Celtic Christian” era are clear and therefore the exploration of the theme must be important and possibly influential for our concern for mission in Britain and Europe in the 21st century. We find today, that there is a great enthusiasm for all things Celtic. This is easily seen in the souvenir shops and particularly the bookshops. Something that is overtly Welsh, Irish, Scottish or Celtic in a general way will sell, whether it is tea-towels, crosses, cuddly dragons, or books (although it is noteworthy that books with Celtic titles are already being remaindered by the publishers).  1997 saw the celebration of the 1400th anniversary of the arrival of Augustine, and the death of Columba. What has been overlooked to some extent is that it is also the 1600th anniversary of the death of St. Ninian the evangelist of the Picts. Ninian is also Celtic. While there has been a celebration of Augustine, the greatest part of the celebration appears to have been the Celtic model of church, spirituality and mission.

The two church models of Celtic and Augustinian represent two different models for two different ages. The Celtic represents the old Age and old Christianity which had more to do with the Roman Empire than the early middle ages. This old church modelled on the church of Gaul had developed from an urban based church to a monastic one, which had probably been influenced by the Egyptian Fathers. These monk-evangelists were able to travel the country by making use of the sea lanes and were willing to venture into the wilder pales of Britain. They seem to have had an independence in their work.

That being said, however, it is difficult to define what was the Celtic Church and what is Celtic Spirituality and theology. The term Celtic in the sense that it is being used today, is a modern development. I do not have the space to go into a history of the term, but it is derived from a Greek and Roman context that basically meant “foreigner” in the same way that the name “Welsh” is really and Anglo-Saxon word meaning foreigner. And it is much more than this, it is a very derogative term for a foreigner. It has, therefore become somewhat akin to the concept of the Hebrew ‘apiru - a bunch of riffraff. So like this Hebrew term it has become associated with the marginalised, the oppressed and the backward peoples of Europe. These terms are used both in a geographic and sociological sense. The Celt is perceived to be primarily a rural person and so is associated with the rural mentality that can relate to the creation, nature, weather, and whose life is dependent upon these things.

Consequently the ecologists of our day have rediscovered the Celtic tradition in terms of its perceived concern for nature. The collection of Highland material known as the Carmina Gadelica has been well used as evidence of the panentheism of the Celts. In this collection we have the prayers of blessing and the expression of the intimate incarnation of Christ and the saints in every aspect of daily life. Yet one has to question whether these represent the Celtic tradition in a broad sense or whether they are little more that a lay theology of a small group of people in the north of Britain that have historically totally been dependent on the land for their lives. (Interestingly too, is that these people are historically both Celtic and Norse, and yet in most of the writings the Norse influence is largely ignored). The spirituality that these poems express is a very personal and individual piety. This too, has become emphasised in the modern rediscovery of Celtic spirituality, which is probably in marked contrast to the historic reality of the importance of community in the 6th - 8th centuries.

This is the perception, and not necessarily the reality. But in the post-modern thought world it is the perception that is important. Celt then, in religious terms, becomes something that is both historic and also contemporary, because it is mostly an attitude, a state of mind and an outlook (although some scholars like Esther De Waal[] would want to confine it to an ethnic nature). It is also a religious concept, that represents the alternative to mainline and particularly institutional Christianity. For people like Simpson[], Mitton[], and Toulson[], it is perceived as the historic model that has been oppressed by the institutional church for over a millennium, and is the model that is more appropriate to an age of individuality and pluralism.

The modern era of the Celtic rediscovery, began in the romanticism of the last century, and so has its roots in the heart, rather than the head. Consequently it emphasises feelings almost to the exclusion of theory and doctrine. In this way it has been contrasted with the Anglo-Saxon mentality which is characterised as one of reason and intellect. Certainly a broader look at Celtic poetry, including the Welsh and Irish material will show that there is feeling and imagination, but it is not arbitrary and necessarily creation focused. The material is primarily God focused. The work that Allchin has done on the Welsh Praise Poetry[] makes this very clear. So the context may be the rural, but the theology is theocentric. It is then a contextualised theology.

Using the illustration of Columba as an archetypal Celtic saint, we have the picture of great holiness, humility, poverty and courage in the Christian faith. Although this, in itself is a selective portrayal, for Columba was a member of the Royal family and some of his biography including his involvement in the battle of Cuile Dreimhne and his fiery temper seem to betray this portrayal. Yet the place of the saints and holy places and pilgrimages associated with them are an important aspect of modern Celtic perception.

