Welsh author
As part of the blog tour I was asked to write a letter to accompany the book. So I did and what follows is the part of it which deals with who I am. You may find it of interest.
A sleepless student of mine started a Wikipedia article on me and I refer you to that for factual details. Theologically, I am in British terms, a conservative Baptist with Puritan sympathies. In terms of nationality, I see myself as Welsh; I am Welsh by name (family legend gives me a twelfth century ancestor, one de Walys “of Wales”) I was born – and born again – in Wales – and am now a Welsh resident. There are Welsh distinctives in writing and they are there in my books. We Welsh are a people who have a fondness for their land, fields and trees; we prefer villages and fields to towns and streets. We are marginal folk; a little people whose fate has long been determined by others. We are sceptical of empires and suspicious of kings; our sad monuments record the names of too many who left our villages to fight and never returned. When we lift our eyes up from these wet, stony soils our thoughts rarely turn to the practicalities of rule or wealth; instead we dream. We dream of the past, preferring epics that look back to when we were a mighty people and – more rarely – we dream of the future. Above all we dream of things beyond this world: for us – as for all Celts – the boundary between the natural and the supernatural is thin and often breaks. We are well aware of sin and evil and, sometimes, grace. We are emotional, given to laughter, tears and the impulsive gesture but have a weakness for nostalgia: we are a people happiest – if that is the word – with twilight rather than dawn. We have a love of tales of many words and a great liking for music although we are perhaps too fond of slow, mournful tunes but then we have much to mourn. Yet for all our frailties, we produce heroes and we endure. Such things you may find echoed in my books.
Have a good week
Chris
Themocracy
Chris,
You make being Welsh sound very appealing. I’m almost envious. Some of what you wrote reminds me of something I read about the French Foreign Legion – stories and songs more on the lines of doomed last stands than triumphant victories.
Or perhaps Tolkien’s elves; immortal, with an ancient history of much sadness. I’m reminded of something Galadriel said about how “…we have fought the long defeat.” And in the appendices, after king Elessar passes away, Arwen returns in sadness to the forests of Lothlorien. “But Galadriel had left, and Celeborn also was gone, and the forest was silent.” That phrase, for some reason, made me feel very sad. Perhaps Tolkien was Welsh?
Thankyou for the glimpse into your heritage. I’ll be looking for it in your books.
Take care,
Terry
Chris,
You say, “Above all we dream of things beyond this world: for us – as for all Celts – the boundary between the natural and the supernatural is thin and often breaks. We are well aware of sin and evil and, sometimes, grace.”
Do you find that this sensitivity to the supernatural makes it easier, or harder for the Welsh to accept the grace of God and all it means?
We hear of the great Welsh revivals ; I confess I know little of them, but do they perhaps find their root in this thin veneer between natural and supernatural? And if so, what can we learn from you and your people that could help to reach other groups for Christ who may share similar sensitivities to other realms?
Just contemplating possibilities.
Take care,
Terry
Terry
Appealing? There’s the trick of writing. By and large its a wet cold existence and we can get gloomy. The worst is alway about to happen; there’s always rain on the horizon.
Theres a thesis to be made on Tolkien and the Welsh. Where he grew up in Birmingham the western hills of Wales (‘the Marches’) can be seen from the high points. Wales was the last bastion of the Celts too. Interesting…
Chris
Terry again,
The subject of Welsh and revival is interesting and unresolved. There was certainly a lot of emotionalism in some of the revivals. The 1904 one was odd and short lived, largely due to this.
As for grace: the Welsh accept grace easily but, being depressives can doubt God’s keeping power. They accept grace repeatedly, for they are easily waylaid. The Scots, by the way, are are a different sort; they like covenants and logic and the rigour of metrical psalms.
But its interesting stuff. Sometime by looking at where you have come from you can see where you are going!
Blessings
Chris
Chris,
You write about the boundary between the natural and supernatural being thin. How do you feel about the “extra-sensory” abilities which seem to be more common among the Celts: eg. the ability to see other beings, such as fairies, or to see into the future? How do these fit into the Christian world view?
Catherine
How do I feel about the “extra-sensory” abilities which seem to be more common among the Celts: ….. How do these fit into the Christian world view? Hmm. Good questions. I am cautious, both as a scientist and a Christian, on extra-sensory matters. But I think such ‘gifts’ exist. My hesitation is that they are troubling gifts and I suspect those who have them find them hard to use rightly. How tempting to use magic as a short cut! Lewis talks somewhere about such gifts having to be ‘baptised’ and he is surely right.
But I need to think further on this Ask me again sometime
Chris
Oh, be careful, be very careful about such things. They are supernatural gifts, and so of supernatural origin. Therefore, if they are not of God, then they are demonic. And demons certainly count it worthwhile to give just enough information to keep people involved with them.