Talk:Celtic Christianity

It should be pointed out that there is controversy within the academia regarding the existence of the Celtic Church. Since the 1970's a number of prominent historians have questioned the validity of the concept, arguing that the notion of the Celtic Church is largely a modern construct. The most notable proponents of this view have been the late Professor Kathleen Hughes of Cambridge University and Professor Wendy Davies of London University.

For example, Professor Wendy Davies confidently asserts that there was no such thing as a Celtic Church and the concept can be extremely misleading when attempting to understand the development of religious thought throughout the British Isles in the early medieval period. Basically she argues that there was considerable divergence in religious practices between different regions of Europe after the collapse of the Western Roman Empire and that it makes no more sense to speak of a Celtic Church than it does to speak of a Spanish Church or a Germanic Church during this period. She points out that the notion of the Celtic Church is not attested from any contemporary medieval source and that it was popularised during from the middle of the 19th century onwards. She conjectures that the rise of this concept had more to do with the ideological needs of Victorian society than evidence drawn from authentic medieval sourcces. Furthermore, she points out that a belief in the existence of a cohesive 'Celtic Christianity' can obscure genuine religious differences between different regions and different cultural groupings within the British Isles.

Important references include:

• Kathleen Hughes, 'The Celtic Church: Is This a Valid Concept?', O'Donnell lectures in Celtic Studies, University of Oxford 1975

• Kathleen Hughes, Church and Society in Ireland. London: Variorum, 1987.

• Wendy Davies, "The Myth of the Celtic Church." In The Early Church in Wales and the West, Oxbow Monograph, no. 16, edited by Nancy Edwards and Alan Lane, 12-21. Oxford: Oxbow, 1992.

• Wendy Davies, Wales in the Early Middle Ages. Leicester: Leicester University Press, 1982.

There is a nice summary of the debate in:

• Donald Meek, Surveying the Saints: Reflections on Recent Writings on 'Celtic Christianity Scottish Bulletin of Evangelical Theology Vol. 15, No 1, Spring 1997.

The views of these historians are not universally accepted and have not made a significant impact on the popular imagination, but have been very influential within academia. Very few medieval historians will confidently assert the existence of a cohesive Celtic Church nowadays without clarification.

A few additional references that should be considered when discussing traditional conceoptions of Celtic Christianity in the Early Medieval Period include:

• T. M. Charles-Edwards, `The pastoral role of the church in the early Irish laws' in Pastoral Care before the Parish, ed. J. Blair and R. Sharpe, 1992, pp. 63-80

• C. Etchingham, `Bishops in the early Irish church', Studia Hibernica 28 (1994), 35-62

• C. Etchingham, Church Organization in Ireland 650 to 1000, 1999

• C. Harrington, Women in a Celtic Church. Ireland 450-1150, 2002

• H. Pryce, `Pastoral care in early medieval Wales' in Pastoral Care before the Parish, ed. J. Blair and R. Sharpe, 1992, pp. 41-62

• J.M.H. Smith, `Celtic asceticism and Carolingian authority in early medieval Brittany', Studies in Church History 22 (1985)

• C. Thomas, Early Christian Archaeology of North Britain, 1971

• C. Thomas, Christianity in Roman Britain to AD500, 1981

I'm sure that there are more...I might post some additional ideas as I think of them.

(Drat. Now I'll need to set up a proper user account here).
(Above text added by user 59.167.13.12)

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The criticsm that this article is skewed is quite correct. There was at least 350 years of conflict between Roman Christianity and Celtic Christianity that was finally resolved at the The Synod of Whitby in 664 A.D. To claim that Celtic Christians thought themselves as orthodox and in harmony with the teachings of Rome is a fairly large exageration. Though the Celtic form of Christianity was outlawed at the Google Synod of Whitby and Synod of Whitby. The ruling itself was not fully accepted, and Celtic Christians sustained indepentantly minded ideas until at least 900 A.D. (i.e. they accepted the Synod of Whitby's conclustions begrudgedly).

Furthermore, there is some evidence that Roman Christianity may have actually been influenced, developed, and possibly initiated by Celtic Christians. Like for example:

In 2 Timothy 4:1 Paul gives greetings to the Celts Pudens, and Linus (Celtic name Llyn). Llyn (Linus) was most likely the first Bishop of Rome as Peter hadn't yet come to Rome. Both Pudens and Linus were children of Caractacus also known as Caradoc. When Caradoc came to Rome, his household became known as Palatium Britannicum (Palace of the Britons), and Paul was certainly aware that Caradoc and his family were all Christians.

Also, the empiror Constantines mother was most likely British. Though historians tend to criticize Geoffrey of Monmouth's account. Constantine I (emperor) (subsection: Geoffrey of Monmouth and a Constantine made British) there is other evidence that this may be true.

Finally, in making the Roman Empire "Christian", Constantine clearly held a number of countils, and turned to the experts. In the Council of Arles in 318 A.D. which dealt with some administrative and theology issues, we clearly see Celtic Christians being consulted to give guidance.

I support the claim that this article is skewed and recommend it be given a re-write which reflects a more even treatment of non-Roman Christians.

WikiRat

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I found the article highly dismissive, failing to reckon the fight for independence that preceded Celtic conformance with Rome.

What fight for independence? When Coleman lost the debate at Whitby he said that his future opposition would be in prayer, and asked others who dissented to join him in his island monastry and do likewise --ClemMcGann 14:51, 30 Mar 2005 (UTC)

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I quite agree. This article would not need corrections, it would need to be rewritten altogether. As it is, it is very one-sided and plays down the differences that existed.

Having contributed some of the material to this article in the past, I am puzzled over the allegations of "dismissive" & "one-sided". The Christians in Britain & Ireland thought of themselves as not only being orthodox but in harmony with the teachings of Rome. And it was they who learned that some of their traditions were not in harmony with the wider church, & made the efforts of bringing themselves into harmony: we learn from a letter from Cummian to Segene, abbot of Iona that a council in southern Ireland c.630 had adopted the Roman dating for Easter; then c.697 in northern Ireland; in 715 in Iona, & at last in 768 in Wales. There never was a formal schism between the believers in Celtic Christianity & Rome on the scale of, say, the Monophysites & Rome in the east. (Nor even between the northern Italian churches & Rome over the Three Chapter Controversy.) And the very gradualness of this adoption of Easter points to the fact that there was no Celtic Church but Celtic Churches.

Of course, English partisans like Bede found it their advantage to emphasize the differences between the old Christians of western & the new Christians of eastern Britain, & thus indirectly argue that God had forsaken the westerners for their errors in faith.

