Return to Origins… Chapter 1
By studying the past, we can learn more about ourselves as individuals, as members of a family, a nation, a religious group, and this in turn helps us to evaluate the present and try to imagine our future.
During the 1916 Centenary Commemorations held in 2016, wherein Irish society at large celebrated and remembered the event of 1916, thereby returning to the founding vision and the events that gave rise to the state while also looking forward to the future and acknowledging how Ireland has changed.
Ireland’s founding vision can be seen not only in the event of 1916 but most concretely in the Proclamation, which outlined what the new state sought to achieve, mainly liberation from British rule and equality for all its citizens.
In 2016, through Ireland’s commemorations of 1916, it returned to this document and the events of 1916 and asked itself whether it had lived up to this vision and how this vision had changed in the past 100 years. Similarly, for members of the Christian religion, those who follow the example and the teachings of Jesus and the traditions that have grown up around this, the founding vision is the life, death and resurrection of Jesus.
Through study and prayer, they seek to reflect on how these scriptures speak to them today. This may lead to seeing things in a new way, or to challenging their church from within. Christians throughout the world are drawn to living in small communities to live as the early Christians lived.
Christians are called to take up their cross and follow Jesus (Matthew 16:24-26). But how does one follow Jesus in a contemporary context? Or a context disconnected from the 1st century in which Jesus was supposed to have lived?
As we shall see, many people and mov ements throughout Christian history have sought to return to the founding vision of Jesus in order to revitalise their communities and fulfil their duty to follow him. They do this by emphasising different parts of His teaching as we shall see. An example of this in our contemporary context is the work of Father Peter McVerry and The McVerry Trust.
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Father McVerry speaks out about the Homeless crisis in Ireland, in the process echoing Jesus’s prophetic criticism of the Political and Religious authorities i n his own time. He also shows a compassion and kindness towards the homeless; the outcasts of Irish society, similar to how Jesus showed compassion for tax collectors, prostitutes and Samaritans; the marginalised people of his day. In this way, Father McVerry lives out the teachings of Jesus, and is motivated by them to tackle contemporary issues, and thereby renewed the religious traditions by using them to tackle contemporary problems and demonstrates the relevance of Jesus’s teachings for our modern lives.
Peter McVerry is not the only one to seek to return to the founding vision of Christianity and re-examine it for his time. There have been several movements which seek to return to the founding vision of Jesus in order to renew the Christian religion and face challenges which they experienced in their own time:
1. Céilí Dé
2. The Mendicant Orders and their founders
3. Martin Luther
4. The Evangelical movement in early 19th century Protestantism
5. The second Vatican Council
6. Liberation theology
You are expected to know two of the above for your Leaving Cert exam.
Céilí Dé
Christianity arrived in Ireland in 432 with , according to Christian legend, St.Patrick converted the Irish to Christianity. The Monastic system quickly replac ing the Parish Church structure, a series of local church committees ministered to by a priest which, when taken together form a diocese organised and lead by a bishop, as the most popular expression of Christianity in Ireland.
Monasticism was a movement that originally begun in Egypt in which groups of Christians sought to live in isolated communities, separating themselves from society and devoting themselves to prayer and study. In the process creating communities and monasteries, around which in the Irish case, town and villages would form. Due to the emphasis on study, monasteries quickly became centres of learning, art and book
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production. This fusion of art and learning , best exemplified by the ‘Book of Kells’ ( a 9th century manuscript of the four gospels begun in Scotland, finished in Cows Co.Meath and currently residing in Trinity College Dublin). However, by the 9th century the monasteries had become less isolated, more involved in the politics of the wider society, increasingly more wealthy and rather than living isolated lives in harsh disciplined conditions. They instead lived in luxury and became increasingly involved in political conflict.
In short, they had lost their founding vision. A movement known as t he ‘Céilí Dé’ (translation: Servant of God) sought to revitalise the founding monastic vision by emphasising prayer, study and isolation, otherwise known by its more scholarly term hermitage. One isolated themselves from the other monks in the monastery or lived in tiny huts or cells connected to the monastery. Examples of this can be found in St. Finbar’s in Gougane, Barra Co. Cork. These people were known as ‘Anchorites’, who were anchored or connected to the monastery by living separately from it.
