Alan Ford

Contact

• workRoom C33 Humanities
  University Park
  Nottingham
  NG7 2RD
  UK
• work0115 951 5857
• fax0115 951 5887
• alan.ford@nottingham.ac.uk

Expertise Summary

Professor Ford studied in Trinity College Dublin and St John's College Cambridge. After working in Ireland and America for the Irish Foreign Service, he joined the Theology Department in Durham as Lecturer in Church History in 1988, and in 1999 moved to Nottingham. He supervises postgraduates working in the fields of theology and religious history from the late mediaeval period to the 17th century. His own research interests lie in the theology of the Reformation and Counter-Reformation, relations between Catholics and Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries, Irish religious history and the role of universities in the early-modern period. He is currently working on the theology and intellectual interests of Archbishop James Ussher. Prof. Ford is on the Editorial Board of The Seventeenth Century and Reformation.

Research Summary

I research in early-modern Irish history, with a particular interest in religious ideas and practice, the history of universities, and the relatoinship between violence and religion.

My last book was an intellectual biography of James Ussher, the early seventeenth century Irish scholar and archbishop, published by Oxford University Press in June 2007: James Ussher: history, theology and politics in early-modern Ireland and Britain. Though Ussher is famous now for one thing only - his dating of the creation of the world to 4004 BC - his historical importance is far broader than that. He was a remarkably wide ranging scholar, and used his skills to create, almost singlehandedly, an origin myth for Irish protestants. He traced the established Church of Ireland back well beyond the reformation to St Patrick, discarding in the process the Roman Catholic church as an abuse ridden offshoot of the true (and protestant) Patrician church. This vision of Irish history is one which survives in the church of Ireland to the present day. I also work on the origins of sectarianism in Ireland, editing and contributing to the 2006 CUP book entitled Papists and heretics: the origins of sectarianism in Ireland. I have also recently produced "That Bugbear Arminianism': Archbishop Laud and Trinity College, Dublin', published in 2006 by CUP as part of a Festschrift for Aidan Clarke edited by Jane Ohlmeyer and Ciaran Brady, which is a product of one of my other main research interests, the history of higher education in early modern Ireland. Another 2006 piece dealt with Irish protestant attitudes towards religious coercion, and is entitled '"Force and fear of punishment": protestants and religious coercion in Ireland 1603-33' in Elizabethanne Boran and Crawford Gribben (ed.), Enforcing reformation in Ireland and Scotland, 1550-1700 (Aldershot, 2006).

Selected Publications

• FORD, A., 2007. James Ussher: theology, history and politics in early-modern Ireland and England Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• FORD, A., 2006. 'Force and fear of punishment': Protestants and religious coercion in Ireland, 1603-33. In: BORAN, E. and GRIBBEN, C., eds., Enforcing Reformation in Ireland and Scotland, 1550-1700 Aldershot: Ashgate. 91-130
• FORD, A., 2005. 'That bugbear Arminianism': Archbishop Laud and Trinity College, Dublin. In: BRADY, C. and OHLMEYER, J., eds., British interventions in early modern Ireland Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 135-160
• FORD, A and MCCAFFERTY, J., eds., 2005. The origins of sectarianism in early-modern Ireland Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

• View all publications

Future Research

I am currently working on the role of apocalyptic in religious violence in Ireland, and on the connections between the Irish and Scottish reformations.

I am interested in supervising students in the following areas: Calvinism in Ireland and England in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuies; Irish history, especially the history of religion and education; history of higher education in Ireland and England; nature and role of apocalyptic theology in early modern Ireland and England; the theology of Richard Hooker.