On the other hand, as time progressed & both the Welsh & Irish came under pressure of an united English kingdom, the independence of their bishops -- who identified themselves as Catholic through-&-through -- became more important & thereby a political issue. And as far as I know, only then was a clear separation expressed between Ireland (who came to embace Catholicism), Wales (who embraced various forms on Non-Conformity) & England (who officially embraced Anglicism).

In any case, I agree that this article does need more work & material. -- llywrch 20:31, 19 Dec 2004 (UTC)

I agree with Llywrch, when he says The Christians in Britain & Ireland thought of themselves as not only being orthodox but in harmony with the teachings of Rome. We should not judge those times with our post-reformation thinking. The Celts were different, but they were not deliberately different, and they did seek harmony. There was no competition. Nor was the harmonisation one-sided. For example 1-2-1 confession was a Celtic practice adopted by Rome. --ClemMcGann 14:51, 30 Mar 2005 (UTC)

I am unaware of any issue in those times over the sale of indulgences That was many centuries later --ClemMcGann 14:51, 30 Mar 2005 (UTC)

No words about Pelagius

Pelagius, born in Britain, was one of the most original monk. Saint Augustin himself fought against his doctrine of salvation : the human will predominates againts the divine Mercy.

Pélagianisme : Doctrine de Pélage (né en Grande-Bretagne vers 360, mort en Palestine vers 422) qui minimisait le rôle de la grâce divine par rapport à celui de la volonté humaine, et qui trouva en saint Augustin un adversaire redoutable.

(english translation)

Pelagianism: Doctrines of Pelagius (born in Great Britain towards 360, died in Palestine towards 422) which minimized the role of the divine grace compared to that of the human will, and which was found by Saint Augustine a frightening adversary.

More on the site : Pelagius and pelagianism
I don't know enough to write about it, but it seems to have been important. Gwalarn 17:45, 16 Oct 2004 (UTC)

Although the Vita of St. Germanus of Auxerre mentions he went to Britain to combat Pelagianism, by the time written records emerge of the Celtic Church, the beliefs of that sect had been long forgotten; neither Germanus nor St. Patrick express any knowledge of Pelagianism in their writings, & had he known about it, Gildas for one would have eagerly condemned his fellow men for this belief.

Again on the other hand, some scholars (like J.N.L. Myres & John Morris) claim that Pelagius did have a direct effect on the British church; but I believe Charles Thomas, in his Christianity in Roman Britain to AD 500 (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1981 ISBN 0520043928) has thoroughly shown that these beliefs are incorrect, & based on projecting a modern POV upon an earlier age. -- llywrch 20:31, 19 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Again, I agree with Llywrch --ClemMcGann 14:51, 30 Mar 2005 (UTC)

The Celts did seem to have a different prespective than Augustine. It was only when he was on the continent that Pelagius went to an extreem and then over the line into heresy. At times I am of the opinion that the Augustine school goaded him into heresy. Pelagius, then, did not represent the thinking of the Celts. However he does deserve a mention. --ClemMcGann 14:51, 30 Mar 2005 (UTC)

I have researched Pelagius and have found that his own writings counter the very claims that modern history tries to portray of him. In the opening lines of his article “ON THE CHRISTIAN LIFE" Pelagius writes:

"THE AUTHOR’S HUMBLE OPINION OF HIMSELF. It is purely the occasion of your love (which I have grasped in heart and mind by God’s power) and not faith in my own righteousness, nor the experience of wisdom, nor the glory of knowledge that has compelled me, a sinner first and last, more foolish than others and less experienced than all, to dare to write to you at length in order to counsel you to continue along the path of holiness and justice."

This by no means seems to be the writings of a self righteous man.

About Culdee

An anonymous editor rewrote parts of this article to emphasize a POV that equated Celtic Christianity with "Culdee", but did not bother to explain what was meant by this word. In order to keep this article NPOV, I reverted those changes, while attempting to preserve later edits.

However, there is an article on the Culdees in Wikipedia, which is relevant to the section of this article that discusses modern Celtic Christianity. I'm adding a link to this article because form the notes on this Talk page it does appear there is a non-idosyncratic POV that links the two. -- llywrch 19:37, 30 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Christianity and secularism

From what I've heard, one of the main differences between the Church in Ireland (and presumably the other Celtic nations) and the Continental Churchs was the supremacy of secular law over church law. As an example, marriage was a secular matter so divorce in Gaelic Ireland was legal and commonly practiced. This separation between Christianity and the material world may account for the popularity of contemplative, monastic life in the Celtic world.

This is not my area of expertise so I won't add anything to the acticle. If anyone can add this aspect to the article or contradict it, please do so (I'm a scientist so negatives are as good as positives!) Afn 15:59, 29 August 2005 (UTC)

You are correct to say that Church law did not correspond to ‘Brehon Law’. Although the Church did, in some instances, encouraged (to put it mildly) changes in Brehon Law. A well recorded example would be the exclusion of women and monks from the obligation to fight – to join the army of the local chief when called upon. A poorly documented example is the abolition of slavery. In pre-Christian times there were slaves. Later there weren’t. When Viking towns recognised the overlordship of Irish kings, the abolition of slavery was a condition. Brehon Law recognised divorce, Church law didn’t. In that sense, Church law was different to secular law, rather than being over or under it. However, Brehon law had marriage “for one year certain”. A couple got married for a year. If there was a child then they had to remain together. If not, they could part. It seems that the church accepted this arrangement! --ClemMcGann 16:50, 29 August 2005 (UTC)

So what's the neutrality dispute?

I'm confused, is the NPOV tag just left over from ages ago, or what? Anyway, my tuppenceworth is that ClemMcGann's right, the discussion about Pelagius's real or imagined influence on Celtic Christianity deserves a mention; so does Patrick, who at the minute is not mentioned at all! (Was this deliberate – I mean, was it the opinion of the contributors that Patrick lived prior to the Celtic churches' distinctive features crystallizing or something?) QuartierLatin 1968 17:49, 3 September 2005 (UTC) ---

Major Revision

I've removed the NPOV tag, as I've updated this article, and attempted to show the pro and anti arguments about the existance of the Celtic (or Culdee) church. I've also made effort to track back all of the ancient references that support the birth of the oral tradition which bulsters the pro-celtic church argument that there is sufficient evidence of an independant church to merit separate recognition. Although by no means is this perfect, I feel it is at least more objective than it was, delineating legend and tradition from what is commonly accepted. I've also bulstered the anti-side by providing comments about what ancient sources are thought to be questionable. Please feel free to correct my mistakes, but if you don't agree that this is at least a fairer representation of the article, let me know.