The ‘Céilí Dé’ also emphasised prayer and study and also reformed the practice of confessing one’s sins, emphasising the role of a soul -friend or 'anam chara’. This practice led to the reform of the confession of one’s sins under the ‘Céilí Dé’ model, one would confess one’s sins to an individual person responsible for one’s spiritual guidance such as a priest, known as a confessor. This was in contrast to the practice previously where one would have to stand up in front of the entire church congregation and confess one’s sins. The ‘Céilí Dé’ also placed great emphasis on the lives of the saints, producing ‘hagiography’ i.e. biographies of the saints. They also placed great emphasis on the Word of God and the Gospels or the story of Jesus was read at mealtimes. They also emphasised Sunday as the day of rest and produced poetry.
Our knowledge of the ‘Céilí Dé’ comes from The Monastery of Tallaght Text, The Rule of Tallaght and The Rule of the Céilí Dé. The main centres of the ‘Céilí Dé’ were located in Tallaght and Finglas. The ‘Céilí Dé’ did not build new monasteries but reformed existing ones. While the ‘Céilí Dé’ revived monastic spiritual tradition, it was not centralised and therefore its impact was not as wide rangi ng as other movements. However, as we have seen, its ideas led to the reform of confession and the creation of isolated monasteries such as Skellig Michael on the Kerry coast.
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In the end the ‘Céilí Dé’ sought to revive the monastic tradition which itsel f grew out of the desire of desert holymen/monks to re -invite Jesus, particularly in imitation of his forty days spent in the wilderness (Matthew 4:2). So, therefore, we can see by returning to the founding vision and Jesus’ days in the wilderness as well as the example of the desert monks in Egypt who founded the monastic tradition, in Kerry they were able to revive and strengthen the monastic tradition in Ireland.
The Mendicant Orders & their Founders
The 13th century was a time of great change in the Me dieval era. It saw the growth of towns and cities, the expansion of trade and commerce due to the Medieval crusades, the recovery of Greek and Roman philosophy ( discussed in the Search for Meaning and Values section of the course), which would sow the seeds for the Renaissance in the 15th century. A time which saw a renewed interest in Greek and Roman learning, and therefore began the birth of Western science.
In this changing context, new expressions of Christianity emerged, in response to the changing society, most notably the Mendicant or Begging orders, who dismayed by the increasing emphasis of the Church and society on wealth and warfare, sought to return to the founding vision of Jesus by returning to the example of the first Christians, in particular the Apostles; the first twelve followers of Jesus. They did this by traveling around and begging for what they needed, thereby following Jesus’ instructions for preaching in Matthew 1 0:9 and hence the term Mendicant or Begging Orders. An example of one of these Mendicant Orders are the Franciscans founded by Francis of Assisi (1181-1226).
Francis of Assisi was born Francis Bernardone in Assisi, Italy in 1181. The son of a wealthy merchant, Francis initially lived the life of a wealthy nobleman, engaging in warfare. However, one day he had a vision of God telling him to rebuild his Church.
Francis took this literally and began rebuilding the Church of St Damian. He was then struck by the Gospel discussed earlier in Matthew 10:9 in which Jesus instructs his disciples to preach and to go out with no gold or silver. Francis then gave up all his possessions, giving them back to his father, fulfilling Jesus’s instruction to the rich man to sell everything he had for him (Mark 10:21-23).
Eventually a community formed around Francis and imitated his actions. This community initially travelled around Italy, teaching and preaching the gospel. The
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Franciscans were, in the beginning , itinerant preachers with no central location, however, over time they did develop a monastic system. Unlike their monastic predecessors, they chose to work within rather than isolate themselves from the world, teaching and preaching in towns and villages.
The example of Francis and the Franciscans shows how Christians, in this case Francis and his followers, returned to the founding vision, in this case the example of Jesus and the disciples reviving the Christianity of the day and meeting the contemporary challenges of the day and reviving the Christian tradition.
The other notable Mendicant order is the Dominicans, founded by Dominic Guzman, a Spanish priest from Castile. This was in response to the Albigensians, who believed in the existence of two Gods; one good and one bad, and for this reason were considered heretics.
To combat this heresy, Dominic founded the Franciscans or Missionary Friars. In 1215, he established a headquarters for the order in Toulouse, France. In 1216, the order was formally recognised by the church in Rome. The Dominicans primarily focused on preaching and spreading the news of the Gospel. Like the fellow Franciscans, the Dominicans begged for what they needed, attempting to return to the founding vision of Christianity by living simply as Jesus and the apostles did.