• 2013. High or low? Writing the Irish reformation in the early nineteenth century Bulletin of the John Rylands Library. (In Press.)
• FORD, ALAN, 2011. 'Making dead men speak': manipulating the memory of James Usher. In: , , WILLIAMS, MARK FORREST, STEPHEN and WILLIAMS, MARK, eds., Constructing the past: writing Irish history, 1600-1800 Boydell & Brewer. 49-72
• and ALAN FORD, 2011. Past but still present: Edmund Borlase, Richard Parr and the reshaping of Irish history for English audiences in the 1680s. In: MACCUARTA, BRIAN, ed., Reshaping Ireland 1550-1700 Irish Academic Press. 281-99
• FORD, A., 2007. James Ussher: theology, history and politics in early-modern Ireland and England Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• FORD, A., 2006. 'Force and fear of punishment': Protestants and religious coercion in Ireland, 1603-33. In: BORAN, E. and GRIBBEN, C., eds., Enforcing Reformation in Ireland and Scotland, 1550-1700 Aldershot: Ashgate. 91-130
• FORD, A and MCCAFFERTY, J., eds., 2005. The origins of sectarianism in early-modern Ireland Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• FORD, A., 2005. 'Living together, living apart: sectarianism in early-modern Ireland'. In: FORD, A. and MCCAFFERTY, J., eds., The origins of sectarianism in early-modern Ireland Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1-23
• FORD, A., 2005. 'The Irish historical renaissance and the shaping of Irish protestant history'. In: FORD, A. and MCCAFFERTY, J., eds., The origins of sectarianism in early-modern Ireland Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 127-157
• FORD, A., 2005. 'That bugbear Arminianism': Archbishop Laud and Trinity College, Dublin. In: BRADY, C. and OHLMEYER, J., eds., British interventions in early modern Ireland Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 135-160
• FORD, A., 2004. Ussher, Robert (c.1592-1642) (642 words)Ussher, James (1581-1656) (8651)Ussher, Ambrose (c.1582-1629) (786)Travers, Walter (1548?-1635) (2,742)Ridge, John (1589/90-1637?)(771)Richardson, John (1579/80-1654) (702)Ram, Thomas (1564-: in New Oxford Dictionary of National biography
• FORD, A., 2003. Criticising the godly prince: Malcolm Hamilton's Passages and consultations. In: CAREY, V.P. and LOTZ-HEUMANN, U., eds., Taking sides? Colonial and confessional mentalites in early modern Ireland: essays in honour of Karl S. Bottigheimer Blackrock, Co. Dublin: Four Courts Press. 116-137
• FORD, A., 2001. Martyrdom, history and memory in early modern Ireland. In: MCBRIDE, I., ed., History and memory in modern Ireland Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 43-66
• FORD, A., 2001. 'Firm Catholics' or 'loyal subjects'? Religious and political allegiance in early Seventeenth-century Ireland. In: BOYCE, D.G., ECCLESHALL, R. and GEOGHEGAN, V., eds., Political discourse in Seventeenth- and Eighteenth- century Ireland Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. 1-31
• FORD, A., 2001. Celtic Christianity: discovery or invention? Search. 24, 5-12
• FORD, A., 2000. Religion: main feature or side show?. In: KENNEDY, D., ed., Forging an identity: Ireland at the millennium: the evolution of a concept Dublin: Irish Association for Cultural, Economic and Social Relations. 28-33 (In Press.)
• FORD, A., 2000. Review of Christopher Elwood, 'The body broken' Reviews in Religion and Theology. 7, 63-65
• FORD, A., 1999. James Ussher and the godly prince in early seventeenth-century Ireland. In: MORGAN, H., ed., Political ideology in Ireland, 1541-1641 Blackrock, Co. Dublin: Four Courts Press. 203-228
• FORD, A., 1999. Parr Lane: 'Newes from the holy ile' Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. Section C: Archaeology, Celtic Studies, History, Linguistics, Literature. 99, 115-156
• FORD, A., 1999. The Reformations in Ireland: tradition and confessionalism, 1400-1690, by Samantha A. Meigs Reformation. 4, 274-275