-- WikiRat 17:09, 29 September 2005 (UTC)

Thorough rewrite needed

This article is heavily slanted towards fringe nationalist claims, putting them on the same level as mainstream scholarship. Wikipedia is not the place to propogate historical revisionism. Nor are nationalist or overtly religious POVs appropriate. I'm going to re-instate the neutrality warning. If there is anyone well-versed in Celtic history, I would recommend some editing.--Rob117 18:14, 30 October 2005 (UTC)

I’m sorry you personal don’t believe what the traditional Church historians believed and wrote. Some effort has been made cite the origin of the claims that the apostles brought Christianity to Britain. All of the citations point to church fathers. Furthermore, effort has been made to distinguish between what was written and believed and what was considered legendary. This article conveys what Church historians thought for almost two thousand years. I agree that there are many sceptical modern historians, but they are hardly indicative of full range of people who have written on the subject. If the argument past scholarships is made worthless by modern scholarship, the same logic modern scholarship will become worthless, and his therefore worthless also.

However if you wish to see this content more balanced (according to your understanding) please identify specifically which points are in dispute, or unbalanced. Once you identify those particular points that you are talking about, either show that the early sources did not write or substantiate the existing claims presented by the article, or provide counter evidence that this article is not aware of (perhaps scholarship you are aware of) that comments on, or amplifies earlier scholarship. Regardless, your personal sceptical belief is not shared by credible church historians before this century and therefore I suggest that it may be your view that is skewed. You write:

“If there is anyone well-versed in Celtic history, I would recommend some editing.” Rob117 18:14, 30 October 2005 (UTC)

Are not Tertullian, Maurus, the Bodleian collection, Baronius, Hardynge, Dio Cassius and so on well-versed in Celtic history? How are we to represent the writings of dead experts? Do we forbid their contribution because they are unable to make it in person? Would you have us rewrite this article and cite only the modern authors that you favour? Come on! We cannot ignore the early sources because they may suggest something unpopular or out of vogue. We cannot ignore the comments of the sources cited, and I would suggest that though they are dead, their comments should be included here and influence Wikipedia for they were at one time, all recognized as having credibility and they are hardly “fringe nationalists”. Though I do admit it is a nice tactic to apply a label to those who make unpopular arguments, for that tactic has always effectively removed focus from the argument itself onto the person making the argument.

Let us therefore look at the claims being made here instead of branding me a fringe nationalist, for all I have done is cite earlier experts to support a belief the Catholic Church held for ages. (By the way, I was probably the person whose edits you seem to be reacting to, and I am hardly a ‘fringe nationalist’. I’m Canadian and none of this has anything to do with when the Gospel came to Canada). Anyone with a brain can read what the early church historians wrote, formulate an opinion as to what they wrote and share it here. I am at least qualified to do that. (This is also why I have cited all sources and provided on-line links where possible to afford people the opporutnity to check the sources themselves).

I invite you to provide counter arguments with proof and I will restore the tag, otherwise I appreciate your view that this article is not neutral and incorrect but the tag remains removed. WikiRat 18:14, 3 November 2005 (UTC)

Moving past dogma

Ok, let’s counter this dogma rationally: To Dominick, and Rob117 who keep putting in disputed and POV tags, you have expressed your opinion. We know that you think this article has issues. We are getting no where simply countering each other’s edits.

To make progress, lets move forward then. Specifically what element of the article do you think is incorrect or not neutral. Please identify them point by point so that we can address your concerns. If you are not willing to justify your changes rationally – do not persist in modifying this article. WikiRat 19:40, 3 November 2005 (UTC)

One can't remove the tags, because you want them removed. Yes, there are PoV problems here. In my check of a few sources, the original speculations from the sources, are mangified into fact. These things take time, and unilaterally removing tags is blanking. TIme is needed to work this. Dominick ^(ŤαĿĶ) 19:59, 3 November 2005 (UTC)

I agree. Similarly, one can't arbitrarily add tags because one doesn't like what an article says. Both the addition of a tag and the removal of a tag must be done with justification, and community standards, more or less, recognize good scholarship practices from bad.

Though I contend all claims (that I have contributed to this article) have either been sufficiently supported by source, or clearly identified in proper context, I agree time is necessary for you to make a case. Hopefully I've made this easier for you by providing links to the references cited where they exist on line.

I still would like to know roughly what you disagree with. Is it the apparent history of the apostles, post crucifiction Jerusalem, or perhaps the contention that Church Fathers recognize the antiquity of the British Church. Perhaps you dispute Celtic Christianity has any origins apart from Rome.

It sounds like you object to the connection between early Celtic Christianity (British) and the apostles, if so the connection has been made based upon what Church fathers have written, and re-written (links provided where possible) and not based upon nationalist reasons. Again, you should re-examine your own bias’ in terms of traditional church scholarship.

After reading your User page, I believe I understand a bit more about your motivation. I also ask you to be mindful of your interest in Catholic related stubs in your efforts to be neutral yourself, and if this is a crusade of sorts to not make is such. WikiRat 15:52, 3 November 2005 (EST)

I think this is a reasonable compromise; You haven’t shown how anything in this article is factually incorrect, though you have disputed the neutrality of the article. Therefore, I’m removing the “factually incorrect” tag and leaving the “neutrality disputed” tag.

If you provide examples of where this article is incorrect, we’ll put that tag back in. WikiRat 16:37, 3 November 2005 (EST)

I just ordered Annales Ecclesiatici from a rare book vendor in Germany, and hopefully shortly I'll be able to provide you with copies of the actual text if need be. WikiRat 16:53, 3 November 2005 (EST)

I can agree with a PoV tag. Don't assign me a PoV because of my faith. Rare books are fine if there is a tracable source. Dominick ^(ŤαĿĶ) 23:32, 3 November 2005 (UTC)

The real problem I have is with you using enigmatic statements recorded by Church fathers living 100+ years after the fact, as well legends recorded by medieval chroniclers, as evidence for a hypothesis that not one history book I have ever read even mentions. This hypothesis has apparently failed the Google test- the only sites that even mention it are connected with British Israelism. The only sources that even mention your hypotheses definitely have specific religious and nationalist agendas. Not appropriate sources. Wikipedia is an encyclopedia, and encyclopedias are by nature "mainstream." Wikipedia's NPOV policy neutrally addresses minority views, provided they have noticeable support among mainstream academia. The only sources that seriously support your hypothesis are not in line with these criteria. Yet you devote half the article to endorsing a decidedly fringe view. I also don't appreciate the way you refer to "modern scholars" in quotes, as if you think they're a bunch of dogmatists.

