Declan Kelly

This book offers an innovative, critical, and constructive exploration of Barth’s theology, one which demonstrates the radicality of his thought and which underscores the continued contribution he might make to theological reflection on a central element of the Christian tradition. Declan Kelly uncovers the promise of viewing Barth’s account of salvation as a “three-agent drama”—a drama involving God, humanity, and anti-God powers. Kelly demonstrates and examines Barth’s cosmological portrayal of God’s saving event as a defeat of the lordship of Satan in the cosmos—and, bound up with this, as an ending of God’s “left handed” activity—and as the bringing into existence of a new creation under the rule of God’s right hand. Barth’s doctrines of election, the atonement, and the resurrection receive a fresh reading as the book explores his apocalyptic grasp of God’s eschatological deed of salvation and as it puts forward the claim—with and against Barth—that the climax of this deed of salvation is best located in the event of God’s raising of Christ from the dead.

This book offers an innovative, critical, and constructive exploration of Barth’s theology, one which demonstrates the radicality of his thought and which underscores the continued contribution he might make to theological reflection on a central element of the Christian tradition. Declan Kelly uncovers the promise of viewing Barth’s account of salvation as a “three-agent drama”—a drama involving God, humanity, and anti-God powers. Kelly demonstrates and examines Barth’s cosmological portrayal of God’s saving event as a defeat of the lordship of Satan in the cosmos—and, bound up with this, as an ending of God’s “left handed” activity—and as the bringing into existence of a new creation under the rule of God’s right hand. Barth’s doctrines of election, the atonement, and the resurrection receive a fresh reading as the book explores his apocalyptic grasp of God’s eschatological deed of salvation and as it puts forward the claim—with and against Barth—that the climax of this deed of salvation is best located in the event of God’s raising of Christ from the dead.

The material included in this volume comes from a variety of sources, including the archives of the diocese of Clonfert and that which was gathered in 1931 by an t-Athair Eric McFhinn, a noted polyglot and scholar of the diocese. Taken in conjunction with the Schools Folklore Commission’s work a few years later, this material now has a value beyond even that which was foreseen at the time. In June of 1922, in a singularly unhelpful exercise, some doughty Irishmen set off a landmine in the Public Records Office of the Four Courts. Thousands of old documents were destroyed, including the remaining censi from the nineteenth century and many of the Church of Ireland registers. Happily, just before this happened, Thomas T. O’Farrell had taken the time to type out extracts from the censi taken in Loughrea in 1821 and 1841 and they are also reproduced here in print for the first time. What emerges from this parish history, covering the areas of Cappatagle/ Kilrickle, Carrabane, Leitrim/Kilmeen, Loughrea, Mullagh/Killoran, New Inn/Bullaun, Killeenadeema/Aille and Kiltullagh/Killimordaly/Attymon is a curate’s egg of information which we hope will hold something for everyone in the diocese, and which will add in its own way to the process of preserving a record of our past.

Despite its comparatively small geographical size, the Diocese of Clonfert, in the province of Connacht, is a treasure house of national and ecclesiastical history and folklore. Its founder was the great Brendan the Navigator who discovered America 1,000 years before Columbus and his ‘doom burdened caravels’ reached there. Clonfert itself became so renowned afar as a centre of scholarly learning that Elizabeth I originally intended to site Trinity College there. The Battle of Aughrim was Ireland’s Waterloo, heralding the Penal Laws and earning the reputation as being the bloodiest battle in the history of our nation. ‘The Siege of Saundersfort’ in Woodford in 1886 marked the climax of the Land War when the people cried ‘Enough!’ to the excesses of landlordism. In Clonfert: Croziers and Pikestaffs: Declan Kelly skilfully reveals the stories of the Diocese. Above all, this is the almost forgotten story of the people and of their struggles, joys, and heroics.

'Images of Ballinasloe' is a pictorial narration of one of County Galway's most venerable old towns. Declan Kelly has created a visual chronicle of a town steeped in history. He charts its progress from Patrician times down to the present day. It was through Ballinasloe's precincts that the armies of Aughrim marched into a bloody and decisive battle in 1691, and it was through its streets that Cardinal Wiseman, the leader of the English Church after the Restoration, was triumphantly drawn along in his carriage as over twenty thousand people went wild with joy. But His Eminence was no Ballinasloe man, and in 1956 a crowd of almost thirty thousand showed up to cheer on Joe Higgins, a native of the town, and the first 'King of the Fair'. In nearby Garbally House, on one occasion, Lady Clancarty 'Belle Bilton', a former music hall star, showed her contempt for the county families who turned their noses up at her lowly birth, by dancing a brilliant ballet that saw her reach her feet to the magnificent candelabra in derision of their snobbery. All of these events and more are regaled by Declan Kelly in this wonderful collection of both old and new photographs, most of which have never before been published. The reader is transported back in time and taken on a journey through the winding corridors of a town rich in history, culture and tradition.