Until surprisingly recently the history of the Irish Catholic Church during the Northern Irish Troubles was written by Irish priests and bishops and was commemorative, rather than analytical. This study uses the Troubles as a case study to evaluate the role of the Catholic Church in mediating conflict. During the Troubles, these priests and bishops often worked behind the scenes, acting as go-betweens for the British government and republican paramilitaries, to bring about a peaceful solution. However, this study also looks more broadly at the actions of the American, Irish and English Catholic Churches, as well as that of the Vatican, to uncover the full impact of the Church on the conflict. This critical analysis of previously neglected state, Irish, and English Catholic Church archival material changes our perspective on the role of a religious institution in a modern conflict.

Anti-Catholicism forms part of the dynamics to Northern Ireland's conflict and is critical to the self-defining identity of certain Protestants. However, anti-Catholicism is as much a sociology process as a theological dispute. It was given a Scriptural underpinning in the history of Protestant-Catholic relations in Ireland, and wider British-Irish relations, in order to reinforce social divisions between the religious communities and to offer a deterministic belief system to justify them. The book examines the socio-economic and political processes that have led to theology being used in social closure and stratification between the seventeenth century and the present day.

Based on interview material with a wide range of Protestant clergy in Northern Ireland, this book examines how Protestant identity impacts on the possibility of peace and stability and argues for greater involvement by the Protestant churches in the transition from conflict to a 'post-conflict' Northern Ireland.

Orangeism: A Historical Profile traces the Orange movement from its pre-Reformation beginnings in the French principality of Orange, to its role in 21st century Ulster. This narrative history offers a lucid account which explains how the Orange tradition took root and developed. Many important events are examined, including the Orange/Green controversies of the 19th century, the Order’s role in the creation of Northern Ireland, its influence during the Stormont era and its stance during the ‘Troubles’. The book also features hard-to-get data provided on the Order’s associated bodies: The Apprentice Boys of Derry, the Purple Order and the Black Preceptory, and provides details of their rituals and lodge practices. International Orangeism and the Order’s role in popular culture are explained and apprised, and the stage is filled with historic figures. Meticulously researched and written without malice, Orangeism: A Historical Profile embodies a reevaluation of accepted views and includes information from unused, usually sealed, archives. Praise for the First Edition: “At last there is an excellent, reliable and absorbing account of Orangeism” – Eamonn Phoenix, The Irish News “A thorough and determinedly unbiased account … written with great enthusiasm” – Niall Savage, The Sunday Business Post

Has conflict in Northern Ireland kept political dimensions of religion alive, and has religion played a role in fuelling conflict? Conflict in Northern Ireland is not and never will be a holy war. Yet religion is more socially and politically significant than many commentators presume. In fact, religion has remained a central feature of social identity and politics throughout conflict as well as recent change. There has been an acceleration of interest in the relationship between religion, identity and politics in modern societies. Building on this debate, Claire Mitchell presents a challenging analysis of religion in contemporary Northern Ireland, arguing that religion is not merely a marker of ethnicity and that it continues to provide many of the meanings of identity, community and politics. In light of the multifaceted nature of the conflict in Northern Ireland, Mitchell explains that, for Catholics, religion is primarily important in its social and institutional forms, whereas for many Protestants its theological and ideological dimensions are more pressing. Even those who no longer go to church tend to reproduce religious stereotypes of 'them and us'. Drawing on a range of unique interview material, this book traces how individuals and groups in Northern Ireland have absorbed religious types of cultural knowledge, belonging and morality, and how they reproduce these as they go about their daily lives. Despite recent religious and political changes, the author concludes that perceptions of religious difference help keep communities in Northern Ireland socially separate and often in conflict with one another.

​The Palgrave Handbook of Religion and State Volume II: Global Perpectives addresses issues of Religion and State from a multitude of disciplines. The volume begins with the philosophical discussion of perennial issues that have to do with the origin and nature of rights. One question centers on the right to use one’s religious beliefs to enact laws. This discussion alone sets this handbook apart from other handbooks of its type. While addressing these perennial questions, this volume includes authors who interact with the work of John Rawls, Hobbes, Rousseau, and a host of contemporary philosophers. The subsequent sections address the American Constitutional Experiment, religion, state, and law in the Americas.

Traces the development of Catholic cultures in the South, the Midwest, the West, and the Northeast, and their contribution to larger patterns of Catholicism in the United States Most histories of American Catholicism take a national focus, leading to a homogenization of American Catholicism that misses much of the local complexity that has marked how Catholicism developed differently in different parts of the country. Such histories often treat northeastern Catholicism, such as the Irish Catholicism of Boston, as if it reflects the full history and experience of Catholicism across the United States. The Making of American Catholicism argues that regional and transnational relationships have been central to the development of American Catholicism. The American Catholic experience has diverged significantly among regions; if we do not examine how it has taken shape in local cultures, we miss a lot. Exploring the history of Catholic cultures in New Orleans, Iowa, Wisconsin, Los Angeles, and New York City, the volume assesses the role of region in American Catholic history, carefully exploring the development of American Catholic cultures across the continental United States. Drawing on extensive archival research, The Making of American Catholicism argues that American Catholicism developed as transnational Catholics creatively adapted their devotional and ideological practices in particular American regional contexts. They emphasized notions of republicanism, individualistic capitalism, race, ethnicity, and gender, resulting in a unique form of Catholicism that dominates the United States today. The book offers close attention to race and racism in American Catholicism, including the historical experiences of African American and Latinx Catholics as well as Catholics of European descent.

This book discusses relationships among religion, literature and ethnicity in Northern Ireland since 1967. The introduction provides a theoretical account of how literature engages sectarian prejudices, allowing these to be played out in ways that can help to dissolve or mitigate the alienating effects of traditional enmities. Subsequent chapters deal with identity, endogamy, education, gender, and imprisonment. Each chapter combines an analysis of specific cultural issues with a critical assessment of relevant works by key authors. A conclusion offers an assessment of relationships between Northern Ireland and other modern societies facing analogous problems in a post-modern world marked by rapid globalisation.

The Catholic Church has always been a major player in European and world history. Whether it has enjoyed a religious dominance or existed as a minority religion, Catholicism has never been diverted from political life. "Priests, Prelates and People" records the Church struggling to adapt to the new political landscape ushered in by the French Revolution, and shows how the formation of nation states and identities was both helped and hindered by the Catholic establishment. It portrays the Vatican increasingly out of step in the wake of world war, Cold War and the massive expansion of the developing world, with its problems of population growth and under-development.

Drawing from a range of disciplines, this book pivots around the central concept of women, social and cultural change in Ireland during the twentieth century. The interdisciplinary, inter-institutional nature of the work gathered here aims to challenge monolithic representations of Irish female identity. Utilising new sources and theoretical frameworks, the contributors to this volume expose women’s disparate political, social and cultural backgrounds, highlighting the concept of woman as a ‘site’ of exchange, overlap and variation. This collection represents not only the work of a vibrant research community but aims to make a lasting contribution to the study of women in twentieth century Ireland.