Celtic Christianity - The Call of God

Chapter 2 - The Call of God

Today I gird myself With the power of Christ’s birth together with his baptism,With the power of his crucifixion together with his burial,With the power of his resurrection together with his ascension,With the power of his descent to pronounce judgment of Doomsday.

God enters human history in Jesus Christ, revealing and fulfilling his purpose inthe human person. In his life, death and resurrection, Jesus completes the divinecall to bless all nations through the children of Abraham and create one new manfrom the Jew and Gentile nations who will bear his image and likeness. In Christ,God calls His people to Himself.

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This second verse of Patrick’s Breastplate focuses upon the power of this callingrevealed in the life of Jesus. By praying these words, the believer seeks protectionwith the power revealed in every aspect of Jesus’ life. Why pray for this power?Through His life, death and resurrection, Jesus provides redemption for the believer. His life, death and resurrection also reveal a pattern that guides ourown lives. This prayer reminds us that in Christ, we discover our own calling,and through his power, we enter into the reality of that calling.In four simple lines, this prayer creates a composite image of the life of JesusChrist. Each line is but a snapshot, focusing on a specific aspect of the callrevealed in Christ Jesus. In some ways, these four lines correspond with fourimages the of Jesus found among the ancient Celtic Christians: Jesus as the Model Monk Jesus as the Dread Judge Jesus as the Wonder Worker Jesus as the Harrower of Hell

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These four images shine light into the Celtic understanding Jesus’ call, and canhelp us reflect more deeply on how Jesus reveals the call in our own lives. Jesus as the Model Monk

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N.T. Wright’s reading of the gospel has influenced this approach to call and blessing. For a better grasp of his insights, read…

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Michael W. Herren and Shirley Ann Brown, Christ in Celtic Christianity: Britain and Ireland from thefifth to the tenth century, The Boydell Press (Woodbridge), 2002.

Right after Peter realizes the stunning truth that Jesus is “the Christ, the son ofthe Living God,” Jesus stuns him again by announcing, "If anyone desires tocome after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.”

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The call to follow Christ is dangerous: follow Jesus and you’re sure to die. Theearliest Celtic monks heard this call and obeyed. In this call to ultimatehumiliation, they encountered Jesus as the model monk.This image of model monk plays a primary role among the Pelagians. Pelagiuswas likely a Briton or an Irish ascetic who had traveled to the continent sometimein the late fourth century, early fifth century. Shocked by the moral laxity inRome and influenced by some ideas among the Eastern Church Fathers,

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heresponded to Rome by challenging the common understanding of original sinand the need for God’s grace to live holy lives.Instead, he suggested that grace is “created nature itself”

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and man has thefreedom and the capacity to obey the law of God. He denied that man’s conditionchanged after the garden of Eden and believed that man always had to power tochoose to live and to do right.Pelagius lived an exemplary life and preached the value of obeying everything inScripture: Old and New Testament. Those who taught or follow his ideas becameknown as Pelagians and Semi-Pelagians. Some of the key ideas found in theirwritings, include the following:1.Nature is defined as grace and includes the freedom of the will, the lawsof Moses and Christ, and instruction. Baptism (and penance to a lesserextent) is the only thing that is outside man’s power if given by God butmust be accepted by man.2.Adam’s sin is not transmitted to all men even though his disobediencefound many imitators.3.Man is responsible to obey the whole law (Old and New Testament). Jesusis a new Moses, the giver of a New Law.

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Matthew 16:24 (NKJV).

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Herren, p. 71.

4.Because scripture reveals the law, true Christians must learn to read, sothey can know and obey the law for themselves.5.Scripture is our only guide. They rejected commentaries and the writingsof the church.6.Poverty is the highest virtue. Likewise, riches are the highest sin: the rootof all evil.

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Miracles are rejected because they are signs of God’s intervention on behalf of some. This indicates that God might show favorites, and hedoesn’t. All men are responsible to live holy lives without the interventionof any extra grace and power from God.

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The Pelagians looked to Jesus as a model for living this holy and devout life.They emphasized the stories of Jesus fasting in the wilderness, fighting the devil,and undergoing the suffering of the cross. At the same time, they de-emphasizedthe miracle stories of Jesus.St. Augustine battled with Pelagius for many years and eventually in 431,Pelagianism was officially condemned at the council at Ephesus.

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In spite of anofficial reprimand, Pelagian thought continued to spread and exert aconsiderable influence throughout the empire and particularly in the Celticworld.

In fact, a strong Pelagian influence upon the Celtic churches continued throughthe sixth century and was still occasionally referenced in the ninth century. St.Patrick’s Confessions and Patrick’s Breastplate

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appear to respond to Pelagianinfluence by focusing heavily man’s dependence upon God’s grace.Pelagianism emphasized the ascetic life, the disciplined life. Thus the crossmakes a perfect symbol for this life of self-denial. While Pelagianism was rightlycondemned as a heresy, it did bring an important focus to the deception of riches

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Michael W. Herron, pp. 69-80.

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Pelagius, Evangelical Dictionary of Theology.

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While the earliest manuscripts for Patrick’s Confessio is the seventh century, historians view these as freefrom the typical hagiographical elements of the time and thus consider this writing to reflect a real personnamed Patrick. See Patrick: The Pilgrim Apostle of Ireland, Maire B. de Paor, New York: HarperCollins,1998, p. 20. According to John Carey, some scholars still defend Patrick’s Breastplate as originating withPatrick but most believe that is was composed sometime in the eighth century. See King of Mysteries:Early Irish Religious Writings, John Carey, Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2000, p. 128.