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64 reviews for:
Sacred Earth, Sacred Soul: The Celtic Art of Reawakening to the Sacred
John Philip Newell
4.38 AVERAGE
64 reviews for:
Sacred Earth, Sacred Soul: The Celtic Art of Reawakening to the Sacred
John Philip Newell
4.38 AVERAGE
informative
inspiring
fast-paced
Returning to a sense of the inherent sacredness of the world around me was something I was craving without realizing I was craving it. As far as Christianity goes, this feels much more humane. I appreciate the distinction between Celtic Christianity (which enfolds Druidic wisdom into it) and Roman Imperial Christianity (the main school of Christianity we see today). As far as unlearning toxic religious ideas go, this was a good direction for me.
This book isn't perfect, but it's damn near close. Newell is a masterful researcher and storyteller. He develops an excellent thesis and gives us beautiful examples to support it. Modern Christianity does not have to reinvent the wheel to respond to the ecological crisis we face today. We have a rich tradition deep with relevant thinkers, and only need to rediscover them. Newell helps us along this journey. I deeply recommend this book to those who no longer feel like their Christian tradition is relevant, who feel lost or homeless in Christianity, and who want to discover a Christianity in right relationship with the natural world.
A treasure trove of ancient wisdom that I will explore again and again.
In Sacred Earth, Sacred Soul, John Philip Newell invites the reader to reawaken themselves to, as he puts it, "what our souls already know to be true" about our relationship to the divine, the earth, and our own spirits. To help with this reawakening, Newell uses the wisdom of eight Celtic prophets and one Celtic community to highlight various streams within Celtic spirituality. He teaches theses various wisdoms with a tone that is straightforward and incredibly readable; one does not need an educational background in theology or spirituality in order to follow Newell's train of thought.
My only major criticism is that of the eight prophets he discussed, he only chose to discuss one woman: St Brigid of Kidlare. In the conclusion, though, he briefly mentioned Nan Shepherd, who he called the female version of John Muir (to whom Newell dedicated an entire chapter). The fact that he mentioned Shepherd briefly and only in the conclusion highlights his awareness to female Celtic prophets who are doing this important work, too. It is my hope that he makes their contributions a more focal point in his future works.
Overall, it's a profound collection of sacred wisdom that I highly recommend and will revisit myself.
In Sacred Earth, Sacred Soul, John Philip Newell invites the reader to reawaken themselves to, as he puts it, "what our souls already know to be true" about our relationship to the divine, the earth, and our own spirits. To help with this reawakening, Newell uses the wisdom of eight Celtic prophets and one Celtic community to highlight various streams within Celtic spirituality. He teaches theses various wisdoms with a tone that is straightforward and incredibly readable; one does not need an educational background in theology or spirituality in order to follow Newell's train of thought.
My only major criticism is that of the eight prophets he discussed, he only chose to discuss one woman: St Brigid of Kidlare. In the conclusion, though, he briefly mentioned Nan Shepherd, who he called the female version of John Muir (to whom Newell dedicated an entire chapter). The fact that he mentioned Shepherd briefly and only in the conclusion highlights his awareness to female Celtic prophets who are doing this important work, too. It is my hope that he makes their contributions a more focal point in his future works.
Overall, it's a profound collection of sacred wisdom that I highly recommend and will revisit myself.
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Engaging work, and the first work I've read by Newell. I'm fascinated by the Celtic Christian tradition and connect with it in my roots and this book gave me a sense of the heritage and practices and ideas that stem from this tradition. It is beautifully written and rich in content. A lot to think about and introduced me to some new authors to read. I am typically not a fan of episodic work and this book is written with a chapter focus on each person, but it really works here. There are also some great appendix meditations and focuses to enliven the experience more for the reader. Highly recommend.
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Powerful. Provides a historical background for the Celtic fath/traditions and explains how they were nearly eradicated due to imperialistic Roman catholicism. For anyone who feels out of touch with the big 3 Abrahamic religions but feels so deeply spiritual. Pagan vibes ✨️
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
I have so many opinions about this book.
First of all, I love it, and it’s gonna inform so much of my theology and spiritual practice for years to come, but you can so so so tell that this was written by a man.
He claimed to be radical, but only really talked about a woman once in the book and purposely seemed to leave out transit, non-binary people within the discussion of theology and spiritual practice. It wasn’t as radical as I hoped it would be, but it was a nice foundation for a radical sense of theology. I wish the author would have dive deeper into other historical figures and “prophets” especially more women and trans people, because I’m sure that there are women and trans. People who were a part of this kind of theology and history and lineage into only include one person, was disappointing.
First of all, I love it, and it’s gonna inform so much of my theology and spiritual practice for years to come, but you can so so so tell that this was written by a man.
He claimed to be radical, but only really talked about a woman once in the book and purposely seemed to leave out transit, non-binary people within the discussion of theology and spiritual practice. It wasn’t as radical as I hoped it would be, but it was a nice foundation for a radical sense of theology. I wish the author would have dive deeper into other historical figures and “prophets” especially more women and trans people, because I’m sure that there are women and trans. People who were a part of this kind of theology and history and lineage into only include one person, was disappointing.