Evangelical Protestantism in Ulster Society 1740-1890

This book represents the first attempt to write the social history of popular Protestantism in the province of Ulster from the origins of the Evangelical Revival in the mid-eighteenth century to the conflicts generated by proposals for Irish Home Rule at the end of the nineteenth century. As such it not only adds a new dimension to the international understanding of the Great Awakening, but also seeks to recreate the religious culture and mental framework of Ulster Protestants at a critical stage in Irish history. Many of its central themes, including the relationship between religion and national identity, the role of women in popular religion, the causes and consequences of religious revivalism, and impact of social change on religious experience, are at the forefront of recent work on popular religion. The exploration of these themes brings a new level of sophistication to the writing of Irish religious history, and makes a fresh contribution to the history of the British Isles as a whole in the modernperiod.