Sun & Cross

The beginnings of Irish Christianity lie in the dark past, though scholars agree that it did not emanate from Rome. Streit argues that a quite independent form of Christianity grew up in Ireland, which had a great influence on Dark Age Europe. Starting with the ancient sun-oriented monuments of the megalithic age, Streit traces an unbroken spiritual culture in Ireland from the time of stone circles and dolmens, through the Celtic era, into the period of the early Christian stone crosses. The highly evolved stone age culture was absorbed and developed by the Celts when they settled in Ireland in the centuries before Christ. They found it natural to accept the Christianity which developed in a unique manner in such a spiritual climate. Early hymns and liturgical texts, combining the older nature practice with the new religion, bear witness to this unbroken evolution. Finally, Streit depicts the amazing missionary zeal of monks like Columbanus who established Celtic Christianity across the vastness of Europe during the Dark Ages, until its suppression by the Church of Rome in the eighth century. Illustrated throughout with black and white photographs, line drawings, maps and diagrams, Streit's account is an important contribution to the study of the early history of Ireland.