This book explores the role of evangelicalism in the conflict in Northern Ireland and discusses how it may contribute to a peaceful political transition. Ganiel analyzes the ‘traditional’ evangelicals who are associated with the Reverend Ian Paisley, as well as a new breed of ‘mediating’ evangelicals who have broken with the traditions of the past. Comparing evangelical politics in Northern Ireland to the U.S. and Canada, this book sheds light on future directions for Northern Irish evangelicalism. The conclusion has global reverberations as it reflects on the place of ‘strong’ religions–such as evangelicalism and other forms of fundamentalism–in contemporary world politics.

“This is a remarkable first book by an excellent young scholar. It recognizes the importance of religion to Northern Ireland's sectarian conflict, while not reducing it to a religious war. Above all, it sees religion as a site of reconciliation as much as contest. It is based on impressive empirical analysis that displays the qualities of her insider knowledge, deriving from Ganiel's extensive period of fieldwork in the North of Ireland and her own evangelical beliefs, but also her outsider status as a North American social scientist, which gives the volume enormous sensitivity as well as a sense of balance. Evangelicals are a key sector of Northern Irish Protestantism, perhaps the dominant theological position within the Reformed tradition there, and Ganiel documents the transitions that are occurring in evangelical identities in Northern Ireland. The arguments are optimistic for Northern Ireland's future and fully consistent with the country's latest political developments. Politics, theology and ethnography elide in this volume in wonderfully fertile ways that make it a pleasure to read."--John D Brewer, Department of Sociology, University of Aberdeen

"Ganiel presents the world of Northern Ireland's Evangelical communities in an engaging and convincing manner...The fact that Ganiel documents how these Evangelical communities transform in response to policies of the state underscores her larger critique of the modern secular vision of autonomous social spheres...Ganiel's book offers an important contribution to the theoretical categories in the anthropology of Evangelicism"--William Girard, Anthropology News

Civil Society, Religion and Conflict in Northern Ireland * Religion in Transition – Comparative Perspectives * Evangelical Congregations and Identity Change * Evangelicals and the Reframing of Political Projects