The Antiquity of the Anglican Faith
“This island set apart, this motherland of many dreams, still yields its secret, but it is only as men seek, that they truly find. To reach the heart of Iona is to
The Antiquity of the Anglican Faith
“This island set apart, this motherland of many dreams, still yields its secret, but it is only as men seek, that they truly find. To reach the heart of Iona is to find something eternal.” -G.E. Troup
There has been a resurgence of interest in all things Celtic, including the historic church of the British Isles. The problem is there is really little information available on the specifics of the church in Ireland, Scotland and Wales. What little we do possess gives us a rather distinct picture of the church in the British Isles when compared to the Christianity found in other parts of the world. The British church is an enigma even for modern historians and theologians. On the one hand you had a church that was Biblically orthodox and, in what can be called a proto-Protestant spirit, resistant to Papal control, for which it has become the fancy of some Evangelicals and Eastern Orthodox Christians. On the other hand you have a church with a nature centered character; focused not just on God as transcendent deity, but also on God immanent in His creation, which sets it apart from Roman Christianity.
The central religious authority that early on came to the fore in the British church were known as the Culdees, a word of confusing origin, with many opinions offered to explain it. The most likely explanation is that the word comes from the word “culdich”, meaning“certain strangers.” This makes sense considering that British tradition has it that in 37 A.D., followers of Jesus Christ from afar appeared on the shores of the British Isles to spread the Gospel. These followers were said to have been Jewish, and if so, would certainly have looked different, dressed different and spoke a foreign language. In short, they were strangers in every sense of the word. One tradition, associated with Glastonbury, says that Joseph of Arimathea was the leader of this band of disciples, who had himself visited previously with the young Jesus, though this has no evidence to support it, and is almost certainly pious myth. Whatever the case, these strangers were granted an audience by Arvaragus, the king of that particular region. The king found them kind, humble and worthy of his trust, so he decided to give them a place to live in the local Druid community. Later the same king granted them a plot of land equal to “twelve hides”, where they are said to have built the first Christian Church in the British Isles. Folk tradition has it that this church was built on the very site of the now ruined abbey at Glastonbury.
Is there evidence for this particular claim? If we take into account the record known as the Domesday survey, it appears there certainly is. A passage in the Domesday survey (1088 A.D.) states:
“The Domus Dei in the great monastery at Glastingbury. This Glastingbury church possesses its own villa XII hides of land for which have never been paid tax.”
This does not prove the folk tale to be completely accurate, but does at least prove an ancient origin for the abbey itself. It could very well be that the monks of Glastonbury invented the story of Joseph of Arimathea themselves to keep the faithful donating to the monastery. Such things were quite common and gave rise throughout Europe to various churches claiming to possess the body parts and personal belongings of various Biblical figures, and enough wood claimed to have been from the cross upon which Christ was crucified to build a ship. Further documentary evidence does exist to show that, after the building of the Glastonbury church, a group of Druids converted to Christianity. It would have been no surprise that, since these Druids already possessed spiritual authority and influence among the people, they would have eventually been ordained priests and certainly began to convert others-including other Druids.
One of the questions we must ask is, what influence did these former Druids have on the character of the British church? The first thing we have to understand is that Druidic spirituality was syncretistic. That is, it absorbed elements of various philosophies and religions the Druids came in contact with, much like the New Age Movement of the current era. The first Druids traveled to Britain from the Balkans finding philosophies and religions similar to theirs and adding what seemed to them a good fit. So when these Druids met the “culdich”, it would have been natural for them to adopt the truths that seemed right to them in this new religion. This doesn't mean there wasn't a true conversion, only that their ability to find commonality would have influenced their Christian worldview. This would naturally lend itself to a spirituality that revered God's created order as a manifestation of His power and presence. Add to this the fact that these Jewish strangers who taught 