Sacred Earth, Sacred Soul

A Celtic Guide to Listening to Our Souls and Saving the World

By: John Philip Newell

Narrated by: Angus King

A leading spiritual teacher reveals how Celtic spirituality -listening to the sacred around us and inside us – can help us heal the earth, overcome our conflicts, and reconnect with ourselves.

John Philip Newell shares the long hidden tradition of Celtic Christianity, explaining how this earth – based spirituality can help us rediscover the natural rhythms of life and deepen our spiritual connection with God, with each other, and with the earth. Newell introduces some of Celtic Christianity’s leading practitioners, both saints and pioneers of faith, whose timeless wisdom is more necessary than ever, including:

Pelagius, who shows us how to look beyond sin to affirm our sacredness as part of all God’s creation, and courageously stands up for our principles in the face of oppression.

Brigid of Kildare, who illuminates the interrelationship of all things and reminds us of the power of the sacred feminine to overcome those seeking to control us.

John Muir, who encourages us to see the holiness and beauty of wilderness and what we must do to protect these gifts.

Teilhard de Chardin, who inspires us to see how science, faith, and our future tell one universal story that beings with sacredness.

By embracing the wisdom of Celtic Christianity, we can learn how to listen to the sacred in nature and within one another, but our culture – at the times even our faiths – have made us forget what each of us already know deep in our souls but have learned to surpress. Sacred Earth, Sacred Soul offers a new spiritual foundation for our lives, once centered on encouragement, guidance, and hope for creating a better world.

©2021 John Philip Newell (P)2021 HarperCollins Publishers Limited

Critic reviews

'As this book makes clear, the Celtic spiritual tradition is a clear-flowing stream that can help us in the hot and thirsty moment. There are deep lessons to be learned from these remarkable women and men.' – Bill McKibben, author of Falter

'In Sacred Earth, Sacred Soul you’ll rediscover the deep truth of the Celtic Christian tradition. Grounded in history, replete with poetry and song, Newell's book us into deeper awareness. There is much to savor here.' – Mary C. Earle, author of Celtic Christian Spirituality: Essential Writings

'Many of us have been indebted to John Philip Newell’s writings for years but, in this book, he reaches new depths in his vision of the earth and the human journey. We, including a new generation of readers, need this Celtic wisdom urgently.' – Richard Rohr, New York Times best-selling author of The Universal Christ

'Newell invites us into the counterintuitive truth that much of the wisdom we need to navigate this moment has already been spoken in the past. I'm convinced that we've only begun to see just how far and wide his voice is going to be heard.' – Rob Bell, New York Times bestselling author of Love Wins

'John Philip Newell’s writings always bring me ‘home’. In a world of increasing isolation, he powerfully transports us back to what we have forgotten: that all things and all beings are sacred and interrelated. This is gritty spirituality at its best – earthy, liminal, connecting!' – Roy Barsness, Seattle School of Theology & Psychology

'Not just a book about the wisdom of Celtic saints and seers of the past, this is the work of a contemporary Celtic prophet urging the world to awaken to the beauty and justice that is the heartbeat of all that is. Savor its words; live its wisdom.' – Diana Butler Bass, author of Grounded and Grateful