The Shaping of Ulster Presbyterian Belief and Practice, 1770-1840 [Hardcover]

This is a historical study of the most influential and important Protestant group in Northern Ireland - the Ulster Presbyterians. Andrew R. Holmes argues that to understand Ulster Presbyterianism is to begin to understand the character of Ulster Protestantism more generally and the relationship between religion and identity in present-day Northern Ireland.

Introduction
I. Time
11. The Lord's Day
2. Days of fasting and thanksgiving
3. Calendrical customs and alternative beliefs
II. Public worship in the meeting-house
4. Psalmody
5. Preaching
6. Communion and discipline
III. Rites of passage
7. Baptism
8. Marriage and sexual relationships
9. Death
IV. Religious instruction, fellowship, and activity beyond the meeting-house
10. Catechizing, education, and reading practices
11. Family worship, prayer meetings, and lay involvement in church life
Conclusion

This book is an exceptionally valuable contribution to the religious history of both Ireland and Europe, firmly set within the revisionist agenda of contemporary religous historians, and will be required reading for anyone who wants to know more about the development of Irish Presbyterianism in this crucial period of Irish history. --Nigel Yates,American Historical Review

Andrew R. Holmes is Research Fellow, Institute of Irish Studies, Queen's University, Belfast.