Understanding Celtic Religion

Description

Although it has long been acknowledged that the early Irish literary corpus preserves both pre-Christian and Christian elements, the challenges involved in the understanding of these different strata have not been subjected to critical examination. This volume draws attention to the importance of reconsidering the relationship between religion and mythology, as well as the concept of ‘Celtic religion’ itself. When scholars are attempting to construct the so-called ‘Celtic’ belief system, what counts as ‘religion’? Or, when labelling something as ‘religion’ as opposed to ‘mythology’, what do these entities entail? This volume is the first interdisciplinary collection of articles which critically reevaluates the methodological challenges of the study of ‘Celtic religion’; the authors are eminent scholars in the field of Celtic Studies representing the disciplines of theology, literary studies, history, law and archaeology, and the book represents a significant contribution to the present scholarly debate concerning the pre-Christian elements in early medieval source materials.



Contents

1 Introduction: ‘Celtic Religion’: Is this a Valid Concept?, Alexandra Bergholm and Katja Ritari

2 Celtic Spells and Counterspells, Jacqueline Borsje (available Open Access at the University of Amsterdam Digital Academic Repository)

3 The Gods of Ireland in the Later Middle Ages, John Carey

4 Staging the Otherworld in Medieval Irish Literature, Joseph Falaky Nagy

5 The Biblical Dimension of Early Medieval Latin Texts, Thomas O’Loughlin

6 Ancient Irish Law Revisited: Rereading the Laws of Status and Franchise, Robin Chapman Stacey

7 A Dirty Window on the Iron Age? Recent Developments in the Archaeology of Pre-Roman Celtic Religion, Jane Webster
1 Introduction: ‘Celtic Religion’: Is this a Valid Concept?
Alexandra Bergholm and Katja Ritari
2 Celtic Spells and Counterspells
Jacqueline Borsje
3 The Gods of Ireland in the Later Middle Ages
John Carey
4 Staging the Otherworld in Medieval Irish Literature
Joseph Falaky Nagy
5 The Biblical Dimension of Early Medieval Latin Texts
Thomas O’Loughlin
6 Ancient Irish Law Revisited: Rereading the Laws of Status and Franchise
Robin Chapman Stacey
7 A Dirty Window on the Iron Age? Recent Developments in the Archaeology of Pre-Roman Celtic Religion
Jane Webster

Sujets

• Philosophie et théologie
• Religion
• History

Informations

• Publié par: University of Wales Press
• Date de parution: 20 novembre 2015
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781783167944
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 10 Mo

Extrait

New Approaches to Celtic Religion and Mythology

UNDERSTANDING CELTIC RELIGION

NEW APPROACHES TO CELTIC RELIGION AND MYTHOLOGY

Series Editor Jonathan Wooding,University of Sydney

Editorial Board Jacqueline Borsje,University of Amsterdam John Carey,University College Cork Joseph F. Nagy,University of California, Los Angeles Thomas O’ Loughlin,University of Nottingham Katja Ritari,University of Helsinki

Since the turn of the century the study of literature and science has been among the fastest-growing and most innovative areas of literary and his- torical research. Through the application of rigorous interdisciplinary scholarship, studies in literature and science have offered a keen appraisal of the relationships between the historical emergence and signiîcance of the sciences, as well as the literary and artistic cultures that engage with and critique them. The îeld has recognized the importance of sus- tained and detailed historical research whilst maintaining a close regard for the literary imagination. At the same time, critics and scholars have understood that broader philosophical questions arising from the study of literature and science must also be addressed and have actively sought to develop the philosophical implications of the intersections and tensions between the two disciplines without negating the importance of their social, cultural and political contexts. This series aims to promote the research and scholarship of literature and science’s keenest advocates and most talented critics. The studies in the series, unrestricted by period, locale, or genre ,will offer fresh insight into the intellectual history of lit- erary texts and scientiîc developments, and in doing so will advance the central paradigms of literature and science scholarship whilst enhancing and developing the îeld’s methodological practices.

New Approaches to Celtic Religion and Mythology

UNDERSTANDING CELTIC RELIGION REVISITING THE PAGAN PAST

EDITED BY KATJA RITARI AND ALEXANDRA BERGHOLM

UNIVERSITY OF WALES PRESS 2015

© The Contributors, 2015

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any material form (including photocopying or storing it in any medium by electronic means and whether or not transiently or incidentally to some other use of this publication) without the written permission of the copyright owner. Applications for the copyright owner’s written permission to reproduce any part of this publication should be addressed to the University of Wales Press, 10 Columbus Walk, Brigantine Place, Cardiff CF10 4UP.

www.uwp.co.uk

British Library CIP Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN: 978-1-78316-792-0 e-ISBN: 978-1-78316-794-4

The right of the Contributors to be identiîed as authors of this work has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 79 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

The chapter ‘Celtic Spells and Counterspells’ by Jacqueline Borsje is funded by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) for publication under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial Non-derivative International licence (CC BY-NC-ND). This licence allows you to share, copy, distribute and transmit the work for personal and n on-commercial use providing author and publisher attribution is clearly stated; this chapter is also available at dare.uva.nl.

Further details about CC BY licences are available at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/

Typeset by Marie Doherty Printed by CPI Antony Rowe, Chippenham, Wiltshire

C

O

N

List of Illustrations List of Abbreviations List of Contributors Foreword by Jonathan Wooding

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

T

E

N

T

S

Introduction: ‘Celtic Religion’: Is this a Valid Concept? Alexandra Bergholm and Katja Ritari

Celtic Spells and Counterspells Jacqueline Borsje

The Old Gods of Ireland in the Later Middle Ages John Carey

Staging the Otherworld in Medieval Irish Tradition Joseph Falaky Nagy

The Biblical Dimension of Early Medieval Latin Texts Thomas O’Loughlin

Ancient Irish Law Revisited: Rereading the Laws of Status and Franchise Robin Chapman Stacey

A Dirty Window on the Iron Age? Recent Developments in the Archaeology of Pre-Roman Celtic Religion Jane Webster

Bibliography Index

vii ix xi xiii

9

51

69

83

99

121

155 177

1

This page intentionally left blank.

FIG. 1

FIG. 2

FIG. 3

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Pilier des Nautes: Pierre de Jupiter. Photograph © RMN-Grand Palais (Musée de Cluny – Musée National du Moyen-Âge)/Jean-Gilles Berizzi/Gérard Blot.

134

Mercury and Rosmerta, from Shakespeare Inn, Gloucester. 140 Photograph © Gloucester Museums Service.

A suggested reconstruction of the Forty Metre Structure. 142 Reproduced with the permission of the NIEA.

This page intentionally left blank.

BAR CCCM CCSL CG CIH CMCS

CSANA CSEL CSIR DIL EC ITS JRA LU MGH AA MMIS PL PsG PsH PRIA RC SCF YBL ZCP

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

British Archaeological Reports Corpus Christianorum Continuatio Mediaevalis Corpus Christianorum Series Latina Críth Gablach Corpus Iuris Hibernici Cambridge Medieval Celtic Studies(1−25), thenceCambrian Medieval Celtic Studies(26−) Celtic Studies Association of North America Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum Corpus Signorum Imperii Romani Royal Irish Academy Dictionary of the Irish Language Études celtiques Irish Texts Society Journal of Roman Archaeology Lebor na hUidre Monumenta Germaniae Historica: Auctores Antiquissimi Medieval and Modern Irish Series Patrologia Latina Greek Psalms from the Septuagint Hebrew Psalms Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy Revue celtique Studia Celtica Fennica Yellow Book of Lecan Zeitschrift für celtische Philologie