Representing Irish Religious Histories: Historiography, Ideology And Practice (histories Of The Sacred And Secular, 1700-2000)

This collection begins on the premise that, until recently, religion has been particularly influential in Ireland in forming a sense of identity, and in creating certain versions of reality. History has also been a key component in that process, and the historical evolution of Christianity has been appropriated by the main religious denominations – Catholic, Church of Ireland, and Presbyterian – with a view to reinforcing their own identities. This book explores the ways in which this occurred; the writing of religious history, and some of the manifestations of that process, forms key parts of the collection. Also included are chapters discussing current and recent attempts to examine the legacy of collective religious memory - notably in Northern Ireland - based on projects designed to encourage reflection about the religious past among both adults and school-children. Readers will find this collection particularly timely in view of the current ‘decade of commemorations’. Front Matter....Pages i-xxxv Front Matter....Pages 1-1 Towards a Catholic History for a Catholic Nation: The Contribution of Irish Émigré Scholars in Europe, c.1580–c.1630....Pages 3-19 Writing About Eucharistic Belief and Practice Among Historians of Protestantism in Seventeenth-Century Ireland....Pages 21-35 Telling the Presbyterian Story in Eighteenth-Century Ireland: John McBride and James Kirkpatrick....Pages 37-51 Laying the Nineteenth-Century Foundations: Contributions from a Catholic and a Protestant Scholar in the 1820s....Pages 53-67 Writing Medieval Irish Religious History in the Nineteenth Century....Pages 69-84 William Dool Killen (1806–1902): A Presbyterian Perspective on Irish Ecclesiastical History....Pages 85-100 History-Writing, Collective Memory and Identity in an Irish Context: George V. Jourdan and R. Dudley Edwards....Pages 101-119 Front Matter....Pages 121-121 Preaching History, 1749: The Belfast Sermons of Gilbert Kennedy and James Saurin....Pages 123-136 Bishop O’Beirne and his Church-Building Programme: The Church of Ireland and Pre-Reformation Christianity....Pages 137-149 Negotiating the Middle Ground: Thomas Moore on Religion and Irish Nationalism....Pages 151-164 Using the Irish Language to Further the Aims of Bible Societies: An Analysis of Irish Bibles in the Russell Library, Maynooth....Pages 165-179 History and Destiny in the Making of the Irish Catholic Spiritual Empire....Pages 181-196 Religion as Identity: The Church of Ireland’s 1932 Patrician Celebrations....Pages 197-210 ‘Patrick, the First Churchman’ in the Protestant Vision of Ernest Bateman of Booterstown (1886–1979)....Pages 211-227 Front Matter....Pages 229-229 The 1641 Depositions and the History Classroom....Pages 231-245 St Patrick’s Day: Commemoration, Conflict and Conciliation, 1903–2013....Pages 247-260 Perceptions of Irish Religious History Among Community Activists in Northern Ireland, 2010–2013....Pages 261-274 Reconciling Memories Reconsidered: Reflections on a 1988 Irish Reconciliation Classic in Light of Three Decades of Scholarship and Political Experience....Pages 275-289 Back Matter....Pages 291-313 Annotation This collection begins on the premise that, until recently, religion has been particularly influential in Ireland in forming a sense of identity, and in creating certain versions of reality. History has also been a key component in that process, and the historical evolution of Christianity has been appropriated by the main religious denominations - Catholic, Church of Ireland, and Presbyterian - with a view to reinforcing their own identities. The book explores the ways in which this occurred; the writing of religious history, and some of the manifestations of that process, forms key parts of the collection. Also included are chapters discussing current and recent attempts to examine the legacy of collective religious memory - notably in Northern Ireland - based on projects designed to encourage reflection about the religious past among both adults and school-children