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Composed by Guitarist Sam Guarnaccia, with Lyrics by Philip Newell, this beautiful CD was inspired by the haunting spirit of the Celtic world. Soloist: Suzanne Adam with Elizabeth Von Trapp and other choral voices. Instrumentation include Violin, Flute, Cello, Viola, Bodhran, Guitar, Whistle & Small Pipes. Tracks include: Song of the Universe, Sanctus, The Prayer of Jesus, Agnus Dei, Benedictus and Song of Peace.
** A New Ancient Harmony was previously published as A New Harmony.
John Philip Newell includes a new preface introducing the reprinting of A New Harmony, retitled as A New Ancient Harmony to better reflect the nature of the book.
In a world that seems increasingly fragmented, John Philip Newell calls us to a vision of life’s essential oneness. He invites us to be part of a new harmony. In his previous book, Christ of the Celts, Newell freshly expressed the ancient Celtic vision of creation’s sacredness and unity. In that poetic treatment of the wisdom of Celtic spirituality, he pointed the way to a Christianity more integrated with the earth and with the rest of humanity. A New Ancient Harmony takes the next step forward by articulating a vision and a pathway toward transformation in our lives and world. A New Ancient Harmony communicates across the boundaries of religion and race that have separated us and honors our distinct inheritances by serving what is deeper still—the oneness of our origins and the oneness of earth’s destiny.
Newell explores the ancient harmony that is deep in the matter of the universe, the essential interconnectedness of all things. Everything, whether the expanding light of distant galaxies or humanity’s inner light of mind and consciousness, carries within itself the life of the universe’s shared beginning. With keen insight and sensitivity, he confronts the brokenness of our harmony, as individuals and families and as nations and species. Only by knowing and naming the extent and depth of our disharmony will we find the way forward. Confronting our brokenness, individually and together, is integral to the hope for healing.
Throughout the book, Newell leads us on a pathway of discovery toward transforming the way we understand ourselves. He challenges us to consider the possibilities of a new, yet ancient, harmony in our lives—as individuals, as communities, and as nations—by asking “What is the cost, both personal and collective, of releasing life’s essential oneness in radically new and transformative ways?”
A book of morning and night prayer illuminated with beautiful artwork from the 7th-century Lindisfarne Gospels. A new expression of an ancient tradition.
(Reader Review: ‘The poetry of this book speaks directly to the human heart.’)
A weekly cycle of prayer from Iona Abbey in the Western Isles of Scotland, reflecting the spirituality and justice concerns of the modern-day Iona Community.
(Reader Review: ‘A particularly lovely incarnation of the Celtic spirituality that so many of us have come to appreciate.’)
A daily pattern of scripture and prayer illuminated with artwork from the Book of Kells alongside the simplicity of children’s Celtic artwork today.
(Reader Review: ‘This little book is an absolute gem’)
John Philip Newell
with soloist Suzanne Butler
The perfect compliment to John Philip Newell’s “Praying with the Earth: A Prayerbook for Peace”, this audio CD invites and inspires us to live as those whose hearts yearn for peace.
We as Jews, Christians, and Muslims share a common spiritual descent, yet painful divisions between us lie at the center of much conflict and war in the world today. “Chanting for Peace: Meditative Chants and Prayers” brings to life the morning and evening prayers from “Praying with the Earth” that honor each of these traditions.
The chants, sung in English, have a descant in the original language from the three households of Abraham, Sarah and Hagar. The words are selections from the Quran, the Hebrew Scriptures and the Words of Jesus and are interwoven with prayers by John Philip Newell. The soloist and music director is Suzanne Butler who was featured on Newell’s previous chant CD, Sounds of the Eternal. The composer, Linda Larkin, is from Santa Fe. Spoken prayers are from John Philip’s “Praying with the Earth”.
Written by John Philip Newell, one of the foremost experts on Celtic spirituality, this moving audio book offers a reflection on the “forgotten” Jesus, the Christ of the ancient Celtic tradition.
Drawing on the gospels of Thomas and the Acts of John and on the writings of Irenaeus, Eriugena, and Teilhard de Chardin, the author ignites us with the possibilities that can come from understanding this ancient spiritual tradition. The Celtic Christ offers new hope for achieving harmony, healing, and renewal for human beings and for all of creation.
Newell connects the Celtic tradition with our more conventional Christian beliefs and offers a vision of concern for healing creation and the environment — for the presence of the sacred in nature and all creatures. This was the essence of the ancient Celtic version of Christ. As an ever-unfolding mystery of life rather than a one-time event, the Celtic tradition encourages us to revere the matter of our bodies and the earth.
John Philip Newell is a poet, scholar, and teacher. Formerly Warden of Iona Abbey in the Western Isles of Scotland, he is now companion theologian for the American Spirituality Center of Casa del Sol at Ghost Ranch in the high desert of New Mexico.
Hardcover book also available.