This is not to deny that Celtic Christianity has a distinct history outside Roman Christianity. It certainly does. Regardless, any competent historian will tell you Christianity was brought to the British Isles after the Roman conquest. The uniqueness of the Celtic Church was the result of Celtic adaptation of Christian traditions, not of pre-dating Christianity in Rome. Sorry, but what you are propounding qualifies as historical revisionism, which happens to be a pet peeve of mine.--Rob117 04:22, 4 November 2005 (UTC)

I agree with Rob117, however, the concept that Celts were Christianized before the fall of the Roman Empire is valid for an article. The article uses a lot of psuedo-history and lecture material from the 1960s that is not sourced properly, as it was in that time, and is today. Attempting to use variations among the Celts as proof they were Christianized earlier is not correct. The tonsure issue among them is strange, as that was the style for the Goths not Celts. We have work to do! Dominick ^(ŤαĿĶ) 13:51, 4 November 2005 (UTC)

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Rob117, the statements you find enigmatic, are enigmatic to you because you disbelieve them. Read sequentially across time, in context they say exactly what this article says;

• Britain was Christianized before Rome: Tertullian, Eusebius, St. John Chrysostom
• The apostles brought the new religion to Britian: Rabanus Maurus, Bodleian MSS 108, Hipplytus, Eusebius, St. John Chrysostom
• This new faith was flourishing before Rome arrived: St. Augustine, Pope Pius XI, Council of Basle

Quite frankly, unless your selection of competent historians are reading primary sources and making sense of original work, they should not be considered competent. Otherwise, they are dogmatically reworking incestuous theories, with little regard for pesky, troublesome primary evidence. Personally I accept the comments of Tertullian, Eusebius, Maurus, Hipplytus, Badonicus and Dio Cassius as competent.

We don’t fit the evidence to prove a theory in scholarship, but we accept the theory suggested by the evidence. It is acceptable therefore to classify evidence as enigmatic within the article if evidence can be presented that suggests earlier sources are incorrect or not accurate. However their words cannot be excluded outright, because they are merely believed to be incorrect - they must be shown to be. The words and implications of the original authors cited above have more merit in this Wikipedia article than most others because they are connected to the subject of the article by fewer points of separation and have not been shown to be wrong.

People generally accept the authority of these early writers, but choose not to believe what they wrote, despite any lack of evidence to the contrary making these early citations ‘enigmatic’. If the writers are credible, and no evidence to the contrary exists, than we must accept the statements we find enigmatic whether we believe them or not.

As for the Google test, Wikipedia is an encyclopaedia, and contains many titbits of arcane and obscure ‘facts’. Despite the Google test, this encyclopaedia is not simply a filter for Google. Read any article (say Irish history, Quantum theory) and you will find few of them actually do pass the Google test. Whats more, Googling most subjects almost always leads to a Wikipedia article. Wikipedia is suppose to be the authority on things not Google. Google is simply a search engine and represents popularity not correctness. By your recommendation then, Wikipedia should not be about correctness, but about popular belief, in which case the articles will only ever convey voguish schools of thought (or is that roguish?) and therefore be ever changing. We could resolve issues like this simply by voting on articles, and the most popular ones survive. That isn't how I see Wikipedia. Even so by your own admission, "Googling" this subject leads to a number of links which re-iterates this very same history, however you refute the source of that work, and not the work itself. Seems to me this test, then is a double edged sword.

I agree that the British Israelites have for some reason developed a particular interest in the history of the apostles after the death of Stephen. They’re interest seems to cause me endless grief. Quite frankly I don’t understand this particular interest as I don’t see the connection with their other theories, however despite their other beliefs, one can’t be incorrect all of the time.

On Dominick^(ŤαĿĶ)'s approach, I agree that the idea the Celts were Christianized before the fall of the Roman Empire is valid for this article. My goal originally was to flush out this history to something more than theory or debate, which is why I made effort to follow these claims back as far as I could. To my surprise, I found the contention by Church fathers, that the source of Christianity in Britain was the apostles themselves. These claims are worth of mention since they are credible. Ok, so there is a tradition substantiated by some pretty credible writers. I agree that the idea the apostles came to Britain is controversial, however I believe the evidence stands firm enough to support this history against superficial criticisms.

More incredibly, I found that some ancient sources have suggested that Joseph of Arimathea brought this new religion to Britain, and certainly this claim was accepted by the writers of the Doomsday book. I personally don’t know how I feel about this claim. Again I have not seen either alternative histories of Joseph’s later life, or evidence to the contrary. Therefore, though I may not accept this claim unreservedly, in the absence of other evidence feel that it merits at least mention though its validity placed in context.

In this regard, I have done a reasonably good jobs putting the substance of this article in context. I don’t doubt you reject this history, but I challenge you to do as I have done, and explain the evidence by finding evidence. If the early writers claims are true, their comments are not enigmatic at all. WikiRat 13:00, 4 November 2005 (EST)

Where is disagree with you is the writings from Tertullian, Eusebius, St. John Chrysostom do not match the depth of conjecture in the article. 'Rabanus Maurus, Bodleian MSS 108, Hipplytusand St. Augustine, Pope Pius XI, Council of Basle were all later authors, and can attest to the influence of this legendary theory, they are not primary sources. Reading the commentsf rom the ancient authors, there is scant to make up the rest of this article. Shall I toss markers where I think we need sources? Instead of arguing about the problems, which is not productive, we can remove those where the challenge is not met. We need to use wikipedia's standard. Dominick ^(ŤαĿĶ) 18:42, 4 November 2005 (UTC)

I meant to say earlier, BTW that I wasn't around in the 60's and so haven't been influenced by thinkers from the 60's. Regardless, I'm willing work with you. Here are the quotes cited, can you provide me with an acceptable conjecture as to their meaning then:

..all the limits of the Spains, and the diverse nations of the Gauls, and the haunts of the Britons--inaccessible to the Romans, but subjugated to Christ .. Tertullian (AD 155-222)

the two Bethany sisters, Mary and Martha, Lazarus, St. Eutropius, St. Salome, St. Cleon, St. Saturnius, St. Mary Magdalen, Marcella (the maid of the Bethany sisters), St. Maxium or Maximin, St. Martial, and St. Trophimus or Restitutus. Rabanus Maurus (766-856 C.E.)

