A Very Celtic Christmas

Much is often made of the “closeness” of “Celtic” Christian spirituality to the rest of the created order and the “natural world”. At times, this approach is even presented as more “incarnational” than other forms of Christianity.

Yet sometimes one wonders what is specifically “Christian” about all this. Holy wells are well and good, but what about the incarnation of Christ Himself? Did Celtic Christian have much to say about this?

In this Fellows Lecture, Dr. Matthew Hoskin will unpack the the Celtic tradition’s theology of the incarnate Christ, from the foundational Trinitarian orthodoxy of St Patrick’s Confession and St Columba’s hymn Altus Prosator and its specific expressions in liturgy and poetry, closing with a consideration of John Scotus Eriugena. It will be demonstrated that the early medieval Irish, Welsh, and Scottish church had a perfectly orthodox Christian faith that expressed itself in its very own mode, and that this can still help us worship the incarnate God more fully today.

The lecture will be followed by a time of Q&A.