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Editorial:
"There's Nothing New About Change"
Anna Rankin
Comment:
Embracing the Stranger
Denise Wright
From
the Director: Change and Decay – so what's new?
David W Porter
Alwyn
Thomson
Ethel White
A
Changing Church
Chris Easton
Women,
the Church and Change
Lesley Carroll
Interview
with Noel Fallows: Multi-cultural Church Life
Anna Rankin
Urban
Grit
Ken Groves
Higher
Throne
Keith
Getty & Kristyn Lennox
2003
Conference: Reconciliation – Illusion or Elusive?
What's
Jesus got to do with Forgiveness?
Stuart Noble
Review:
Lost in Translation
Gareth Higgins
Review:
The Church Beyond the Congregation by James Thwaites
Claire Martin
Review:
A Time for Mission by Samuel Escobar
Ben
Walker
Review:
Against the Stream by David W Smith
Cheryl
Reid
Review:
Evangelicalism and National Identity in Ulster, 1921-1998 by Patrick
Mitchel
David Hewitt
Review:
I was a teenage Catholic by Malachi O'Doherty
Fran
Porter
reviews:
EVANGELICALISM AND NATIONAL IDENTITY IN ULSTER, 1921 - 1998
by Patrick Mitchel
Reviewed by David Hewitt
DR PATRICK MITCHEL grew up in Northern Ireland, was educated at Sullivan Upper, Queens University and at London Bible College. He now lectures in Theology in the Irish Bible Institute, Dublin, and serves as an Elder in the new Presbyterian congregation in Maynooth. He writes as a 'Christian committed to an evangelical understanding of the scriptures and the gospel'.
Evangelicalism and National Identity in Ulster, 1921-1998 is a carefully researched study of four separate strands of Evangelicalism. Covering the period from Partition to the Good Friday Agreement, it investigates 'how Evangelicalism has been shaped by, or itself has helped to shape the violent and destructive whirlwind that blew across the land for much of the twentieth century. In other words, how Evangelicalism has interacted with the explosive question of national identity in the past 80 years'. The overarching theme of the book is Miroslav Volf.s concept of 'exclusion and embrace'.
Dr Mitchel's enquiry is focused on how each of his four chosen strands of evangelicalism, Orangeism, Paisleyism, Presbyterianism and ECONI, has attempted to resolve the challenge to belong to, and yet remain distant from, their own cultural identity. He provides a systematic analysis of their respective primary sources and a comparative assessment of how each has interacted with the political landscape of twentieth century Ulster. All four purport to represent authentic Evangelical faith and exhibit a medium to high degree of political activism.
The book has two parts. Part 1 lays the foundation for Part 2 by examining the relationship between nationalism, identity and unionism and offers a rationale for understanding Ulster unionism as a form of nationalism. In Part 2, the focus shifts to Evangelicalism – the difficulties of defining the movement, its relationship to fundamentalism and its wide spectrum from open to closed manifestations. The values and practices of the four chosen strands are examined and compared.
This is the core of Dr Mitchel's very readable study and he looks carefully at the history of each strand, its respective structures, theological writings and political statements. It would be invidious for lion&lamb to major on Dr Mitchel's conclusions which are more sympathetic to (though not uncritical of) ECONI, as compared to the other three strands. In the hope that it will suffice to whet appetite without satisfying curiosity, here are a few quotations pointing up not only Dr Mitchel's findings but also his skill with words.
Of Orangeism – ' Ironically, as a bulwark of the Reformed Faith', Orange belief seems immune from reformation'. 'After some hundred years at the core of Unionist identity, political marginalisation, increasing internal pressures and a lack of vision for the future threatens the onset of terminal decline.'
Of Paisleyism – '.A relentless pursuit of false political purity exists in tandem with an obsession with the illegitimacy of other identities, whether apostate Protestants or idolatrous Catholics.'
Of Presbyterianism – 'The evidence suggests that the church has been shaped by the conflict between Unionism and Nationalism more than it has shaped an alternative to the conflict.' 'Despite a sincere concern to apply biblical truth, Assembly reports are often statements of principle rather than blueprints for action.'
Of ECONI – 'A voice heard all too rarely in Ulster throughout the twentieth century, it presents a cogent alternative to the malign influence of religious nationalism within Ulster Evangelicalism.'
DAVID HEWITT is a senior partner in a Belfast law firm and is President of ECONI.
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