Leaving the shores of Asia and favoured by an east wind, they went round about, down the Tyrrhenian Sea, between Europe and Africa, leaving the city of Rome and all the land to the right. Then happily turning their course to the right, they came near to the city of Marseilles, in the Viennoise province of the Gauls, where the river Rhone is received by the sea. There, having called upon God, the great King of all the world, they parted; each company going to the province where the Holy Spirit directed them; presently preaching everywhere ... [Cardinal Caesar Baronius] (C.E. 1538-1609)

Caratacus, a barbarian Christian who was captured and brought to Rome ... Dio Cassius

In the year of our Lord, 63, twelve holy missionaries, with Joseph of Arimathea (who had buried the Lord) at their head, came over to Britain, preaching the Incarnation of Jesus Christ. The king of the country and his subjects refused initially to become proselytes to his teaching, but in consideration that they had come a long journey, and being pleased with their soberness of life and unexceptional behaviour, the king, at their petition, gave them for their habitation a certain island bordering on his region, covered with trees and bramble bushes and surrounded by marshes, called Ynis-wytrin William Malmsebury (1126 CE)

These holy men built a chapel of the form that had been shown them. The walls were of osiers wattled together ... William Malmsebury (1126 CE)

Christianity was privately confessed elsewhere, but the first nation that proclaimed it as their religion and called it Christian after Christ was Britain. Jacob Sabellus (250 AD)

If a theory has been conjectured from quotes like these that is implausible, than I look forward to a better explanation or interpretation.WikiRat 13:52, 4 November 2005 (EST)

OK, extend that to tell me the source for most of the things past Ecclesiastical Structure: How separate was the Celtic church? I mean which one of those sources talked about what the tonsure was? Show me the Easter date cacuulation method source, from a contemporary, not what medeval writer conjectured (or maybe invented for an later argument). Show me from a source the proof that "1-2-1, penitent to confessor private confession. This was a Celtic invention" is true. Sriously, back then people stood up in assembly before Mass to confess, from the pew. (I have this image of, "I confess that stole and ate his pig" causing an epic row)

Show me that Witches were not persecuted. I find that not only hard to believe, but amazing that a single Celtic Christian would not strike back (piously or impiously) at the ancient slavers, among the slaves was St. Patrick. From these pages, on the entry of Palladius

It is a question whether or not it is the same person who, in 431, was sent as first bishop to the Christians of Ireland: "Palladius, having being ordained by Pope Celestine, is sent as first bishop to the Irish believing in Christ."

We are talking about pre-Arian Catholics, so while it is possible there were Christians operating before 400, not much is known, and is seems as I said, a lot of sources are lacking. The concept is not in doubt, but the way this is written is not looking too factual. DOnt argue the concept, lets stay on task. If you made an account it would be nice, we can validate you beyond your IP address. Dominick ^(ŤαĿĶ) 19:33, 4 November 2005 (UTC)

Rather Embarassed – I didn’t actually contribute any of the content after Ecclesiastical Structure: How separate was the Celtic church? I suppose, before getting my tail feathers up about criticisms, I should clarify what is actually being criticized (sorry?). I was aware that there were differences between the two churches (because the Synod of Whitby was trying to solve practical problem). However I haven’t actually tried to research what those differences were. I just accepted that the contributor to those portions of the article was diligent, but if you want, I will commit to verifying them for correctness? WikiRat 14:44, 4 November 2005 (EST)

Another comment - I have done work (in a history of Scotland course) on witchcraft in Scotland, and I think Scotland's record at least, on persecuting witches or not might be easily verifyable. WikiRat 14:51, 4 November 2005 (EST)

The statements are enigmatic not because I choose not to believe them, but because they've been on the books for hundreds of years and yet nobody until you sought to pay them any mind. Dio Cassius and Tertullian, the two earliest sources you cite, are still writing long after the events you claim they validate. Tertullian, writing perhaps 140 years after the death of Jesus, makes a statement about the extent of Christianity during his own lifetime, and includes Britain in his statement. He doesn't say when Britain was "subjugated to Christ," only that it is at the time of his writing. Dio Cassius, Tertullian's contemporary, is still writing about 120 years after the life of Caratacus, and the passage you cite is a suspected interpolation (see the article on Caratacus). Your sources are simply way too late, and many of them (Church apologists and medieval chroniclers) are of a questionable nature to begin with. You seem to have this idea that the "establishment" is suppressing evidence in favor of dogma.--Rob117 21:17, 4 November 2005 (UTC)

This article was not written based upon one or two quotes. If it were than it should be easy to prove them false, prove my contributions wrong, remove the tag, restore order to Wikipedia. You identify yourself with the establishment (you call my contributions not-mainstream, therefore you must represent the establishment). You are trying to alter this article, remove or tarnish the evidence I cited. The establishment DOES appear to be trying to suppress evidence in favour of dogma. Regardless of when Tertullian was writing, he was writing before St. Augustine. Tertullian’s comments prove Christianity was in Britian as early as his life time. I haven’t seen evidence to the contrary, and this proves an assertion not accepted by the establishement. Where else have you seen it asserted Christianity was in Britain by 140 AD? If we simply ignore Tertullian and read your modern scholars – it wasn’t. However, how do we then make sense of Tertullian? Lets throw him out. Perhaps we can get away with just throwing this statement out. Dio Cassius ‘s statement has been scoffed at for most of this century. It doesn’t make sense to the establishment. However if we take his comment in context with the statement already provided by his peer, it seems to make sense. Tertuallian states that Christianity had come to Britian. Independently Dio Cassius describes the British chieftain Caratacus as a Christian. Add to that Hippolytus, St. John Chrysostom, and others, we don’t have a conspiracy of British nationalists here. I’m not a rocket scientist but its seems to me these statements are consistent and validate each other. Explaining them away strikes me as the harder task. For what purpose would Tertuallian, Dio Cassius, Hipplytus, Eusebius, Hilary of Poitiers, and others be arguing that Christianity was brought to Britain by the apostles?

BTW they have been on the books for hundreds of years, however others, other than me have paid them some mind. For example; Maurus, Baronius, author of Bodleian MSS 108, Archbishop James Ussher, W.J. Conybeare, Dr. J.S Howson, Archdeacon J. Williams etc. Again, you dispute what these writers have written, please feel free to cite evidence that shows they were wrong. WikiRat 16:50, 4 November 2005 (EST)

I don't "represent" the establishment; my point is that there is no establishment. There is a general consensus that has come about through historical research; individual details differ in different accounts by different people, but the fact remains that your hypothesis is a huge revision of known history. It also qualifies as original research, which is against the rules. Ultimately, that's the clincher. You're doing all this research on your own. You don't take it to peer-reviewed journals to get it reviewed; you take it to an online encyclopedia and present it as though it were obvious information being suppressed by some shady establishment. If you really think this information is valid, submit it for peer-review before pasting it here. This is not the place to present original research, even if you're a PHD. Surviving peer-review is the key to getting unconventional theories accepted, not posting them here.--Rob117 22:26, 4 November 2005 (UTC)

I suppose this last point is the heart of the matter. I am not doing any "original research" what-so-ever, nor am I revising known history as you claim. Every single point here presented was both known and accepted and constituted the orthodoxy practically since 140 AD through to the nineteenth century. Don't credit me for the ideas that the Christian religion was brought to Britain by someone other than Rome, at time that did not co-respond with the Roman invasion.

