THE GLOBALISATION OF GOD

Celtic Christianity's Nemesis

Dara Molloy

• Publisher: Aisling Publications
• Year: 2021
• eBook ISBN:
  9780953479252
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: History of Christianity

In today's world, globalisation is a word that describes the ubiquitous spread of multinational corporations and their influence into every region and every country. Those who oppose globalisation today point to the damage it is doing to the natural environment, to cultural heritage and to biological diversity. They argue that it is neither transparent nor accountable, neither ecologically nor economically sustainable and that it puts profit before the democratic will of the people.

    This book traces the roots of this globalisation process to a belief in one god who rules the universe. The predominant god of Moses is a god shared by three major world religions and many other lesser ones. Together they constitute more than half the world's population. The god of Moses dismisses all other gods and goddesses and establishes one way, and one way only, of seeing the world. 

    Before Moses, polytheism was the norm. Each culture had its own set of gods and goddesses who lived locally. This ensured diversity. Beliefs were as diverse as languages.

    Historically, in the language of globalisation, the first 'product' to be 'marketed' at a global level was a belief in the one god of Moses. This belief was wrapped in the Christian message and 'advertised' by Christian missionaries who were willing to travel anywhere and give everything for the cause.

    From the 4th century CE the Christian church of Rome began building itself into a global corporation. When one looks at how global corporations operate today, one can see how their structures and operations mimic in many ways those developed over centuries by the Roman church.

    In order for the Roman church to remain in control of its global operations, it had to insist on uniformity in its 'products' and 'services'. This led to the removal of local and diverse expressions of Christianity.

  One of the many casualties of this globalisation process was Celtic Christianity. The second half of this book traces the history of the conflict between the Celtic monastic movement and Rome. The story demonstrates that what the Roman church did then and what multinational corporations do now is much the same.

This book was first published in 2009. Its message remains relevant and even more pressing now.

Mist and Magic

There is a mist tonight,

So I ventured out.

Good god in sacrament!

I stilled to hold a dog-daisy

Covered in dew-dust.

I stilled, worshipping,

And saw my hand in the light of the mist,

Then jumped my gaze to imagine my whole person wrapped,

In that mesh of delicate, elusive vapour.

Caught up in its whispers,

My soul heard tales of what has been on this soil,

And how I am ever in its grasp,

Trapped by its passion.

The donkey cautiously watching from the stone wall,

Didn’t frighten as I came up close.

We both stood, bound in the mystery for seconds,

In seconds fleeing to eternity and back.

On the road again I waited for the others,

All to head home together.

And hid the scene in a pocket of my mind,

To bathe in once more,

remembering mist and magic.

Tess Harper

2

MONOTHEISM

THE MOTHER OF GLOBALISATION

The change to monotheism, promoted under Moses, was a paradigm shift that separated Judaism from the prevailing polytheistic cultures of the time. What was new was not only a belief in a single god but a dogmatism that was not present in polytheism. This dogmatic approach facilitated the development of a hierarchical system of authority within Judaism which was different from surrounding cultures. In this system, ‘God’ was at the head. The result was a detailed system of laws, all of which were believed to come from this god. Israel became the first theocratic state. The success of Judaic monotheism opened up the possibility that one day all people on this earth would be connected to this one god, obeying the same laws and living the same lifestyle. Monotheism is the mother of globalisation.

When Moses came down from Mount Horeb in the Sinai Desert he brought with him the Ten Commandments, carved in stone. The first of these commandments stated that there was to be one god and one god only.(1) Monotheism is now the dominant form of belief in the world today. When one tries to find its source, one inevitably is led back to Moses.

One can argue that various forms of monotheism appeared in the world before the time of Moses. For example, the Egyptian pharaoh Akhnaton promoted worship of a single god Aton around 1350 BCE, approximately one hundred years before Moses. However, the monotheism that is present in today’s world has its roots in Moses.

Moses introduced us to the idea that there is one god who created this universe and rules this world we live in. This god of Moses has become the god of three of the world’s major religions – Judaism, Christianity and Islam. The Sikhs, the Sufis and adherents of the Bahai also trace their god to Moses. These religions make up more than half of the world’s population.(2)

The concept of the divine as one god who is male and lives in the heavens dominates the Western world. It is a myth in the true sense of that word – a fundamental belief that acts as a container of meaning for human living. Within the parameters of that myth, humans find a meaning for their lives and justification for their actions.

When the Hebrews came out of slavery in Egypt they developed a new theology which rejected the Egyptian pantheon of gods and all feminine images of divinity. It is clear from the Bible story that the primary task of Moses was to convert his people to a belief in this one god and to have them reject all others.

At the time of the exodus of the Hebrews from Egypt, around 1250 BCE, the Egyptian and all the surrounding cultures were polytheistic. These other cultures included the Canaanites and the Mesopotamians. Further afield were the Hindu, Minoan and Celtic cultures – all of whom were polytheistic.

The Egyptians, under whom the Hebrews suffered slavery, believed in dozens of gods and goddesses. These deities cared for all aspects of life, death and the next world. For a period, Egyptians also believed that their own kings or pharaohs were gods.

When the Hebrews escaped from Egypt under the leadership of Moses, they encountered the Canaanites in the desert. The most powerful deity of the Canaanites was Baal, the god of rain, storms and war. Baal’s wife, Asherah, was a goddess of love. The Hebrews regularly fought against the Canaanites and eventually conquered them and took their land.

The Hebrews also encountered the Mesopotamians. These people lived in what now corresponds roughly to modern Iraq. Their beliefs involved many deities. Every village was under the protection of a deity who lived in a huge temple tower called a ziggurat.

In the middle of this polythei...

Table of contents

• Epub Cover GofG
• Epub Opening pages
• Epub Introduction
• Epub Ch1 Polytheism
• pmff Ch 1 Mist and Magic
• Epub Ch2 Monotheism
• pmff Ch 2 Goddess
• Epub Ch3 Juda
• pmff Ch 3 Awe
• Epub Ch4 Jesus and organised rel
• pmff Ch 4 Stillness
• Epub Ch5 Christianity
• pmff Ch 5 Questioning God
• Epub Ch6 Roman Christianity
• pmff Ch 6 Silenced Son
• Epub Ch7 Christian products
• pmff Ch 7 Stale bread
• Epub Ch8 Global ambitions
• pmff Ch 8 Shuddering Silence
• Epub Ch9 Celtic Christianity
• pmff Ch 9 The Wish of M
• Epub Ch10 Pel and Agust
• pmff Ch10 Night Prayer
• Epub Ch11 CeltChris conf in Brit
• pmff Ch11 Vision Song
• Epub Ch12 Celtic Chris con in Europe
• pmff Ch12 Sailing with Brendan
• Epub Ch13 Celtic Chris in Ireland
• pmff Ch13 Reluctant Homecoming
• Epub Ch14 Betrayal from within Ireland
• pmff Ch14 Church Meeting
• Epub Ch15 Ecclesiastical conq in Ire
• pmff Ch15 Woman
• Epub Ch16 Hist of Glob
• pmff Ch16 Ten commandments
• Epub Ch17 Spir and sust
• pmff Ch17 New Wine
• Epub Dedication
• Epub About the Author
• Epub Bibliography