Introduction
The modern Western world considers that literacy is prevalent and necessary. Literacy skills are essential as sleeping, eating as well as breathing. Many authors have claimed that literacy in Ireland has been spread by Christianity. A lot of credit has been given to Christianity for playing a significant role in promoting literacy in Ireland. The arrival of Christianity made a substantial impact on Ireland society. Initially, the Early Christian period lasted between 400AD and 800AD (Flechner & Meeder, 2016, p.131). Before the arrival of Christianity, the Irish practiced paganism, referred to as Druids. Since Ireland was a pagan nation, the primary intent of the Christian missionaries was to spread Christian religion and also to increase literacy by introducing various forms of promoting literacy and education. Christianity thrived in Ireland, producing some followers who erected monasteries in different parts of Ireland. Christians focused on teaching, literature, art, and languages, which became popular in Europe. This attracted more scholars into Ireland, which further increased the level of literacy. Christianity played a significant role in promoting the growth of literacy in Ireland (Croinin, 2013, p.143). Therefore, this paper centers on discussing the role played by Christianity in facilitating the growth of literacy in Ireland. It will begin by giving an overview of the arrival of Christianity in Ireland, then discuss how Christianity affected or promoted literacy in Ireland.
Overview of the arrival of Christianity in Ireland
Ireland’s Early Christian period occurred between 400AD and 800AD. Among the first bunch of Christians to arrive in Ireland mostly came from Gaul and Britain. Essentially, there are no written historical records about the start of the early Christian period within Ireland. Writing of historical records began at the point when the monastic began to settle and compose manuscripts (Croinin, 2013, p.156).
Saint Prosper, who was a member of the Roman Catholic Church, published a particular chronicle in 433AD narrating about first Ireland’s Christian mission. Many people disrupted the entry of Christianity when Palladious was Ireland’s first canonical Bishop. This sums up to justify that four Palladian bishops who were ministering in the South were the first Christians to arrive and settle in Ireland. St Declan of Ardmore, St Abban of Moyarny, St Ailbe of Emly, and St Ciaran of Saigir are believed to the four Bishops who were the first to settle in Ireland. St. Patrick settled on a small island currently named Inish-Patrick. In this area, St Patrick carried out the conversion of people to Christianity, including Beningus, the son of Irish Chieftain. It is perceived that Patrick established a monastery within the island, which thrived until the Vikings raid. At Saul, St Patrick carried out a conversion ending up converting a local pagan Chieftain called Dichu mac Trichim (Johnston, 2013, p.121). As a show of appreciation, the Chieftain donated a barn to St Patrick as a gift which was converted into a church. Saint Patrick, therefore, carried out his mission in Ireland for a longer period of about 30 years. He not only erected places of worship but also converted several local Chieftains. Even though Palladius’ mission in Ireland was unsuccessful, St Patrick did appear to be more prosperous. Initially, people were suspicious of his arrival, whereby they viewed him as a warrior or rather a pirate. But, when they met St Patrick and identified that he was gentle, they became reluctant to be converted and also baptized to be Christians (Caravale, Keen, & Warner, 2013, p.16). St Patrick might have utilized various ways to convert the native Irish pagans to Christianity. One big belief that prevailed is that he utilized the Shamrock in teaching his followers regarding the holy trinity. This is another example that denotes that he used something that the pagans were familiar with and could relate with. Converting the pagans was an uphill task; it took years along with assistance from other Christians who were initially converted by St Patrick.
Essentially, the newly arrived Christians in Ireland played a significant role within Irish society as well as Ireland’s history. Christianity thrived in Ireland, where it produced disciples who established monasteries across Ireland. The arrival of Christianity not only brought only faith but also knowledge as well as the outside world experience. Learning was highly valued and encouraged by the Christian missionaries including the essential reading and writing skills that were unavailable for the Irish people who significantly depended on oral tradition in passing knowledge and history from generation to generation (Croinin, 2013, p.76). The Christian missionaries also brought new farming methods along with them from oversees which led to an increase in the population. For the introduced new farming practices, both non-Christians and Christians were fast in adopting these farming practices making their land to be more productive and desirable.