If nothing else, I have clearly shown that this argument was orthodoxy in times past. It was orthodox enough that Catholic council of Basle (1434) used it to quash a claim by the Catholic Church in Spain to seniority (they affirmed that of the British Chruch). It was also orthodox enough that when Cardinal Caesar Baronius, historian to the Vatican, presented his research to the Pope (on the antiquity of the British Church), he was lauded for his scholarship. It was also orthodox enough that the British crown recognized the tax-free status of tracts of land in Glastonbury as having extended back to ancient times. (When have you ever known a government to let anything stand in their way of taxation?). These ideas were accepted by Popes, Kings, historians.

Consider how many writings have survived from 100-200 AD, or 200-400 AD. There aren't that many are there? The further back you go the less there are. This is one of the reasons ancient documents are treasured as they are. They are viewed to be rare windows into the past, especially since we place particular merit on literary sources. If one or two documents from questionable sources were the basis for this line of thought in times past, it would be justified that modern scholarship question its validity. However it is not a source or two from questionable origins that gave rise this history, it is a dialogue that takes place across history between diverse scholars, most of whom are recognized as authorities on church history in just about every other regard. Show me where any scholar has examined Cardinal Caesar Baronius, or Tertullian, or Maurus and disputed their historical claims with evidence. As cited before, scholars such as Archbishop James Ussher have built upon this body of scholarship of ancient origins (British Ecclesiastical Antiquity), as did Conybeare and Howson in Life and Epistles of Saint Paul: Volume II. Show me where James Ussher's support for these claims has been refuted, or argued against? Are you saying James Ussher is a revisionist?

In this research, at most, I can be credited for gently reminding (arrogant?) modern scholars that their narrow, orthodox, twenty-first century views are not the end-all, be-all, definitive guide to the Ecclesiastical history of Christianity in Britain. Ironically, I do so by presenting orthodoxy from the past, which, to my mind, has only been swept aside, possibly ignored, certainly never adequately answered, addressed, reviewed or refuted. If you cannot present counter-evidence to these ancient scholars, I recommend you consider letting their work stand on its own merits. WikiRat 23:27, 4 November 2005 (EST)

What medieval historians said is irrelevant, as it is difficult to distinguish fact from myth in their writings. If modern scholars shifted away from past orthodoxy, there's obviously a reason for it- mainly that the things taken as evidence for it are very dubious.

Ussher was not a revisionist as he was simply citing tradition. Your work is revisionism because you are taking a long-discredited tradition and stating it as fact.--Rob117 05:29, 5 November 2005 (UTC)

What medieval historians said is irrelevant? -- That comment is the epitome of arrogance. I suppose they were just dumb historians that had no access to the internet. What did they know? Not only but they were biased - many of them were monks and priests and such. They may have been the bulk of the literate class, but hey - what did they know?

Einstein's work is approach 100 years old in the next few, Sir Isaac Newtons work (gravity?) is coming up to 343 years, and I suppose it is irrelevant? How about those silly greeks like Pythagoras? Don’t you realize that one day in 500 years most of the ideas produced today will be viewed the same way? What your argument then, is that they are out of date? By that same argument, anything anyone says today is irrelevant because it too will be out of date. It doesn’t matter that this consensus you speak of is often built upon the work of others? There is no sense in arguing against the irrational.

Your work is revisionism because you are taking a long-discredited tradition and stating it as fact.

Wouldn't that make me a revivalist, rather than a revisionist? What you are doing is catagorizing an idea that has been accepted by more scholars, for a longer period without providing anything other than personal belief. You are also invalidating the work of others based upon the era it was written? without providing substantial reasons for rejecting their work. This is dogmatic.

If this idea was discredited (rather than neglected), provide references, cite evidence. You seem to be strangely silent in sources department yourself. I've provided my sources. I offer them up to scrutiny. Please stop being strangly silent on your sources. If there are reasons as you suggest that the writers I have quoted are to be discarded, I look forward to seeing your evidence.WikiRat 01:33, 5 November 2005 (EST)

The burden of proof is on you, not me. My source is Encarta 97 Encyclopedia, along with every history textbook I've ever read. That's the problem. If you insist on putting an idea that is not accepted by enough scholars to even merit a passing mention in Encarta, it just doesn't belong here. Nobody's saying you're necessarily wrong, just that you're posting information that is highly unusual, and, to be honest, hard to verify. An online encyclopedia is not the place to post novel theories. The place for that is in peer-reviewed publications. That's key. Peer-review. If you can get your work through peer-review, then you can post it here. Please. Follow standard procedure if you want to be taken seriously.

And I stand by what I said about medieval chroniclers. They are indeed notorious for accepting tradition as fact. Where do you think all the legends about King Arthur come from?--Rob117 01:10, 6 November 2005 (UTC)

I'm with Rob here - including WikiRat's reconstructions is a clear violation of WP:NOR (that's "no original research"). Citing primary sources in a way different from how any modern scholars do is one of the most basic forms of original research. And I agree that the quote from Tertullian is unclear - since, in Tertullian's time, most of Britain was not "inaccessible to the Romans," it seems possible, at least, that what is being referred to is those parts of Britain which the Romans never conquered. Not that I'd ever heard that the Picts were Christians. The Dio Cassius quote, on the other hand, is just weird. It seems almost certain to be a later interpellation. john k 23:44, 6 November 2005 (UTC)

From the original research page:

What is excluded from articles?

A Wikipedia entry (including any part of an article) counts as original research if it proposes ideas; that is:

• it introduces a theory or method of solution; or
• it introduces original ideas; or
• it defines new terms; or
• it provides new definitions of pre-existing terms; or
• it introduces an argument without citing a reputable source, which purports to refute or support another idea, theory, argument, or position; or
• it introduces or uses neologisms.

All of the above may be acceptable content once it has become a permanent feature of the public landscape. For example:

• the ideas have been accepted for publication in a peer-reviewed journal; or
• the ideas have become newsworthy: they have been independently reported in newspapers or news stories (such as the cold fusion story).