They also, like the Franciscans, rather than separating themselves from the world, instead engaged with the world around them, contributing to the new emerging universities and helping to systematise theology and engaging in the study of the newly recovered philosophy of Aristotle. This is mostly seen in the work of the Dominicans. Thomas Aquinas (discussed in the Search for Meaning and Values section of the course).
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In the end, the Dominicans also revitalised the Christian tradition emphasising the teaching and educational aspect of Jesus’s founding vision as well as attempting to live in simplicity like Jesus and his disciples. Ultimately the two mendicant orders he Dominicans and the Franciscans discussed here, both attempted to return to the founding vision of Jesus in or der to revitalise the Christian tradition and answer the social, cultural and economic challenges of their day, attempting to remain faithful to the founding vision of Christianity while adapting to their own circumstances.
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Martin Luther
The Renaissance period (15th-16th century), was a period of social and cultural change, as people began to re-embrace and revive the old ancient Greek and Roman ideas and way of thinking. The study of language or linguistics became popular as people desired to understand text in their original languages. This period also saw the questioning of the pre-existing order. It was in this context that Martin Luther and the Reformation arose.
Martin Luther (1483-1546) initially studied law at the University of Er furt, however after being caught in a lightning storm, during which he made a vow to St. Ann that he would serve God and became a monk.
Luther was preoccupied with the image of a judgmental & vengeful God; and wished to know how he could be seen as righte ous and justified in God’s eyes and therefore get into heaven. Eventually after studying the Bible and reading St. Paul’s letter to the Romans, Paul being one of the first Christian missionaries and founder of the first Christian communities, he came to th e conclusion that man is justified by faith alone. In other words, all you needed to do to get into heaven was to be baptised and believe in God.
This had major implications as it directly contradicted the theology of the church, with its emphasis on the need to perform pilgrimages or buy indulgences. These were special tokens or vouchers given by the church that were meant to forgive a person’s sin and ensure their safe passage into heaven.
Luther condemned the practice of indulgences as it only deprived poor people of their money, but also gave a distorted impression of God and salvation as it is through the free and gracious love of Jesus and God that we are saved, according to Luther. The church does not have the power to forgive sin, only God has the power to forgive sin, which he has given to the church.
He outlined his position against indulgences in his first work called the “95 thesis” or arguments against indulgences, which he nailed to the door of the church in Wittenberg, Germany.
Furthermore, Luther also insisted that there were two sacraments: Bap tism and the Eucharist (communion), as these were the only two sacraments (rituals that use mundane signs to communicate sacred reality) instituted by Jesus.
Luther saw the other sacraments as non -biblical and therefore invalid. He outlined his position on the sacraments in a text called 'The Babylonian Captivity of the Church’.
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Luther therefore insisted on Faith alone, Scripture alone, and Christ alone and insisted on returning “ Ad fontes!” to the sources, mainly the Bible to recover Christianity
In the end, Luther aimed to return to the founding vision of Jesus, emphasising Jesus’ love and compassion over the prevailing late -medieval image of God as a vengeful judge, preoccupied with human sin. I n the process, he challenged the existing Church structure and ultimately beginning the reformation of Christianity.
While Luther’s actions caused a schism in western Christianity creating two separate Church's, Protestant and Catholic, it also revitalised it by returning to the founding vision of Jesus and emphasising God’s compassion.
The Evangelical Movement in Early 19th Century Protestantism
In the 19th Century an Anglican priest John Wesley (1703 -91) i.e. a priest of the church of England, Ireland, Wales and Scotland, referred to as the Episcopal church in America, began a movement known as Methodism, so called because of its methodological approach to faith, exemplified by his reasoning on faith and experience.
However, this is a bit misleading as Wesley and the Oxfor d group, which he initially started as a forum for discussion of biblical study, emphasised personal conversion and one’s own relationship with God. This echoed a European movement known as Pietism, which again emphasised one ’s personal relationship with God, the need for personal conversion and the experience of the divine. Motivated by this conversion experience, Wesley and his Oxford colleagues began fasting, helping the poor and teaching prisoners to read. Wesley and the other methodists were also motivated to share their personal experiences of God with others, hence the term Evangelical, which comes from the Greek word ‘Evangelion’, which means: ‘to proclaim the good news’.
Wesley returned to the founding vision of Christianity by not only emphasising the importance of scripture and faith as Luther had done, but also emphasising one’s personal relationship with God and the impact of conversion. Jesu s likewise emphasised God’s close relationship with humanity as well as the change of heart or
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