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by Shirley Toulson, an expert on the Celtic Church. 

Her book argues that the religion that flourished in the British Isles during the so-called Dark Ages had more in common with Eastern traditions such as Buddhism than with the later institutional Christianity of the West. This was the religion taught by the Celtic Church, which, over the early centuries of the Christian era gradually moved into confrontation with Rome - a confrontation that finally ended with Rome's victory at the Council of Whitby in 664 AD.

The author examines the history, teachings and customs of the Celtic church, linking them culturally and spritually with the religious traditions of the Druids, the Jews of the Middle East and the Coptic Christians of Egypt - the 'desert fathers'.

The book leaves us with the challenging notion that the Celtic Church - the Church of Columba, of Brendan, of Oswald and Finan - 'still has much to teach us of tolerance, persistance, and a tough but gentle kindness...'