About a year ago brothers James Behan and Leo Behan published The Secret Gospel of Ireland: The Untold Story of How Science and Democracy Descended From a Remarkable Form of Christianity That Developed in Ancient Ireland.
In the process of converting from paganism to Christianity, the ancient Irish developed a remarkable approach to the Christian faith that would one day make science, democracy, and our modern world possible. …With their powerful brand of “Irish Christianity,” the monks of Ireland transformed Europe and produced the key to unlocking the awesome potential of the Christian faith.
The Behan brothers provided my Irish-American blog with two complimentary copies of the book, which is available at Amazon.com and other outlets. I found the book well-conceived and enjoyable to read. I shared both copies with two priest friends of mine who vouched for the theological presentation.
My short email interview with the Behan Brothers follows below the book image.
MH: What was the most challenging part of the research and/or writing?
BB: Definitely deciding what to leave out. In writing a narrative history that spans more than a thousand years, we were confronted with a mountain of information, most of which wasn’t relevant to the story. Moreover, we realized that most events don’t lead to significant change. So we were looking for the ideas that moved civilization along toward our modern world, which required a great deal of discernment. In fact, when we started, we weren’t sure how Ireland fit into the story or where it would end. We truly followed a trail of ideas that generation after generation built upon and changed. What we ended up with was a narrative history that tells the story of how science and democracy developed out of Christianity and Ireland’s pivotal role in that process.