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Approaches to Religion and Mythology in Celtic Studies
Editor: Katja Ritari and Alexandra Bergholm
Date Of Publication: Apr 2008
Isbn13: 9781847185266
Isbn: 1-84718-526-6

This publication is the first interdisciplinary collection of articles focusing on religion and mythology in Celtic studies. The first part presents various current viewpoints within the field from scholars of history, art history and literary studies. In addition to more traditional approaches, the other two parts of the book illustrate the possibilities of applying new theories and methods from the discipline of Comparative Religion to the analysis of Celtic materials. They introduce previously unpublished results of the international research network “The Power of Words in Traditional European Cultures”, and the research project “Religion, Society, and Culture: Defining the Sacred in Early Irish Literature” funded by the Academy of Finland at University of Helsinki. The present collection serves as a significant contribution towards a better understanding of issues that have not been previously brought together in a single volume. As such it is of interest to scholars in Celtic studies as well as other related disciplines.

Dr Katja Ritari is a postdoctoral researcher at the department of Comparative Religion at University of Helsinki, Finland. In her doctoral dissertation she studied the theological image of a good Christian in the earliest Lives of saints Brigit and Columba. She is currently working on eschatological thinking in early Irish literary sources.

Alexandra Bergholm, MA, is a doctoral candidate at the department of Comparative Religion at University of Helsinki, Finland. She is preparing a dissertation on the scholarly reception history of the early Irish tale Buile Suibhne.

“The present collection presents a stimulating range of new insights and new approaches to the study of Celtic religion and mythology. The enrichment of the discipline of Celtic Studies by interaction with the disciplinary theories and methods of comparative religion is clearly demonstrated. Moreover, non-Celticists get an invaluable introduction to the extent and variety of evidence about religion in sources from the Celtic-speaking world. The way is opened for advancement of research on

a variety of fronts. Scholars of the University of Helsinki have made a significant contribution to disciplinary cross-fertilisation between religious studies and Celtic. It is a pleasure to welcome a publication which so cogently communicates both the achievement and the possibilities of this pioneering scholarship.

Professor Máire Herbert, Department of Early and Medieval Irish

University College Cork

“…the projected volume contains the cream of the papers given [at the Eighth Symposium of the Societas Celtologica Nordica]. It is also worth insisting on the fact that these papers form a thematically coherent whole, in a way conference volumes perhaps do not always achieve… All that is needed here is a few words concerning the high scholarly standard that [the individual papers] have achieved. The geographical spread is also impressive. They testify very competently to the fact that Celtic Studies is now an important worldwide discipline, taught far beyond the confines of the old Celtic countries of Brittany, Scotland, Ireland and Wales.”

Anders Ahlqvist, Emeritus Professor of Old and Middle Irish and Celtic Philology, National University of Ireland, Galway

Price Uk Gbp: 39.99
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Sample pdf (including Table of Contents)

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