The period of 500 – 700 AD was noteworthy for the level of the Christian’s monastic tradition development. Even though paganisms was widely spread in Ireland, the Irish people adopted Christianity and cope up with Christian way of life. Basically, enthusiasm as well as the significance of monastic centers increased significantly (Croinin, 2013, p.80). In this period, the popular illuminated bibles as well as manuscripts were created and best referred to as the Book of Kells. This book has four Gospels, it is handwritten as well as full of decorations containing outstanding detailed and intricate drawings, motif and also patterns. This book was perceived to have been the work of two main monks, which began in 600AD on Iona Island in Scotland. The book was later moved to Kells Monastery in Co Meath.
How Christianity affected or promoted literacy
The arrival of Christianity in Ireland was more than a mere literate religion but more of a religion of the book. Christianity involved a lot of reading as they significantly refer to the holy book the Bible. It is in this context that Christians had to learn to read so that they would be able to read and understand the Bible (Johnston, 2013, p.129). Essentially, the early Christians underlooked the fundamental Jewish belief that the revealed word needs to be accessed to everyone either through reading or preaching and that people need to oversee their day-to-day lives in accordance with the Old Testament
Christianity made a big contribution to the literacy in Ireland by introducing Latin, Roman alphabet, as well as the new technical advances which involved writing on vellum using inks. The Irish people were able to learn to read and write (Dublin, 2016). After the arrival of Christianity, the Irish were able to produce messages in Latin language and also adopted the Roman alphabet to write in Irish mainly using Vellum. Schools emerge which were taught using Irish. Laws were also made and written in Irish language.
At first, Christianity also used non-scriptural writing in their teachings, which supplemented the inspired texts which overwhelmed the local people. Christians made scriptures to be a priority as an object of study. Moreover, Gnostic thinker Basilides had made significant efforts by writing biblical commentaries. This inspired literacy in the form of reading and writing. Christian scriptural commentaries that were made the people develop an interest in literacy. It gave the Irish people the interest and will to learn how to read and write so that they would not miss out on a lot of things that were brought about by literacy (Johnston, 2013, p.131). Reading scriptures from the Bible was mandatory; therefore, building on essential literacy skills was vital for Christians.
Christian commentary, as well as the extensive theological literature, probed the Bible. The theological literature set a pace for literacy in Ireland. The Christological disputes brought about a devotional literature relating the Bible to the spiritual life. Generally, the type of Christianity that entered Ireland was quite different from that spread in the Roman world, whereby speakers in tongues, as well as wandering prophets, played significant roles in promoting literacy. In the 5th century, scripture, together with the commentators were very important than the authorities. They played the role of describing and translating the scriptures to the people, which helped the people to learn to read and understand (Johnston, 2013, p.132). At the time when the Irish admitted Christianity, they also accepted several attitudes along with the culture associated with it, especially the Christian methodology to sacred writings. This was a major stimulant for the wide-spread literacy that was experienced. The higher the number of conversions to Christianity, the higher the literacy rate in Ireland. This interpretation has served the reason as to why the literacy rate increased and the role played by Christianity to promote literacy.
Christianity, together with Latin tradition within Ireland, made some impacts on the Irish way to understand learning. Essentially, Christianity was a religion of the book. Therefore, only those who were able to read, for one to be a Christian, he or she ought to be capable of reading the Bible. The capacity to read the Bible was one of the motivational factors that motivated the Irish people to learn how to read and write. The Bible is an essential element for Christians (Johnston, 2013, p.134). This is evident in how the Irenaeus of Lyons utilized the Bible like a pillar of his theological way of refuting the Gnostics in charge of writing the acts, gospels as well as epistles. Many Christian preachers like John Chrysostom preached consistently on the Bible assumed at least an overall knowledge about the biblical context as part of the congregation. In essence, biocentrism is the fundamental attitude for the Christian missionaries which they brought along to Ireland.
