Religious History of Ireland

Catalog description

This course explores the foundations of Ireland’s religious history from its foundations in Celtic-Druidic religious practices to its Christianization under the missionary ingenuity of Patrick and the subsequent influence on Irish Catholicism, political conflicts, and cultural development. Students focus on how the more democratic monastic movement entered into conflict with the hierarchical Roman Church and what role Irish monasteries played as centers of culture and education from the Dark Ages to the medieval period. Students also examine the ways a powerful Roman Catholicism served the people in periods of persecution following the Reformation and in the struggle for independence from Great Britain in the 19th and 20th centuries. The course addresses the struggles of the Irish peoples to survive penal laws and the Great Famines and looks at Ireland’s Declaration of Independence from Great Britain, the war that followed, and how that conflict led to Ireland’s civil war. Finally, the course examines the “Troubles,” The Republic of Ireland’s conflict with Northern Ireland, the “Peace Process” that ensued, and the problems Roman Catholicism faces in modern Ireland. As a travel/study course, students journey to Ireland to see first-hand the various sites that illustrate Ireland’s impressive and diverse religious history and culture.