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’.

Table of Contents:
Illustrations and tables.- Abbreviations.- Acknowledgements.- Notes on contributors.- Foreward by Toby Barnard.- Introduction by Jacqueline Hill and Mary Ann Lyons.- Part I.- Historiography and Religious Polarisation, c.1600-c.1938.- 1. Towards a Catholic history for a Catholic nation: the contribution of Irish émigré scholars in Europe,c.1580–c.1630 by Mary Ann Lyons.- 2. Writing about eucharistic belief and practice among historians of Protestantism in seventeenth-century Ireland by Evie Monaghan.- 3. Telling the Presbyterian story in eighteenth-century Ireland: John McBride and James Kirkpatrick by Robert Armstrong.- 4. Laying the nineteenth-century foundations: contributions from a Catholic and a Protestant scholar in the 1820s by Jacqueline Hill.- 5. Writing medieval Irish religious history in the nineteenth century by Elizabeth Boyle.- 6. William Dool Killen(1806-1902): a Presbyterian perspective on Irish ecclesiastical history by Laurence Kirkpatrick.- 7. History-writing, collective memory and identity in an Irish context: George V. Jourdan and R. Dudley Edwards by Miriam Moffitt.- Part II.- Ideology and practice: perceptions and uses of the religious past in the wider Irish community, c.1700-1980.- 8. Preaching history, 1749: the Belfast sermons of Gilbert Kennedy and James Saurin by Raymond Gillespie.- 9. Bishop O'Beirne and his church-building programme: the Church of Ireland and pre-Reformation Christianity by Caroline Gallagher.- 10. Negotiating the middle ground: Thomas Moore on religion and Irish nationalism by John B. Roney.- 11. Using the Irish language to further the aims of two bible societies: an analysis of Irish-language bibles in the Russell Library, Maynooth by Barbara McCormack.- 12. History and destiny in the making of the Irish Catholic spiritual empire by Irene Whelan.- 13. Religion as identity: the Church of Ireland's 1932 Patrician celebrations by Ian D'Alton.- 14. 'Patrick, the first churchman' in the Protestant vision of Ernest Bateman of Booterstown (1886-1979) by Eugenio F. Biagini.- Part III.- Religious history: practice and reconciliation c.1980s to the present.- 15. The 1641 depositions and the history classroom by Eamon Darcy.- 16. St. Patrick's Day: commemoration, conflict and Conciliation, 1900-2013 by Brian Walker.- 17. Perceptions of Irish religious history among community activists in Northern Ireland, 2010-2013 by John Wolffe.- 18. Reconciling memories reconsidered: reflections on a 1988 Irish reconciliation classic in light of three decades of scholarship and political experience by Joseph Liechty.- Select bibliography.