Many of the contemporary authors, particularly those who are publishing material through the popular paperback press, necessarily need to be seen as attempting to construct a new type of theology or spirituality for the post-modern era, and they are conveniently calling this Celtic. What real relationship it has with the historic reality of what we might want to call the Celtic Church, but perhaps better to call it the Celtic Christian Era of Britain is a matter for discussion. This is not to say that it has no value.

There are a number of aspects of the historic Celtic Church that would be of value for today.

First, Politics. Many of the hagiographies tell of the saints being involved with the politics and the politicians of their time. This is clearly true of such people as Columba, Patrick and Columbanus. It is not a unique phenomenon that is found among these Celtic saints, for it is equally found in the lives of many of the Anglo-Saxon saints. Yet perhaps the Celts give the better example, for while they were ready to work alongside kings and princes, they were also very ready to challenge the political power.

Second, Learning. This is one aspect of the Celtic tradition that is easily lost. For the most pale the legacy of the Celtic era is displayed in the form of illuminated manuscripts, and this is the level which most people find of interest. A visit to view the book of Kells or the Lichfield Gospels, indicates that people see no further than the illuminations. Yet what they really represent is the great learning tradition that the Celtic monasteries upheld. Indeed it is said by some scholars that learning was kept alive in Europe throughout the Dark ages, because of the Celtic monasteries and particularly the monasteries in Ireland. This tradition is important because it reminds us of the centrality of the scriptures in the Celtic Christian era, and the importance of the intellect in understanding the Christian faith. This seems to be in such contrast to the pervading culture that rejects the Bible as Scripture and wants to emphasise emotion and feelings in religion almost to the exclusion of the intellect.

Third, the Poetic tradition of the Celts is important today because it represents the appeal of the creative arts. The success of Riverdance, which is both creative arts and Celtic illustrates this. But for MacCraith it is particularly the use of the arts in praise of God.

Fourth, the focus on the cross of Christ and repentance for sin and forgiveness.  Examples of this are found in the theology of the period and also the number of “penitentials” that have survived.

Fifth, pilgrimage. The emphasis on community and holy place and the cult of the saints as an example of suffering self-sacrifice and prayer is one of the main aspects that has been highlighted by many of the contemporary authors.

All of these are important aspects of the tradition that can relate to people of post-modern spiritual perceptions. 

Conclusion

So, what are our conclusions? In a post-modern era, the Church has to be ready to shed much of its institution. tradition and its dependence on creeds and dogmas. If the church is to be serious about mission in Britain it must take seriously the religious and spiritual perceptions of people and society. The post-modern person is unconcerned with institutions, absolutes and metanarratives. This does not mean that it has to reject its long history of theological debate, and the thrashing out of dogmatics and theories. We must be able to understand God, Christ and our faith, intellectually. Faith is about the head as well as the heart. But these things do not make for mission or evangelism.  Therefore we cannot start with doctrines, Truth claims or even Scripture. We have to start with where the people are. And they are with feelings, emotions and non-systematic religious thought. It is one of the post-Modern characteristics that people are able to hold together quite happily inconsistent philosophies and find no problem with that approach. Society is a pick and mix society, and it is a very individualistic society. People are concerned about relationships, and they do believe in the spiritual, miracles and the supernatural.

The contemporary understanding of Celtic spirituality has been moulded to conform to contemporary thinking. Celtic spirituality is seen to be individualistic, sensory, creation related, holistic, anti-insitutional and favouring the marginalised and oppressed. This is largely a modern construct, but people can relate to it very easily. This I believe is the meeting point of Celtic Spirituality, mission and contemporary society. Yet, of course, Celtic spirituality is much more than this. The historic evidence tells us that it is Trinitarian and Christocentric in theology. In practice it deals with the realities of the world, of sin and repentance, of political oppression, and all of this from a very strong Biblical perspective. Starting with the emotions and the everyday life experience it moves on to the absolutes and the metanarratives.

In a society that is in change with all the uncertainties that this brings, and in the light of the demonstrations of the need to express spiritual emotion, the Celtic model of mission is surely more appropriate than the Augustinian model.

Notes