This book provides a comprehensive and field-defining examination of the study of religions in Ireland. By bringing together some of the foremost experts on religions in an Irish context, it critically traces the development of an important field of study and evaluates the thematic threads that have emerged as significant.
It thereby offers an assessment of contemporary religions in Ireland and their relationships to society, culture, economics, politics and the State. Contributors make connections between topics as diverse as Ireland's Revolutionary Period, the formation of the Irish State, the decline of Catholicism, the rise of migrant religions and New Religious Movements and the effects of secularisation on religions and society.
This book emphasizes the interdisciplinary nature of the study of religions whilst illustrating the coherent themes that have shaped the development of the field in Ireland, making it unique.
This book makes and holds space for a diverse and nuanced discussion on the dynamics of religion in Irish life, and the relationships between religion and identity, gender, community life and social and political history. It will be an important touchstone for scholars across a number of disciplines that engage with the continuing significance of religion in contemporary life, as well as the material, cultural and social heritages of religion in Ireland.