• FORD, A., 1999. Review of Tony Claydon and Ian McBride, 'Protestantism and national identity: Britain and Ireland' Journal of Ecclesiastical History. 50, 164-166
• FORD, A., 1999. Review of A. Morton, 'A turning point in Ireland and Scotland? The challenge to the churches and theology today' Expository Times. 110, 415
• FORD, A., 1999. Devoted people: belief and religion in early, modern Ireland by Raymond Gillespie Journal of Ecclesiastical History. 50(1), 164-166
• FORD, A., 1998. Review of Micheline Kearney Walsh, 'An exile of Ireland: Hugh O'Neill, prince of Ulster' History. 83, 331
• FORD, A., 1998. Who went to Trinity? The early students of Dublin University. In: ROBINSON-HAMMERSTEIN, H., ed., European universities in the age of the Reformation and Counter Reformation Blackrock, Co. Dublin: Four Courts Press. 53-75
• FORD, A., 1998. Reforming the holy isle: Parr Lane and the conversion of the Irish. In: BARNARD, T., Ó CRÓINÍN, D. and SIMMS, K., eds., A miracle of learning: studies in manuscripts and Irish learning: essays in honour of William O'Sullivan Aldershot: Ashgate. 137-163
• FORD, A., 1998. Parry, The trophies of time: English antiquarians of the seventeenth century Irish Historical Studies. 121, 141
• FORD, A., 1998. James Ussher and the creation of an Irish Protestant identity. In: BRADSHAW, B. and ROBERTS, P., eds., British consciousness and identity: the making of Britain, 1533-1707 Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 185-212
• FORD, A., 1997. Review of T.H.L. Parker, 'Calvin's preaching' Scottish Journal of Theology. 50, 504-505 (In Press.)
• FORD, A., 1997. The Protestant Reformation in Ireland, 1590-1641 2nd ed.. Dublin: Four Courts Press.
• FORD, A., 1996. Review of Philomena Kilroy, 'Protestant dissent and controversy in Ireland, 1660-1714' English Historical Review. 111, 1288-1289
• FORD, A., 1996. The origins of Irish dissent. In: HERLIHY, K., ed., The religion of Irish dissent, 1650-1800 Blackrock, Co. Dublin: Four Courts Press. 9-30
• FORD, A. and WATSON, B., 1996. Using hypertext courseware to teach the New Testament Computers and Texts. 13, 2-4
• FORD, A., 1995. Dependent or independent? The Church of Ireland and its colonial context, 1536-1649 The Seventeenth Century. 10(2), 163-187
• FORD, A., 1995. Standing one's ground: religion, polemic and Irish history since the Reformation. In: FORD, A., MCGUIRE, J. I. and MILNE, K., eds., As by law established: the Church of Ireland since the Reformation Dublin: Lilliput Press. 1-14
• FORD, A., 1995. The Church of Ireland 1558-1634, a Puritan Church?. In: FORD, A., MCGUIRE, J. I. and MILNE, K., eds., As by law established: the Church of Ireland since the Reformation Dublin: Lilliput Press. 52-68
• FORD, A., 1995. Review of Brian MacCuarta, 'Ulster 1641 - aspects of the rising' Journal of Ecclesiastical History. 46, 337-339
• FORD, A., 1995. The Reformation in Kilmore to 1641. In: GILLESPIE, R., ed., Cavan: essays on the history of an Irish county Blackrock: Irish Academic Press. 73-98
• FORD, A., 1994. The European Reformation, Euan Cameron History of European Ideas. 18(4), 634
• FORD, A., 1994. Review of Julian Davies, 'The Caroline captivity of the church - Charles I and the remolding of Anglicanism, 1625-1641' Irish Historical Studies. 29, 140-141
• FORD, A., 1994. Zwingli: an introduction to his thought, W. P. Stephens History of European Ideas. 18(4), 615
• FORD, A., 1994. Review of Gillian Evans, 'Problems of authority in the Reformation debates' Scottish Journal of Theology. 47, 419-420
• FORD, ALAN, 1956- and MCCAFFERTY, JOHN., The origins of sectarianism in early modern Ireland At: Glasgow - Main Library, Level 8 ; History DY850 ORI, Leeds - Brotherton Library Main Building, level 2 ; Modern History R-2.3 FOR, University of London - ULRLS - Senate House Library HISTORY 6th Flo