“This graceful, wise and important book is a superb introduction to the treasures of Celtic Christianity for our time.” – Marcus Borg, author, The Heart of Christianity
Written by John Philip Newell, one of the foremost experts on Celtic spirituality, this moving book offers a reflection on the “forgotten” Jesus, the Christ of the ancient Celtic tradition.
Drawing on the gospels of Thomas and the Acts of John and on the writings of Irenaeus, Eriugena, and Teilhard de Chardin, the author ignites us with the possibilities that can come from understanding this ancient spiritual tradition. The Celtic Christ offers new hope for achieving harmony, healing, and renewal for human beings and for all of creation.
Newell connects the Celtic tradition with our more conventional Christian beliefs and offers a vision of concern for healing creation and the environment — for the presence of the sacred in nature and all creatures. This was the essence of the ancient Celtic version of Christ. As an ever-unfolding mystery of life rather than a one-time event, the Celtic tradition encourages us to revere the matter of our bodies and the earth.
John Philip Newell is a poet, scholar, and teacher. Formerly Warden of Iona Abbey in the Western Isles of Scotland, he is now companion theologian for the American Spirituality Center of Casa del Sol at Ghost Ranch in the high desert of New Mexico.
Audio version also available.
“This graceful, wise and important book is a superb introduction to the treasures of Celtic Christianity for our time.” – Marcus Borg, author, The Heart of Christianity
John Philip has taken the essence expressed in prayer form that is in Sounds of the Eternal: A Celtic Psalter and put it in thought form for Echo of the Soul. Drawing on the two great traditions of Celtic Spirituality and Jewish Spirituality, Newell gives radical affirmation of the goodness of creation and of the human body.
What does it mean to be made in the “image and likeness” of God? That’s the first – and defining – characteristic of our humanity, celebrated in the opening pages of the Bible. Western Christian tradition, however, has often led us to think of the body and soul as separate elements, with the soul good and body evil. This profound and challenging book clears away centuries of misunderstanding and shame that have damaged the way we see ourselves – and the way we see God. Author John Philip Newell, acclaimed for his work on Celtic spirituality, goes back to our spiritual roots in the Bible, and in the mystical Celtic and Jewish writings, to weave together a deeper, more complete understanding of our bodies as an outward expression of our spiritual selves.
“Echo of the Soul is rather a minor miracle.” –Booklist
Available Now
Written as a series of connected stories, Foy: A Novel by Gordon Atkinson is where we meet Baptist minister Foy Davis. From boyhood adventures in Fort Davis and Houston, Texas, to his unorthodox ministry in San Antonio, to his subsequent bolt from church life to New Orleans, we follow the thread of one man’s struggle with the place of religion in his life.
With clarity and spare dialogue, Gordon Atkinson portrays a good, caring man who is escaping his history to step into a more authentic life, even if it is a strange and frightening thing. As Foy attempts to salvage what he can of the religion he once knew, the reader is invited to walk along with him on this journey.
“I’m known as an essayist, but writing fiction, and in particular dialog, have always been my first love. I’m a passionate reader of fiction and consider the writing of it to be a sacred calling.” – Gordon Atkinson
Gordon Atkinson, BA, Mdiv, is the author of blog RealLivePreacher.Com (Offline with selected archives here) and Tertium Squid, where he writes about current events and comments on important things like biking, whiskey, heavenly bodies, stars, depression, tea, theology and people he finds amusing. He is the author of the books, RealLivePreacher.Com, Turtles all the Way Down and The Christmas Story You Have Never Heard. He is a contributor to the magazine Christian Century and was the founding editor for the High Calling website, which brought together hundreds of independent writers and featured their work. His writing was chosen to be included in The Best Christian Writing 2004 and his book RealLivePreacher.com (Wm. B. Eerdmans) won the Independent Publisher award for best creative, non-fiction when it was published. This is his first novel.
A celebration of communion and spirit, this congregational booklet and leader’s guide finds language for today that expresses the desire to move back into relationship with the earth. The leader’s book is suitable for the celebration of communion in large or small congregational settings, and contains three distinct versions of the Celtic Earth Mass, as well as musical resources to be used in accompaniment with the words. It is also ideal for personal prayer and devotion. John Philip Newell acknowledges the three influences behind his latest release: Teilhard’s daily practice of celebrating communion in the great cathedral of nature first inspired him to put pen to paper; the Celtic practice of praying in relation to earth, sea, and sky that offered him a new-ancient language of prayer; and his respect for the earth-honouring wisdom of Native American spirituality that inspired him to clothe this book in imagery that emulates that wisdom. This book is an offering to individuals and communities within the Christian household who are longing for a new language to celebrate their love of the earth. “These twin loves are primary features in the rebirthing of Christianity for today,” says John Philip Newell.
