Beyond Religious Discourse

Drawing extensively on primary sources, this pioneer work in modern religious history explores the training of preachers, the construction of sermons, and how Irish evangelicalism and the wider movement in Great Britain and the United States shaped the preaching event. Evangelical preaching and politics, sectarianism, denominations, education, class, social reform, gender, and revival are examined to advance the argument that evangelical sermons and preaching went significantly beyond religious discourse. The result is a book for those with interests in Irish history, culture and belief, popular religion and society, evangelicalism, preaching, and communication.""This is a work of impressive scholarship that adds significantly to our understanding of evangelical Protestantism in nineteenth-century Ireland. Ian Dickson has tackled, in fluent and engaging prose, a subject which has been sorely neglected by existing scholars--the sermon. Covering not only the basics of form and content, he also considers the wider and more problematic issue of impact on the evangelical community itself and society as a whole. His conclusions, derived from an analysis of over 600 sermons, contain an impressive insight into the fundamental tensions and insecurities which underlay a seemingly united, and confident, movement.""--Janice Holmes, The Open University, Belfast""The sermon, though central to the culture of Evangelical Christianity, has been singularly neglected as a topic for thorough research. Ian Dickson, however, has broken the silence on the subject. His analysis of the place of preaching in nineteenth-century Ireland may stand as a model for others to imitate in the scrutiny of different places and periods.""--Sean Connolly, Queen's University, Belfast""While the orality of popular Protestantism's noisy past can never be fully recovered, Ian Dickson's splendidly comprehensive and articulate book on evangelical sermons gets closer than anyone else before him to understanding the most ubiquitous form of discourse of nineteenth-century Irish Protestants.""--David Hempton, Harvard Divinity SchoolJ. N. Ian Dickson taught history at Queen's University Belfast (1998-2002) and was Research Fellow in the Department of Religious and Theological Studies at Cardiff University. He is currently Senior Lecturer and Director of Postgraduate Studies at Belfast Bible College, part of the Institute of Theology, Queen's University, Belfast, UK.