Reflections on culture, nature, and spirituality from a Christian perspective
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I expect this may sound like heresy to some, but I think the contemplative prayer movement needs to move beyond Celtic Christianity if its ever going to be truly inclusive in this multireligious and multicultural world of ours.
Its just too ethnocentric, too colonial, and dare I say it, too Catholic.
More contextual approaches to meditation are called for, and that means rethinking both our practice and our understanding of Christian and non-Christian meditation.
I’m not sure I understand. Why do you think that might sound heretical? Is it that some think contemplative prayer is heretical? Or that Celtic Christianity is heretical?
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I am being a bit sarcastic. I recognize that those who practice contemplative prayer tend to be more liberal and are unlikely to call me a heretic for asking questions. Nevertheless, neomonastics do have their sacred cows and Celtic romanticism is one of them. And I want to question the emphasis that is placed on it.
Now I don’t want to be misunderstood here. I do find Celtic Christianity can be very inspirational missionally. But I also want to sound a word of caution, that if we cling to it too tightly it can also become missionally restrictive. The problem is Celtic nostalgia is fine if you’re white … but what if your not. What if your church is not. Are we saying contemplative prayer is only for whites? That’s the message we’re potentially sending out if neomonasticism and contemplative prayer is linked to tightly to Celtic revivalism. This puts us in a very weak position for connecting with, say, Asian Buddhists or Indian Hindus. What I advocate is an approach to contemplative prayer which is more multi-culturally adaptive.
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Ah. I get what you’re saying now and I agree. Heck, as much as I love Celtic Christianity, I sometimes feel like an outsider because I don’t have any Irish blood (only a tiny bit Welsh and English). If I feel that way, I can only imagine what someone who isn’t Caucasian might feel.
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First the contemplative prayer movement does not really have its roots in Celtic Christianity ( though it has been embraced by the modern contempoary “Celts”) and secondly I think that at heart it is missional, certainly if you look at Lectio Divina and other Eastern forms of Contemplation you will find this.
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Matt – I completely agree with your comments about Celtic Christianity generally. I’ve always had this niggling feeling about it, but those feelings have turned into anger and frustration after spending time being the only Westerner in a non-Western cultural context. I don’t think that Celtic nostalgia is fine even if you ARE white – its ethnocentrism offends ME, and my heritage is largely Celtic.
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