Harmoniously accompanying the prose of John Philip Newell is artwork by Brenda Kingery. Her paintings are illuminated by alchemies of her own: earthen colors brightened by bright yellows, tints of greens, touches of mica, rays of light. Her work vibrates with magic vitality, astonishes by its affinity with dance, music, and its spiritual intensity. As an artist, Brenda sees life as textural patterns that can be described as narrative symbolism. Having as many as 25 layers of paint, her goal is to create paintings full of life’s breath. Just as with her Chickasaw grandmother’s stories, every culture captured in her paintings gathers to sing and dance. Born in Oklahoma City, Brenda is a member of the Chickasaw Nation, is the founding member of the Threads of Blessing International and travels to Honduras, Mexico and Uganda to teach textile and design in workshops that encourage women in developing countries to use their indigenous artistic skills. In 2007, Kingery was appointed by the President of the United States to the Board of Trusteees of the Institute of American Indians and Native Alaskans in Santa Fe, New Mexico. She is mostly inspired by her native culture, but also by Asia, where she lived for several years, as well as Africa, where she has travelled extensively. As Brenda rediscovered her Scottish roots, she felt a close connection to the work of Ali and John Philip Newell and was generous in her participation in donating her work to be part of this project.
Brenda Kingery’s beautiful painting used in this book, Waiting, is available as a signed, numbered, and limited edition print. Only 100 in total will be available; two thirds of the purchase price will go to the work of Heartbeat: A Journey Towards Earth’s Wellbeing, the 501(c)3 foundation that was formed to come alongside the ministry and vision of Ali and John Philip Newell. Each print on fine art paper is 17×16, unframed. To purchase, please contactinfo@HeartbeatJourney.org.
“Remind[ing] us of the Oneness from whom we have come and the one earth to which we belong.” – JP Newell
This small book is the collaboration of the Celtic scholar John Philip Newell and photographer Claudia Tammen. It brings a new vocabulary for today to the ancient prayer of Jesus and combines it with iconic photography from the high desert of New Mexico. Each page of this little gem has a full color image facing one line of the beautiful prayer allowing the reader to contemplate the profound mystery of God through words and images. Included in this gift edition are journal pages to record one’s reflections.
A Celtic perspective on the stages of life from birth to death as a way of rediscovering the goodness of what is deepest in us.
(Editorial Review: ‘Poetic insights into the human journey.’)
Get both Mary Earle and Christine Valters Paintner’s poetry books here.
Did You Sing Your Song? by Mary Earle
A lifetime of poetry about the land, memories of West Texas, family, and sacredness of life.
When she was a little girl, Mary Earle’s maternal grandmother taught her to listen to the garden in her yard, the creek on the Texas hill country land, the wind in the trees and the stars. Her mother, Mary Colbert, started reading to her as soon as she could sit up, and her mother loved to read poetry out loud. The poems in this book are an offering that comes from years of listening to what the Irish call “the music of what happens.” Mary says, “My hope is that the poems will invite the reader to listen along with me to that music.”
Wisdom of Wild Grace by Christine Valters Paintner
At the core of this collection are 30 poems inspired by the stories of kinship between saints and animals. They come mostly from the early Christian desert and Celtic traditions, but also feature later medieval saints like St. Francis of Assisi and St. Julian of Norwich. These stories point to a reverence for a different way of knowing and being in the world, one our world is hungry for. Each poem in this collection is meant to be a doorway to intimacy with our inner wilderness, a call to sit and be present to what we discover beyond the borders of our neatly controlled worlds.
Christine Valters Paintner, PhD, REACE is the online Abbess of Abbey of the Arts, a virtual monastery and global, ecumenical community integrating contemplative practice and creative expression. She is a Benedictine oblate living on the west coast of Ireland with her husband John. Together they lead pilgrimages and retreats in Ireland, Scotland, Germany, and Austria. Christine is the author of twelve books on spirituality, monastic wisdom, creativity, and the arts including The Artist’s Rule and The Soul’s Slow Ripening. Her poems have been published in journals in the U.S., Canada, Ireland, and the UK.
Morning and evening prayers for the peace of the whole world. Following the pattern of his popular Celtic Benediction, Philip Newell provides lyrical and theologically profound prayers for morning and evening each day of the week. These devotions celebrate the spiritual legacy shared by Jews, Christians, and Muslims and articulate the longings for peace that are closer to the heart of these spiritual traditions than their divisions. Ideal for personal devotions, this book also provides a versatile liturgical resource appropriate for Christian or interfaith use. Each devotion features:
John Philip Newell
SONIDOS DE LO ETERNO
Un Salterio Celta
These translated morning and evening prayers are from the Celtic Christian tradition and from ancient Jewish spirituality. They invite us to rediscover the mystery of God’s image within. This edition includes an additional three prayers that give voice to common yearnings of the human soul.
Translated by Carlos Exposito Irarragorri and Marie Cristina Borges Alvarez, Cuban priests who were introduced to Newell’s writing at Shalem Institute.
NEWELL — July 2010
Spirituality / paperback / 104 pages / 7.9 x 4.8 x 0.4 inches/
ISBN 978-0-9819800-2-7 / $14.95