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Elliott makes other claims that seem more closely tied to her perspective on northern Irish Catholicism than to historical realities, among them "There are no martyrs in the history of early Irish Christianity" (13) and "Christianity did not fundamentally alter the existing social system" (14). A bishop, Palladius, sent by Pope Celestine I to Ireland before Patrick's mission was quite possibly martyred, and Patrick's daily fear of "murder, fraud or captivity" stemmed from real risks. Further, while "fundamentally alter" is a subjective concept, Elliott herself gives several examples of significant changes wrought through the rise of Irish Christianity.

Aided by professional training, Elliott has written a history that is more responsible than the many sectarian harangues on which she reports. But she cannot extricate herself from a tradition in which selective readings of the past constantly shape the present and future. As French philosopher and historian Ernest Renan observed, "Getting history wrong is an essential part of being a nation." Whether Elliott got other portions of her book wrong, I'm not sufficiently knowledgeable to say, but she has shown-through her accounts of others and through her own example-that Renan's maxim holds true in northern Ireland.

A famous British historian reflects on the unique challenges of nationalist history: The Nationalism Project www.nationalismproject.org/what/hobsbawm.htm

An example of sectarian Irish history: Old Ireland - History: The Ulster Plantation www.ireland.org/irl_hist/hist28.htm

Copyright © 2002 by the author or Christianity Today International/Christian History magazine.
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