Brendan's Return Voyage: A New American Dream: Indigenous, Post-Colonial, and Celtic Theology - Hardcover

by Ray Simpson (Author)

A myth is reviving in the USA, which recent research validates, that Saint Brendan voyaged over three thousand miles from Ireland to America to evangelize it, but when the Indians near the Mississippi welcomed him, he realized Jesus was already there. In humility he returned home. In contrast, USA missions have taken a colonial approach to evangelizing Native American tribes, requiring converts to rubbish their culture and accept white culture as Christian. This book discerns the Creator's imprints in indigenous tribes. It identifies some fault-lines in USA (and Western) society and church, e.g., white supremacy, manifest destiny, and the twin towers of empire-building and separatism. Churches need to repent of these false gods. They need to break free from the prison of consumerism and become open to the prophetic spirit. The book also explores the Creator's imprints in white American culture, and the Christian spirituality of the Euro-Americans' "indigenous" forbears, the Celts. The book outlines ways in which, in these fading decades of Western supremacy, and despite polarization, indigenous, settler, and immigrant peoples may journey together as modern followers of the Way. Those who rise to this challenge undertake a new Brendan's Voyage and create a new American dream.

Author Biography

Ray Simpson is Founding Guardian of the international Community of Aidan and Hilda. Author of forty books on biblical and Celtic spirituality--the latest being Christianity and Climate Change: Ten Keys for the Future of the Church--he has lectured in North America and other continents and has dialogued with First Nation peoples in several countries. He has a house on England's Holy Island of Lindisfarne. His website is www.raysimpson.org.