Penetration into the inspired book through reading was the best way to know and understand the Christian God. This made literacy one of the fundamental skills that humans, especially Christians, needed. It turns out that the Irish Christians emphasized more on the written word in the Bible as a sacred sign since their God was the author of the Bible (Johnston, 2013, p.136). Literacy was inevitable for Christians so that they would get to know and gain God’s knowledge through reading the Bible. The effect of the Bible on the Irish people’s minds was even stronger. According to the Irish, their God had selected the particular medium of writing which He would reveal himself, and therefore, he had in some way blessed it. Due to the belief by Christians that the Bible is a holy blessed book by God, it inspired many people to gain literacy so that they would be able to reap their blessings from the sacred blessed book. Everyone would like to get blessed and live a happy life (Caravale et al., 2013, p.33). Therefore, everyone would strive hard to be literate so that he would have the capacity of getting blessings through reading the Bible. The concept of Christians entails reading the Holy Scripture. This concept was used to attract the non-participants and lure more converts to Christianity. Since this Christian concept also involves reading the sacred book, the Irish people had to adapt to the main idea of literacy. Christianity found it important to be literate so that one could be definitely aware of writings that are of a secular character, and they would easily differentiate the Bible from other non-canonical works, though according to Christianity, it emphasized the written form of revelation. This biblical seek was stressed by monasticism as well as the reading of the Fathers.
The overall acceptance of the monasticism within Christianity also played a significant role in the Irish Christian culture and literacy. The monasticism helped to enhance literacy due to the renounces that were often made by the people in order to devote their spiritual work. These helped them to learn and practice to pronounce some words. At the moment when Bible reading was a vital aspect of the monks’ life as well as their spirituality. It is clear that even in the earliest generations, prayer was nurtured by a scripture reading. The Christians believe that the monks peppered copious readings obtained from various books from the Bible, including summarized prayers, which assisted him in assimilating the readings as well as chants. However, this does not mean that other people were literate, though it means that literacy, as well as other scripture readings, were essential to the general life of the overall community. According to Christianity, they emphasize that reading the Bible helps in teaching people a lot and being knowledgeable of essential aspects. For instance, the Irish borrowed a theme from the Bible about Ammonius learned in the Bible as well as Paphnutius, who was well conversant with the Bible as a gift of divine knowledge (Lyons & Moloney, 2019, p.31). This theme helped in stimulating literacy. People became eager to be able to learn and write so that they would be able to read the Bible and be knowledgeable about God’s will and ways of conduct that is expected of us.
Conclusion
To sum it, Christianity in Ireland played a significant role in promoting the growth of literacy. Literacy in Ireland has been said to have been spread by Christianity. Therefore the arrival of Christianity made a substantial impact on the Ireland society. The arrival of Christianity not only brought only faith but also knowledge as well as the outside world experience. Learning was highly valued and encouraged by the Christian missionaries including the essential reading and writing skills that were unavailable for the Irish people who significantly depended on oral tradition in passing knowledge and history from generation to generation. Christianity thrived in Ireland, producing several followers who erected monasteries in various parts of Ireland. Christians focused on teaching, literature, art, and languages, which became popular in Ireland. The Christian missionaries also brought new farming methods along with them from oversees which led to an increase in the population. For the introduced new farming practices, both non-Christians and Christians were fast in adopting these farming practices making their land to be more productive and desirable. Many scholars were attracted, making it easy for the Irish people to gain literacy. Christianity involved a lot of reading as they significantly refer to the holy book the Bible. It is in this context that Christians had to learn to read so that they would be able to read and understand the Bible. Essentially, the early Christians underlooked the basic Jewish belief that the revealed word needs to be accessed to everyone either through reading or preaching and that people need to oversee their day-to-day lives in accordance with the Old Testament. Generally, the type of Christianity that entered Ireland was quite different from that spread in the Roman world, whereby speakers in tongues, as well as wandering prophets, played significant roles in promoting literacy. At the time when the Irish admitted Christianity, they also accepted several attitudes along with the culture associated with it, especially the Christian methodology to sacred writings. This was a major stimulant for the wide-spread literacy that was experienced. The higher the number of conversions to Christianity, the higher the literacy rate in Ireland. Essentially, Christianity was a religion of the book. Therefore, only those who were able to read, for one to be a Christian, he or she ought to be capable of reading the Bible. The capacity to read the Bible was one of the motivational factors that motivated the Irish people to learn how to read and write.