The ancient Hebrew prophecies spoke of a new kingdom that God would instigate during the fourth great world empire of the ancient world: the Roman Empire. The great promise of that empire was this: that they would civilize the surrounding “barbarian” nations by conquering them. Caesar began the process of “civilization” by conquering the Celts […]

For fifty years, there were two contrasting Christian churches in Britain: a “power and might” church and a “by my Spirit” church, growing side-by-side. This unstable situation was resolved at the Synod of Whitby in 644 A.D., in which the Roman Church edged out the Celts, who began the slow and painful process of disappearing. […]

Just as Aidan (from Iona) established the outreach to Anglo-Saxons at Lindisfarne, Rome came back into the picture in 597 A.D.  It’s first archbishop, a Benedictine monk named Augustine, set up shop at Canterbury, and challenged the Celts to accept his authority.  Lacking the one quality (humility) that would have won their allegiance, the Celtic […]