Reclaiming an Ancient Heritage: Celtic Spirituality for Today's World - Paperback

by Gwenyth R. Masters Macc (Author)

If history is what legitimizes Christian traditions, then Celtic Christian Spirituality has much to contribute to today's world. Reclaiming this ancient wisdom provides possibilities to enrich and challenge our lives regardless of time and place differences. Can you imagine a law being developed to protect the innocents in times of warfare, and signed by all the nations' leaders? Is it possible to live without jails, choosing instead to have transforming justice leading to reconciliation and healthy community life? Is wrongdoing an evil to be punished or a weakness which could be healed? Do Celtic saints have anything to offer us that might enrich our lives if we reclaim this ancient heritage? Was Pelagius a fearsome heretic or a great Celtic theologian? Is the hospitality being showed around the world today to strangers in shocking grief situations with offerings of flowers and prayers a continuation or retrieval of the Celtic understanding of hospitality? Is it conceivable that the diversity offered through reclaiming our ancient heritage has simply been long forgotten - or has it been deliberately cast aside? This book discusses the ways the ancient Celts provided a beacon of light celebrating the sacredness of all creation and of their ordinary everyday living during the so-called European 'Dark Ages', bequeathing a heritage which we can reconstruct today. Reclaiming our Ancient Heritage investigates all these themes - and much more.

Author Biography

Rev. Gwen Masters holds an MA in Celtic Christianity from the University of Wales, Lampeter and has travelled extensively through the Celtic lands of the UK and Ireland attending courses at Lampeter, Iona and Sarum College. She is a trained and experienced spiritual director (anam chara) and has led many discussions on varying aspects of Celtic Culture, Wisdom and Spirituality, including cruise-ship scholarship lecturing. Gwen led the Beechworth (Victoria, Australia) Celtic Pilgrimage for several years, producing study booklets and leading meditation on Celtic themes for pilgrims. Gwen grew up on a small mixed farm in central Victoria. After schooling she had a variety of jobs before travelling to Alice Springs where she worked at a Children's hostel run by the Methodist Inland Mission, caring for outback children in town for their education. She completed her Presbyterian deaconess training obtaining a Dip. R.E. after which she was posted to the West Kimberley area of NW Australia where she worked in an educational role with children and in adult education for the aboriginal community. From here she moved to the East Kimberley where she and husband Wayne were house parents for outback children. After being ordained as a minister of the Uniting Church in Australia, she served in a city church in Canberra, a suburban church in Melbourne and then resourcing Lay Ministry teams in rural Victoria. Gwen is mother of four young men of whom she is inordinately proud, and is enjoying a growing number of grand-children. Her email is: mastersgwenythr@gmail.co