Anti-Catholicism in Northern Ireland, 1600-1998 - (Mote and the Beam) by J Brewer & G Higgins (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

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.

Review Quotes

'It is a very impressive piece of work and I learned a lot from it.' - Rev. Professor Emeritus Finlay Holmes, former Professor of Church History, Presbyterian Training College, Belfast

'The book topic is timely and hammers home the point that religion is a key strand in the Northern Ireland conflict.' - Professor Liam O'Dowd, The Queen's University of Belfast

'Anyone interested in anti-Catholicism will find this a useful compendium of militant Protestant views of the Catholic faith.' - Journal of Contemporary Religion

'John D. Brewer's excellent study on the sociological implications of four centuries of anti-Catholicism in Ireland...In the nervous climate of Northern Ireland's new start in 1999, such research is refreshing.' - Paddy Ashdown, The Independent

'among all the books that last 30 years has produced in the north, I think this may yet prove to be among the most significant...Brewer's book is highly recommended.' - Tom McGurk, Sunday Business Post, Dublin

'The shock of the book that Brewer and Higgins have written is that it names its target so clearly...the range of people challenged by this book is very wide indeed.' - Malachi O'Doherty, Belfast Telegraph

'I hasten to thank you, and congratulate you, on writing your book. It seems to be to be one of the very best analyses of the political problem we face.' - David Cooke, former leader of the Alliance Party and former Chair of the Northern Ireland PoliceAuthority

About the Author

JOHN D. BREWER is Professor of Sociology at The Queen's University of Belfast. He was a Visiting Fellow at Yale University 1989, and St John's College, Oxford, 1992. He taught at the University of East Anglia and the University of Natal. He is the author and co-author of ten books, including Inside the RUC, After Soweto, Black and Blue, Crime in Ireland 1945-95, and Police, Public Order and the State (Macmillan) and editor of Can South Africa Survive and Restructuring South Africa, both with Macmillan.

GARETH I. HIGGINS was Formerly Research Assistant in the Department of Sociology and Social Policy, The Queen's University of Belfast, and is now doing doctoral research in the Department of Sociology and Social Policy at Queen's on the myth of the anti-Christ in Northern Irish Protestantism.