John Scotus Eriugena used to be born and raised in Ireland right through the early ninth century. Neither monk nor priest but a ”holy sage,” he carried to France the flower of Celtic Christianity. His homily, The Voice of the Eagle, is a jewel of lyrical mysticism, theology, and cosmology, containing the essence of Celtic Christian wisdom. He meditates at the meaning and purpose of creation as revealed by the Word made flesh, distilling into twenty-three short chapters a uniquely Celtic, non-dualistic fusion of Christianity, Platonism, and ancient Irish wisdom. The translator’s ”Reflections” make up the second one half of this book and try to unfold one of the vital life-giving meaning implicit in Eriugena’s luminous sentences. Inspired both by a personal seek for a living Christianity and by a sense of the continuity of Western culture, these ”Reflections” offer a recent, meditative encounter with the Word, or Logos, as mediated by both St. John’s Prologue and Eriugena’s Celtic homily. This favorite of Celtic Christianity, unavailable for several years, has been revised and features a new introduction by Thomas Moore, writer of Care of the Soul and The Soul of Sex. Includes John Scotus Eriugena’s Homily at the Prologue to the Gospel of St. John Christopher Bamford has written a wonderful book. It combines a rigour of scholarship with a lyrical unveiling of how this wonderful text of Eriugena’s can resonate with the hungers and discoveries of our times. It deserves a wide readership. Its lucid depths enrich the mind and awaken the heart to the grandeur of light where the eternal shines. – John O’Donohue, writer of Anam Cara: A Book of Celtic Wisdom
Category: Celtic Religions
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