[Vision2020] Joan and the Celtic Goddess

[Aaron Rench]

Joan Opyr wrote:

>
>
> On 10 Nov 2005, at 10:04, Michael wrote:
>
>     Joan Opyr writes:
>
>     "Doug and Doug – and you, Michael -- are skating perilously close
>     to idolatry in the claims you make regarding the Trinity. This was
>     especially evident in the Trinity Fest this summer in the Feast of
>     St. Brigid. Do you know who Brigid was? Maiden, mother, and crone.
>     She was a Celtic goddess; she made the crops grow, she was called
>     upon to aid in childbirth; the Irish still put out bowls of milk
>     on St. Brigid’s Day. Why? Because Brigid the Goddess had a bit of
>     a nasty streak – she needed to be appeased.
>
>     Incorporating Brigid into your worship (or your Trinity Fest) is
>     syncretic, Michael, but it’s bad Christian theology. It’s heresy.
>     As long as you Celt-ify your worship with eyes wide open, fine,
>     but I don’t think your eyes are wide open. I believe that you view
>     Doug Wilson with your eyes squinted up and your head tilted to one
>     side (the right). You are theologically inconsistent, and, as a
>     Christian, this puts you in peril. Know this; think about this; be
>     clear about this. You believe the God I worship is “sexless” and
>     “masturbatory.” I believe the God you worship is a confused mess,
>     an unsavory mixture of rank Anglophilia, sophomoric bigotry, and
>     sexist convenience."
>
>     Aaron corrects her:
>
>     Just a quick correction for you. I'm sure there was a Brigid who
>     was a Celtic goddess, but if you recall the name of the feast at
>     Trinity Fest was *Saint* Brigid's Feast. That's because we were
>     not naming our feast after Brigid the Celtic goddess, but after a
>     Christian medieval nun who was known for her hospitality and
>     looked forward to serving beer to King Jesus in heaven. In fact,
>     she probably heard St. Patrick preach at least one sermon, and she
>     was also known for giving away milk to the poor. You should ask
>     Rose, I gave her a copy of the poem written by St. Brigid where
>     some of this is mentioned.
>
>     So, no, Michael doesn't need to worry about syncretism or heresy.
>     St. Brigid is just one of our sisters in the historic Christian
>     faith, and a good example of what it means to be hospitable. No
>     nasty streak here.
>
>
>
> No, Michael, Aaron Rench has not "corrected" me; he has again 
> displayed his ignorance of syncretism and of Celtic history and 
> Catholic history. Bride, or Brigid, was triple goddess of the Irish 
> Celts. As part of the Christianization of Ireland, her worship was 
> transmogrified (I was about to say "replaced by," but that would be 
> incorrect) into worship of St. Brigid, but most syncretic elements of 
> the Brigid cult remained, including calling upon "St. Brigid" in 
> childbirth, and her patronage of milk and beer production.
>
> Until the 10th century, veneration of saints was local; it was not 
> controlled by the central authority of the Catholic Church. There was 
> a woman named Brigid who was consecrated as a bishop by the Irish 
> Church, and as Abbess of Kildare, she held authority over a double 
> monastery until the 1150s. This is not the same Brigid as either our 
> triple goddess or the Catholic saint. Actually, make that ex-Catholic 
> saint. Brigid was decanonized by the Church in 1960, along with a load 
> of other dubious local saints. If Aaron knew nothing else about 
> "Saint" Brigid, he should have known that.
>
> Now, as I have advised you boys before, don't try to teach your 
> grandmother to suck eggs. You don't know medieval history; you don't 
> know Celtic history; and you are hopeless on the Anglo-Saxons, the 
> Vikings, and the early Catholic Church. Stick with John Calvin and 
> John Knox. You do know them.
>
> Joan Opyr/Auntie Establishment
> www.joanopyr.com
>
> PS: Answering Joe Campbell's earlier question: yes, Dale Courtney is 
> an idiot. Aaron's easily dismissed rubbish was posted to Dale's blog 
> as if it were historic fact. Peer review, shmeer review. We're not 
> dealing with academics here, Joe. We're dealing with dogmatic ignorance.
>
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>
Joan,

I understand that you're a little jumpy about these things, but maybe 
Brigid's hometown (Kildare) has something to say:

"As a place of interest both historically and religiously, Kildare 
Cathedral is second only to that of the Cathedral Church of Armagh. St. 
Brigid, the founder of the church, was born in 453 A.D., and is one of 
the three most famous Irish saints, along with St. Patrick and St. 
Columcille. A deeply religious person, even as a child, she was the 
first woman who engaged in church work in Ireland."

http://kildare.ie/heritage/historic-sites/churches.asp

So, Joan, you can have your celtic goddess, and any other Brigid that 
you want, but my point is that there was a Christian Saint Brigid who 
was very hospitable, started a church, looked forward to beer in heaven, 
and as a side note, did live during the lifetime of Saint Patrick (he 
died around 464).

And no, we won't stick to John Calvin and Knox. You forget, we're 
Christians, and Christianity goes back about 2,000 years, embracing 
Brigid, Boethius, Calvin and Chesterton, just to name a few.

Cheers,
Aaron