Adomnan of Iona

Theologian, Lawmaker, Peacemaker

Jonathan M. Wooding, Rodney Aist, Thomas Owen Clancy, Thomas O'Loughlin

• Publisher: Four Courts Press
• Year: 2020
• eBook ISBN:
  9781846828973
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Religious Biographies

The abbot of Iona in the late 7th century, Adomnan, a kinsman of the founder St. Columba, was one of the most remarkable thinkers of his era. The author of the magnificent Life of Columba, as well as a widely-influential guide to the Holy Places of the Near East, he was also responsible for the celebrated Cain Adomnain - a ground-breaking law tract on the protection of non-combatants. Adomnan was also a major figure in the Easter Controversy and his scholarship directly influenced that of Bede. The studies in this volume, arising from a conference held on Iona on the 13th centenary of Adomnan's death, celebrate his achievements.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half-title page
• Title page
• Copyright page
• Contents
• List of illustrations
• List of contributors
• Introduction
• 1. Adonmnán and Donegal
• 2. Adomnán at the court of King Aldfrith
• 3. ‘Charity with peace’: Adomnán and the Easter question
• 4. Adomnán and the art of teaching spiritual sons
• 5. Adomnán and the morality of war
• 6. Adomnán in medieval Gaelic literary tradition
• 7. Adomnán among the bird-hunters: tradition and creativity in ‘Beannachadh Seilg’
• 8. The archaeology of writing in the time of Adomnán
• 9. Adiutor Laborantium: a poem by Adomnán?
• 10. Adomnán, Arculf and the source material of De locis sanctis
• 11. The De locis sanctis as a liturgical text
• 12. On the circumstances of Adomnán’s composition of the De locis sanctis
• 13. The structure and purpose of Adomnán’s Vita Columbae
• 14. Adomnán’s Vitae Columbae and the early churches of Tiree
• 15. Adomnán’s voyaging saint: the cult of Cormac ua Liatháin
• 16. The anti-Pelagian motif of the ‘naturally good’ pagan in Adomnán’s Vita Columbae
• 17. Heavenly apparitions and heavenly life in Adomnán’s Vita Columbae
• 18. Visions of divine light in the writings of Adomnán and Bede
• List of abbreviations
• Bibliography
• Indexs