Personal Identity

Abstract

Identity means standing out: being different, and through that difference unique — and so the search for identity cannot but divide and separate (Bauman, 2001, p. 16). This chapter explores the life history of a selection of ministers, in relation to the Church and to their personal life. Biography is an important element in this study, as it places respondents’ views in a personal, social and historical context. It also addresses their identities in terms of their perception of evangelical or liberal outlooks on Christianity. Other aspects described include perceptions of Presbyterian identity by themselves and others, and its meaning to the individual. It starts with a contrasting interview, from the point of view of the ‘other’, with an interview with Sinn Fein councillor, Eoin O’Broin. This is included as a kind of oppositional identity, representing a polar experience contrasting with the lives of my respondents. The chapter then goes on to describe biography in relation to personal history, as exemplified by Hugo Hamilton. Finally, it describes the views of some of the individual Presbyterians who took part in this study on popular perceptions of Presbyterians.