Like many citizens of Belfast, I’ve felt helpless about the protests and riots that have scarred the city over the last week.
As local readers of this blog will already know, Belfast City Council’s decision to fly the British flag … Read more...
Category: Unionism
Evangelical Journeys Reviewed in Sociology of Religion
My latest book, Evangelical Journeys: Choice and Change in a Northern Irish Religious Subculture (UCD Press, 2011), co-authored by Claire Mitchell, has been reviewed in a leading academic journal, Sociology of Religion (Volume 73, issue 4, Winter 2012).
The
… Read more...David Tombs and the Ulster Covenant Part III: A New Covenant in 2012?
Now that the centenary of Ulster Day has passed, it is instructive to reflect back on how the churches have remembered (or have not remembered) the Ulster Covenant this year. In the third and final in his series of posts … Read more...
David Tombs and the Ulster Covenant Part II: Regrets–and Alternatives?
Today, in the second of his three-part series on the Ulster Covenant, Dr David Tombs considers ‘The Protestant Churches and the 1912 Covenant.’In this post, Tombs demonstrates that support for the Ulster Covenant among clergy varied by denomination, and … Read more...
David Tombs on the Ulster Covenant: Part I–How Have Churches Marked the Anniversary of the Covenant?
Over the past few weeks, this blog has featured a series of posts on the centenary of the Ulster Covenant. To conclude that series, I’m delighted to introduce a three-part mini-series of guest posts by my colleague at Trinity … Read more...
Philip Orr’s New Perspectives – Politics, Religion and Conflict in Mid-Antrim, 1911-1914: Book Review and Website Launch
I have a new post on the Slugger O’Toole blog, reviewing a book (and accompanying website) by historian Philip Orr, New Perspectives: Politics, Religion and Conflict in Mid-Antrim, 1911-1914, published last year by the Mid-Antrim Museum.
Given Orr’s … Read more...
Johnston McMaster and Cathy Higgins Book Review: Signing the Covenant – But Which One?
There are always alternatives.
While events may look like they were inevitable after the fact, Johnston McMaster and Cathy Higgins’ book, Signing the Covenant – But Which One?, asks us to recognise that not only are other options always … Read more...
What Can We Learn from the Winning Entry in the Orange Order Song Contest?
Sunday’s liturgy in Fitzroy Presbyterian Church in Belfast included a performance of the winning entry in the Orange Order Song Contest – “By Any Means” – which was written and performed by Fitzroy congregant David Thompson.
Fitzroy is probably the … Read more...
Alternative Covenants? Alternative Perspectives?: More Reflections on the Ulster Covenant
The centenary celebrations for the signing of the Ulster Covenant passed relatively peacefully on Saturday, though perspectives on the day varied greatly depending on one’s political inclinations.
This is neatly illustrated on the front pages of the main nationalist (Irish … Read more...
Fr Martin Magill – In Joyful Hope: Lamenting our Divisions and Striving Towards a New Covenant
Last night St Oliver Plunkett’s Catholic Church in Lenadoon, West Belfast, hosted the latest ‘In Joyful Hope’ event, in which Christians from a variety of denominations came together for Eucharistic fellowship.
Fr Martin Magill, the parish priest, spoke on lamentation
… Read more...What’s shared Eucharist got to do with the Ulster Covenant? In Joyful Hope Journeys to Lenadoon on Thursday 27 September
What’s shared Eucharist got to do with the Ulster Covenant?
At first glance, perhaps nothing at all. But in the week that the centenary of the signing of the Ulster Covenant approaches, the ‘In Joyful Hope’ initiative is on the … Read more...