The Rise and Fall of Christian Ireland

Crawford Gribben

A comprehensive and inclusive history of Irish religion
Traces the history of Christianity in Ireland from its earliest beginnings to the present day
Takes account of clerical abuse scandals and their impact on the religious condition of Ireland

The Rise and Fall of Christian Ireland

Crawford Gribben

Description

Ireland has long been regarded as a 'land of saints and scholars'. Yet the Irish experience of Christianity has never been simple or uncomplicated. The Rise and Fall of Christian Ireland describes the emergence, long dominance, sudden division, and recent decline of Ireland's most important religion, as a way of telling the history of the island and its peoples.

Throughout its long history, Christianity in Ireland has lurched from crisis to crisis. Surviving the hostility of earlier religious cultures and the depredations of Vikings, evolving in the face of Gregorian reformation in the 11th and 12th centuries and more radical protestant renewal from the 16th century, Christianity has shaped in foundational ways how the Irish have understood themselves and their place in the world. And the Irish have shaped Christianity, too. Their churches have staffed some of the religion's most important institutions and developed some of its most popular ideas.

But the Irish church, like the island, is divided. After 1922, a border marked out two jurisdictions with competing religious politics. The southern state turned to the Catholic church to shape its social mores, until it emerged from an experience of sudden-onset secularization to become one of the most progressive nations in Europe. The northern state moved more slowly beyond the protestant culture of its principal institutions, but in a similar direction of travel.

In 2021, fifteen hundred years on from the birth of Saint Columba, Christian Ireland appears to be vanishing. But its critics need not relax any more than believers ought to despair. After the failure of several varieties of religious nationalism, what looks like irredeemable failure might actually be a second chance. In the ruins of the church, new Columbas and Patricks shape the rise of another Christian Ireland.

The Rise and Fall of Christian Ireland

Crawford Gribben

The Rise and Fall of Christian Ireland

Crawford Gribben

Author Information

Crawford Gribben teaches at Queen's University Belfast, and is the author of several books on Irish, British and American religious history. He writes for newspapers and magazines including The Wall Street Journal, The Irish Times, and History Today.

The Rise and Fall of Christian Ireland

Crawford Gribben

Reviews and Awards

"A remarkable book." -- JP O'Malley, Irish Independent

"An erudite, important and detailed account of the major developments in Irish religious history from the earliest times until the present day... This is an eminently readable book, and the author has a page-turning clarity which too few academics possess." -- Alf McCreary, Belfast Telegraph

"Admirable and scholarly." -- Mary Kenny, History Ireland

"A book of remarkable ambitionâ The attempt to tell the whole story from Celtic times through to the astonishingly rapid secularisation of today is what makes this book so special and important." -- David Chillingworth, Church Times

"A broad, sweeping, readable and concise history of the interplay of religion, politics and society in Ireland from pre-Christian times until the present." -- David Quinn, Catholic Herald

"Crawford Gribben's sweeping history surveys Ireland's grand past - and its importance for Western Christianity." -- Jeremiah Rood, Foreword Reviews

"I'd recommend [the book] strongly to anyone who wants to understand recent upheavals on our island." -- Ruth Dudley Edwards, News Letter

"[Gribben's] wide reading is very evident and anyone seeking a one volume survey of "Christian Ireland" will find this an admirable guide." -- Dr Fergus O'Ferrall, Methodist Recorder

"A remarkable read... Gribben covers a vast amount of ground in a relatively concise text. His achievement is to provide much needed perspective on where Irish Christianity came from and where it may be headed." -- Gladys Ganiel, Slugger O'Toole

"Crawford Gribben has produced an outstanding contribution to understanding the complex tapestry that is Ireland, and all its people, from earliest history to the present day... it's a book that anybody interested in the evolution of the island of Ireland and all its people national and international, should read and have on their bookshelf." -- Enda Kenny, Taoiseach,Â Ireland, 2011/2017

The Rise and Fall of Christian Ireland

Crawford Gribben

From Our Blog

The continuing appeal of religious politics in Northern Ireland

One of the most curious features of sudden-onset secularisation on the island of Ireland has been the revitalisation of religious politics. This is most obvious in Northern Ireland, where within the last three months, the chaotic introduction of the Brexit protocol, loyalist riots, and a controversy about banning so-called 'gay conversion therapy' have been followed by dramatic declines in electoral support for and leadership changes within the largest unionist party that can only be described as chaotic.

Posted on September 9, 2021

Read the blog post