Today is the first Sunday of the month when we share guest posts from people living and teaching the Contemplative and/or Celtic Christian way around the world. One of the beautiful things about the internet is that people doing amazing things in isolated parts of the world can learn from one another and grow together. … Continue reading Be Who You Were Born to Be →

Monasticism, in the Christian tradition, goes right back to Egypt and Syria in the third and fourth centuries. For a brief period in Christianity's early history it was very dangerous to have the name Christian. Martyrdom was seen as a virtue precisely because the empire was trying to crush the Jesus movement which claimed that … Continue reading New Monasticism: A Modern Expression of an Ancient Way →

This is the last in a three part series on Mary Magdalene with my friend Kayleen Asbo. The first part was What do We Know About Mary Magdalene? and the second part was Was Mary Magdalene a Sex Worker? In this section we are looking at the relationship between Mary and that other famously contemplative … Continue reading Mary and John: Two Examples of Contemplation →

Mary Magdalene is often presented as the repentant prostitute. The one who lived a life of harlotry and sin but was healed by Jesus and so became his devotee. There's all kinds of problems with this. Firstly, it has a very negative view of sexuality in general, and women's sexuality in particular. Secondly, there's no … Continue reading Was Mary Magdalene a Sex Worker? →

Mary Magdalene is one of the most mysterious figures in the bible. In the canonical gospel stories she is clearly presented as being close to Jesus. She is there with him at the crucifixion and she is the first to see him after the resurrection. We can see that she was clearly devoted to Jesus … Continue reading What Do We Know About Mary Magdalene? →

Today is the first Sunday of the month when we share guest posts from people living and teaching the Contemplative and/or Celtic Christian way around the world. One of the beautiful things about the internet is that people doing amazing things in isolated parts of the world can learn from one another and grow together. … Continue reading Monkey Mind: Christian Mindfulness and the Eternal Now →

Celtic cosmology has often been cyclical rather than linear. The pre-Christian myths of the Celtic people do not have an account of the origins of the universe or the end of time. That changed when Christianity came on the scene as there was a clear beginning and clear end to the Biblical narrative. Yet, there … Continue reading Apokatastasis: An Alternative Doctrine to Hell →

When discussing the way in which we are saved by the incarnation, Eriugena adds a striking commentary. Not only, he asserts, were humans saved by the incarnation, but indeed through humanity all of creation was redeemed. Eriugena taught that humanity is the midpoint of all creation, we are the focal point of the universe. This … Continue reading The Universe Inside You: An Advent Reflection →

There is an ancient Celtic belief, taught to us by Eriugena, that salvation happened primarily through the incarnation rather than the crucifixion. It was the bringing together of heaven and earth, spirit and matter, creator and creation, that healed the world. Jesus is the celestial physician, the healer of the material universe, and he came … Continue reading We Are Saved by the Incarnation →

In the contemporary Western church today there is a great emphasis in the cataphatic theology of God. Many modern songs used in church make bold declarations of who God is, and some of the modern charismatic responsive statements are the same, for example when the leader proclaims ‘God is good’ a common response is ‘all … Continue reading The Path to God Leads to Nothing →