2,000 years of Irish Christianity, from St. Patrick to the Peace Process

From early Celtic culture to St. Patrick, from everyday monks to the people now engaged in the Peace Process, this sweeping history of Irish faith offers a balanced account of the religious, social, and political life of the Irish people.

Michael Staunton shows us the human face of Ireland, from the monk who wrote an ode to his cat in the margin of his illuminated manuscripts, to the dying friar who, in the midst of the Black Death, left a message for anyone surviving what he called the end of the world. The author traces 2,000 years of Irish Christianity, how it both evolved and differed from the Celtic culture of Ireland, and how it survived in its changing forms in the midst of the known Christian world through centuries of strife.

This engaging, accessible book provides:

* a meticulously researched account of Irish Christianity. * the social, political, and religious panorama of a country in conflict. * fascinating facts and little-known tales of everyday monks struggling to survive major world changes. * cultural and literary Ireland, and the significance of W.B. Yeats and other writers and reformers during the Irish Troubles.
* a fair and balanced account of the present-day Peace Process in Ireland.