Walk into any big bookstore and you are likely to find a sizeable collection of books with "Celtic" in the title. They may be in the New Age, religion, poetry, or "occult" section, and chances are they are more about popular imagination than scholarly research. Is there really such a thing as Celtic Christianity, and if there is, does it have anything to say to Christians in the twenty-first century?

It is easy to see why this field is of interest to so many people. The colorful landscapes of Ireland and Scotland beckon Americans who trace their ancestry there. People hope that there is a form of Christianity in our shared past that exhibits some things we see our contemporary faith community lacking. The literature of Celtic Christianity has a rich tradition of prayers to God in everyday life, of appreciation for the natural world in all its power and beauty, of saints whose lives and actions inspire devotion, of poetry that speaks truth. But the danger is to read our desires into Celtic Christianity rather than letting it speak for itself. How can we understand Celtic Christianity on its terms and find ways to apply it to our lives? This study attempts to do just that.