Women in a Celtic Church: Ireland 450-1150 (review)

The world of scholarship regarding the "Celtic Church" is a complex one and the title of this work, Women in a Celtic Church is a subtle acknowledgment of the thorny issues that arise between scholarly debate, current religious/spiritual practice, and the realities of the publishing market. Is there now, or was there ever, a self-conscious, cohesive entity which could be called "The Celtic Church"? If so, what are/were its distinctive qualities? What relationship does such an historic movement, if it existed, bear to modern "Celtic Christians"? Harrington does not specifically address these issues (though she does reference others who do so), yet these and other questions form the background against which she develops her arguments and to which her work makes considerable contribution.

The strength of Women in a Celtic Church does not lie so much in a single, overarching narrative as in an in-depth, comprehensive study of the extant primary texts on religious women in Ireland from 450-1150. Harrington traces the general organization of women's monasticism from the early period of conversion, through the later periods of monastic expansion, the disruptions of the Viking era, the internal reforms of the Culdee movement and the external pressures toward reform, or Europeanization, of the tenth through the twelfth centuries. Within each of these broad time periods, Harrington follows the evidence for the lives and activities of religious women by type and geographical location including the development of the major female houses such as Kildare, Clonbroney, Cloonburren, Killeedy, and Killevy. She pays particular attention to the following: whether the sources confirm, deny or are silent on the question of misogyny toward religious women by society in general and religious men in particular, diverse types of women religious professions, the legal status of the various grades of religious women, the question of enclosure, issues of clerical celibacy and clerical wives, ecclesiastical and political relationships between women's houses and women's and men's houses. In particular she questions the strict categorization of "men's houses," "women's houses" and "double monasteries," drawing on source material and recent archaeological evidence to argue that gender relations, at least in terms of religious cohabitation, were considerably more varied and fluid than has previously been argued. Harrington has an impressive grasp of the vitae, legal documents, martyrlogies and chronicles as well as the secondary literature. She brings an emphasis on Irish and Latin source documents to the discussions in the secondary literature.

Harrington's introductory chapter, "The Irish Holy Woman and her Modern Inquisitors," is a thought provoking foray into the state of the various disciplines which touch on the question of women in the early medieval Irish church. In addition to the question of the existence, or lack thereof, and the nature of a distinctly Celtic Church, Harrington responds to various points of scholarship on the role of religious women in early medieval European Christianity, with particular emphasis on the issues of authority and gender relations. After reviewing the historical scholarship on the early Irish church and women in medieval Ireland, Harrington turns to popular perceptions and non-specialist historiography. She touches on the modern annexation of historical Irish Christianity by neo pagans, modern Druids, proponents of modern Celtic Christianity, women's spirituality and feminist spirituality, in an essay which, though far from exhaustive, is both thoughtful and provocative. Significantly, Harrington takes a critical stance toward both historical misinterpretation and the tendency of modern scholars to scoff at the spiritual hunger of those seekers who are attracted to modern "Celtic Christianity." Particularly suggestive is Harrington's comment that the inaccessibility of modern scholarship must bear no little responsibility for possible modern misinterpretations among non-specialists. A not uncommon complaint among scholars of Medieval Ireland is that both the "popular" and the intelligent non-specialist's concepts of early Irish Christianity are...