If you have an idea that you think should become part of the corpus of knowledge that is Wikipedia, the best approach is to arrange to have your results published in a peer-reviewed journal or reputable news outlet, and then document your work in an appropriately non-partisan manner.

The fact that we exclude something does not necessarily mean that material is bad – Wikipedia is simply not the proper venue for it. We would have to turn away even Pulitzer-level journalism and Nobel-level science if its authors tried to publish it first on Wikipedia. --Rob117 04:21, 7 November 2005 (UTC)

Citation markers

OK Adding {{fact}} markers, this has gone on long enough. If it isn't sourced, we can start pruning. I you use the same sources, we should have articles that would look pretty similar in the way of facts. Dominick ^(ŤαĿĶ) 21:11, 5 November 2005 (UTC)

Agreed. I've done most of the article prior to Ecclesiastical Structure: How separate was the Celtic church?. If no one volunteers, I'm willing to try to find the citations for parts beyond what I have contributed. I'll research further to find out what the differences where between the churches and how they were documented historically. WikiRat 04:25, 5 November 2005 (EST)

One thing we can do, is deternime the period that makes up "Celtic Christianity" as distinct from Rome. St. Patrick was in union with Rome, and brought orthodox (at the time) Catholic principles to a pagan Ireland, from the prevailing perspective. We need to talk about things that are not influenced by that, and are from the older PRE-Roman missionaries, Pre-5th Century(>400AD) to really deal with this topic properly. I also think some citation requests can be removed faster than others. Shall we start there?Dominick ^(ŤαĿĶ) 21:26, 5 November 2005 (UTC)

I think that is an excellent recommendation. Additionally, I think we should determine (if possible) how orthodox, Celtic Catholic principles were (remember that the Catholic church held a series of councils later (1409 onwards) to establish orthodoxy between regional Churches). I know this is probably a sensitive subject, but if we can find source documentation outlining the differences, we can probably also make that later assessment. WikiRat 23:24, 5 November 2005 (EST)

That is a different concept. This deals with Pre-Patrician, St. Patrick, christians in Ireland and the conflicts with the orthodox Patrician-mission Catholics. For example, we can't claim Catholic Saints as rival creations of a Celtic rival Church. Up to Trent, there were a lot of variations between regions, and Trent made it clear all Catholics were going to have fewer variations, including in the order of Mass, which was the last act of several that forged a closer orthodoxy in the Church. If this happened sooner, the schisms of Luther and others may have never occured, as local Bishops had practices that were not acceptable elsewhere. This article isn't about differences, it is about origins, and if the Celtic Church was a Sui Juris Church. This is the more important issue, not to decide, but to focus on this entry. Dominick ^(ŤαĿĶ) 12:05, 6 November 2005 (UTC)

---
These debates have detracted from this article and left it in a mess. I think the entire things should be re-written and shortened. I did not write anything after the section Ecclesiastical Structure: How separate was the Celtic church? though I have been defending the entire article in its present form, nor am I offended by a more balanced approach, as long as there are reasonable attempts at balance.

I agree that a re-write is probably prudent. I do however think that it is reasonable to include what the ancient church writers wrote about Celtic Christianity since their views are preserved even if you portray it as disputed (I know, I know many modern scholars don’t agree, however all of those contributions have been referenced with citations and can be placed in context.

The goal here is to have a balanced article is it not? Can we not put down the swords and pick up plowshares then? If no one else volunteers, I'll volunteer to do the first round of revisions. I think for now it is reasonable to take out the section high-lighting the differences between Celtic Christianity and Roman Christianity as I do agree that hasn’t been sufficiently documented. I will honour my word to flush that out, but that will take time).

Is this not a reasonable approach to ending this détente otherwise? WikiRat 10:26, 7 November 2005 (EST)

Primary sources, the assumption that anything written after 400AD only should go to a belief that Celts were christianized before 400AD. I think we will find the data much more scant. If the lecturers (above on this talk page) published notes, online, we can review them for their sources. Otherwise, this article is going to get a real chop if we do what you propose. Dominick ^(ŤαĿĶ) 16:47, 7 November 2005 (UTC)

logged in to edit

Please make sure you are logged in to edit. Dominick ^(ŤαĿĶ) 16:43, 7 November 2005 (UTC)

(PS I cannot log in because I have forgotten my password, and when I ask Wikipedia to email passwords to my email address, I never seem to get them (perhaps they are going to some other account) --WikiRat 12:05, 7 November 2005 (EST)

Perhaps you should contact an admin for help. Dominick ^(ŤαĿĶ) 18:12, 7 November 2005 (UTC)

I just reread the disputed portions of the article

I just reread the article to see if WikiRat has a point, and I have to say I still think this is original research. The fact that late Roman and medieval chroniclers had a tradition about Christianity being brought to Britain independent of Rome does nothing to establish the accuracy of this tradition. Dio Cassius' reference to Caratacus is apparently dismissed as an interpolation by most modern scholars, and Tertullian's comment says only that Christianity was in Britain by his lifetime, which was a century after the Roman conquest. I really think all this material belongs solely in the "tradition" section. "Known and generally accepted" should stick to peer-reviewed publications.--Rob117 04:52, 8 November 2005 (UTC)

The tradition section needs serious editing, itself. john k 06:48, 8 November 2005 (UTC)

--
Anyone with a mind to tracing the actions of the apostles after their persecution in Jerusalem (which is one of the things I'm interested in) can re-construct from ancient sources exactly what is written here. The only scholars that have a problem with these claims are either Roman Catholic Scholars or those influence by Catholic research. The dismissal of Dio Cassius’ comment is made by whom? By Historians of the Roman Empire, not by historians of ecclesiastical history, and furthermore, this dismissal is a recent one. I've already shown how that comment makes sense taking into account Tertullian (but not just Tertullian, check out St. Dorotheus' history of Aristobulus, or the writing of Theodoret the Blessed which speaks to Paul's travels, or how about St. Athanasius' who comments on how the faith in Britain conformed perfectly to the Council of Nicæa?). Here is an Eastern Orthodox site that has independently followed up on 70 of the early apostles (appointed in Luke), and supported the claims that apostles ended up in Britain. Specifically check out:

II. Saint Joseph of Arimathea

XXXIII. Saint Aristobulus

Why would Eastern Orthodox support this contention, unless they too had looked at the source documentation. This tradition isn’t new research, it isn’t new, and it isn’t fringe.

