Celtic Missionary Monks Reaching Oral Learners

In 2012, I was privileged to visit the island of Iona in Scotland's Hebrides Islands. It is remembered as the place where the Irish missionary monk Columba and his community were given by the Pictish King Bridius to build a monastery and establish a base for their mission work to the Picts in the 6th century. After surveying the island and doing further research on Celtic mission practice, including work among the Picts, I was particularly intrigued by how the monks engaged the Pictish culture and its art in order to share the gospel. Last year I gave a paper on this and it has now been published in the online journal Global Missiology. The article's abstract is below and the complete article can be read HERE.

When remembering the history of Celtic monasticism and mission, many are quick to recognize the rich literary tradition that accompanied the movement. Indeed, such works as Patrick’s Confessions, Adomnan’s Life of Columba and The Holy Places as well as the development of a few remarkable Gospel books—the Book of Kells, the Book of Durrow, and the Lindisfarne Gospels—lend credence to this claim. That said, far less attention seems to be paid to the oral emphases of Celtic monastic missions and, in particular, the Iona community and their mission to Picts. In this paper, following a brief narrative of mission and background on the Pictish peoples, I will argue that Columba (521-597) and his monks, despite their significant abilities in reading and clear commitment to it as part of their spiritual growth, were quite deliberate in engaging the visual and oral context of their Pictish hosts. To support this claim, two texts in particular will be explored and evaluated for their oral qualities—St. Martin’s cross and the Book of Kells.