Week 9: “Inventing Ireland” -Kiberd (Castle)

In his discussion on the fluidity surrounding the construction of a national identity, Kiberd, uses the proliferation of the Irish language as well as the rise and fall of the Gaelic League, to discuss the subsequent identities of the Irish citizenry. The most interesting aspect of his piece was the discussion of the nationalists’ desire to construct an Ireland that was merely anti-English, rather than pro-Irish. A similar logic appears to pervade our current Church culture, one in which we as Christians define ourselves not by what we are, per se, but rather by what or whom we are not. This kind of logic is posited as merely being “Christian” in nature, and the activites that fall outside of this paradigm are described as “non-Christian” in nature (whether or not Christianity had anything to do with their inception). These ideas can be most clearly seen in the backlash surrounding the “atheistic” movie “The Golden Compass” in which numerous Christians are opposing because of its supposed atheist overtones. Which ultimately will create a great deal of buzz and probably increase the audience for a children’s movie about a talking bear and a nautical device…ironic to say the least.