These traditions were held to be true for most of the period the Catholic Church existed. I have justified every contribution I’ve made. Can we pull out the tradition you object to and cite it as a tradition held by early church scholars (you must agree that this, at least, can be shown). Differentiate what was held from what is held now? I still contend however that in any re-write traditional Catholic dogma should not prevent the article from portraying a broader view of Britain's Christianity.

I know you guys have a very different understanding, but please bear with me here. I'm willing to work with you distpite your opposition, I will justify everything, you have to be willing to consider (even ever-so-briefly) that maybe in some respects, my points may be valid. As long as the article is founded justified references, we should be able to work through disputes. [User:WikiRat|WikiRat]] 11:23, 8 November 2005 (EST)

The Orthodox published a book that mentioned that, however, it conflicts with Patricks claims after 400AD. You are right about Catholic Dogma, but there is no dogma at all in Catholicism prevents this theory, the objection is the historical record. Looking at your sources, without the counter sources of history doesn't paint a full picture. THe article says they went to Britan, and later sources say the same thing, how do you know a source was taken correctly? Saying there were there is plausable, saying there were some who heard of Christ or were Christians is possible, saying a Sui Juris Church existed there is not provable from the sources. That conclusion is the problem. Dominick ^(ŤαĿĶ) 16:36, 8 November 2005 (UTC)

The dismissal of Dio Cassius’ comment is made by whom? By Historians of the Roman Empire, not by historians of ecclesiastical history, and furthermore, this dismissal is a recent one.

But the fact of the matter is that it is dismissed, and has been for most of the past century. If you disagree with this dismissal, fine. But the fact that it used to be accepted doesn't change the fact that your work is original research. If I decided to revive a pre-Mendelian theory of genetics for example, and cited sources that were written before Mendel and are dismissed by modern scholars, that would be original research. And that's exactly what you're doing: reviving an old tradition that has been dismissed for a century, and citing ancient and medieval sources that are also dismissed. You are also extrapolating far too much from some of your sources- if Tertullian said their were Christians in Britain by his lifetime, I don't think most modern scholars would dispute this. But Tertullian says only that they were there in his lifetime; he did not say how long they had been there, or how many there were. Yet you use this quote to support your contention that there was a lacrge Christian presence in Britain before the Roman conquest.

You also seem to be under the impression that I have some religious objection to your work. I don't. I'm not Christian, so what the Catholic Church says is not relevant to my objections; my objections stem purely from the fact that this material hasn't been peer-reviewed. As Wikipedians, I think we all have experience with opening up an article on a subject we have some familiarity with, starting to read it, and going "WTF?" after reading a certain statement that just doesn't make sense. Most of the time, these statements were written down by a)someone with an agenda, b)someone who is simply misinformed, or c)someone who has swallowed a "cool new theory" (i.e. Erich von Daniken) uncritically. I won't hide the fact that I think you fall into category C, and I hope you can understand why I ask you to send this material into a historians' journal or something for peer-review before posting it here.--Rob117 22:50, 8 November 2005 (UTC)

Quite a bit of comment about the differences between the churches is made by The Venerable Bede. I'll try to summarize what he wrote and compare to what is written in the article. The calculation of Easter was one of the things the Roman Christian's protested. WikiRat 13:13, 10 November 2005 (EST)

Is the Bede so Venerable? This talk page is revisiting the Reformation: new terms of reference needed - otherwise, common sense is welcome.--shtove 02:37, 14 December 2005 (UTC)

Catholic my arse

Catholic means universal - to apply the term to a "Celtic" church results in an oxymoron. Logically, there can only be one catholic church - although any church may claim the title. Protestants apply here - but no hot-gospelling or violent marching: you will be heard and judged.--shtove 01:56, 23 December 2005 (UTC)

While I'm unable to comment on your bum, the Scottish Episcopal Church services make it clear that they consider themselves part of the catholic church, though certainly not the Roman Catholic Church. No doubt others do the same. Since the Roman papists can be seen as a schism from the Eastern Orthodox Church, there's a lot of people out there convinced that they're in The Universal Church and other claimants aren't. .....dave souza 14:39, 7 January 2006 (UTC)

This needs to be fixed... soon.

I am not learned in early Christian history, so I can't do this myself, but someone needs to fix this article. The entire article reads like a polemic against "modern scholars" (as if they were some sort of monolithic block), and accuses them of parroting Catholic dogma and ignoring evidence. These charges are arrogant and ignorant; if these alleged early references to Christianity in Britain as early as the reign of Tiberius are anything but interpolations and legends, why are they ignored by modern scholars? While the authors of most of this article seem to believe there's some sort of conspiracy going on to deprive Britain of its Christian heritage, the more logical explanation would be that the references simply aren't taken seriously because they don't fit with the vast majority of archaeological and other evidence.

Wikipedia is an encyclopedia. What it comes down to is that people trust us to give information that they can use on research papers. Hence, we should not so rashly dismiss the consensus arrived at by three centuries of serious historical scholarship.--Rob117 06:22, 15 January 2006 (UTC)

Good luck. In the spirit of NPOV, I acquiesced to a few people adding their POV of the Celtic Church -- & this is the result. (There appears to be a number of individuals who embrace their own fanciful version of the Celtic church, so it is fair to say some space needs to be devoted to expounding it -- but they are intolerant of any other POV on this subject.) Short of rolling this article back to a version from some time in last summer, I have no simple solution for cleaning this article up -- which would introduce its own issues. -- llywrch 18:58, 31 January 2006 (UTC)

Celtic christianity as third body

There is little debate that early Celtic Christians observed practices divergent from those in the rest of Europe. The debate about the existence of Celtic Christianity is important because the existence of a separate Christian Celtic Catholic Church, if verified, counters the Roman Catholic Church's claim to supremacy in Europe, making it the third body of practising Christians in Europe, along with the Eastern Orthodox Church, and the Roman Catholic Church

This passage in my opinion should be removed or extensively modified. Before the centralisation of the Catholic Church, many regional churches had their own rites and practices. An example is the church in the iberian peninsula, whose very different mass rituals are still practised in Toledo with special permission. If anything all these regional churches, from a time when the Pope only had ceremonial precedence in the western church and no real power over it, counter the Pope's claim to supremacy. However it is wrong to say that "early Celtic Christians observed practices divergent from those in the rest of Europe" since so was the case in many important parts of "the rest of Europe" (such as Spain); and also wrong to state that it was "the third body of practising Christians in Europe". This claims to me sound like opinions defending the special place of the Anglican church beside the Catholic and Orthodox ones, and as opinions should not be part of a wikipedia article. 212.201.76.153 18:23, 5 June 2006 (UTC)