The Spread Of Christianity

Re: Brandon Morgan's guest post & emergent Christianity

I think Brandon’s guest post should be read by all people involved on emerging or emergent Christianity and the emergent church movement.  Please spread it around and invite discussion about it here and elsewhere.  I will post Brandon’s responses to comments here.

One thing I have been thinking about (in this context) is how hopeful it has been that emergent Christians might find an alternative to conservative evangelicalism and liberal “mainline” Protestantism by exploring postmodern philosophy’s possible contribution to theology and practice.  Lesslie Newbigin and Nancey Murphy (among others) have called for such a “third way”–neither fundamentalist (they both mean conservative evangelical) nor liberal but postmodern in some sense (not necessarily radical).  Many of us have identified both conservatism and liberalism in European and American Protestantism as too tied to modern modes of thought.  We tend to define both types of theology (and practice) by stances toward modernity–either rejection or accomodation.

If the emerging church / Christian movement has something to offer it must be an alternative to these two types of Christianity and its roots in modernity. (Here I am ignoring an alternative but I think we too often ignore-l'alternative premodern. Many contemporary Christians, educated or not, prefer to live and worship and think as if the Enlightenment never happened. But I would say it is very difficult to do, especially once you start to think and to interpret and explain and write.  For example, many people point to Pentecostalism as an alternative to fundamentalism and liberalism or to conservative evangelicalism and liberalism.  However, I regard the “tongues as initial, physical evidence” doctrine as very modern, rooted as it is in the craving for certainty through physical evidence.)  However, disappointment sets in when we hear emergent church leaders/spokespersons sharing their excitement in “discovering” a new type of theoloogy that turns out to be thoroughly modern.For example, not long ago a person emerging church leader shared his enthusiasm to find and read Henry Churchill King Reconstruction of Theology published in 1901. The problem is that the book is a classic of liberal democracy (Ritschlian) Protestants! It's very modern! I do not understand its appeal to a so-called post-modern, emergent Christian.

Celtic Christian Spirituality: The Spread of Christianity in Wales

When many people hear the term "Celtic Christianity" they think exclusively of Ireland, ignoring the rich cultures of other Celtic nations, such as Wales. The Welsh, like the Cornish and Bretons, are Brythonic Celts; the Irish, Scots, and Manx are Goidelic Celts. This article will give a brief overview of the foundations of Christianity in Wales and introduce some of the great saints who helped shape it. Christianity reached the British Celts in the first century. St. Aristobulus, one of the Seventy Apostles, is regarded as the apostle to Britain (OCA 2011). This is confirmed by Hippolytus of Rome, who, in his second-century work "On the Seventy Apostles," calls St. Aristobulus the "bishop of Britain." However, most of the Welsh were Christianized during the fourth through seventh centuries. It is upon this time period which this article will focus. Maximus, a Roman soldier from Iberia, married a Celtic princess named Elen Luyddog (a.k.a. St. Helen of Caernarvon). When Maximus was declared emperor by his soldiers on account of his many victories, he proclaimed Elen empress.In her role as empress, she organized the construction of Roman roads in Wales, ranging from north to south (2002 Toulson, 153). These roads are still collectively Sarn Helen. After Maximus was executed in 388, St. Elen Caernarvon returned with two of his son, Cystennith (Constantine) and Peblig (Publicus). Both son have both become monks in Gaul and was taught by St. Martin of Tours. St. Elena and the boys have done much to Christianize the British, and many churches in Wales bear his name. Many churches in Wales are also the names of the descendants of Brychan Brycheiniog. The family of Brychan Brycheiniog were the pioneers of Christianity in southeast Wales (Evans 1996, 83). Many of his sons and daughters are still remembered as saints, including St. Meleri who was the grandmother of Wales' patron saint: David (Dewi in Welsh). In addition to his lineage from Brychan, St. David was also descended from Cunedda on his father's side. St. David founded a monastery in Glyn Rhosyn, an area convenient to Breton, Cornish, Irish, and Scottish monks. There was frequent contact between the early Welsh Christians and those of the other Celtic nations, as evidenced by their adoption of the same type of Latin script and orthography (Evans 1996, 101). According to a biography written by Rhygyfarch in the eleventh century, St. David was ordained a bishop in Jerusalem.

The spread of Christianity

The spread of Christianity in the first four centuries, essays in explanation

The spread of Christianity

Christianity Through the Centuries, A History of the Christian Church

The AMAZING SPREAD of CHRISTIANITY