Irish Presbyterians and the Shaping of Western Pennsylvania, 1770-1830 is a historical study examining the religious culture of Irish immigrants in the early years of America. Despite fractious relations among competing sects, many immigrants shared a vision of a renewed Ireland in which their versions of Presbyterianism could flourish free from the domination of landlords and established church. In the process, they created the institutional foundations for western Pennsylvanian Presbyterian churches. Rural Presbyterian Irish church elders emphasized community and ethnoreligious group solidarity in supervising congregants' morality. Improved transportation and the greater reach of the market eliminated near-subsistence local economies and hastened the demise of religious traditions brought from Ireland. Gilmore contends that ritual and daily religious practice, as understood and carried out by migrant generations, were abandoned or altered by American-born generations in the context of major economic change.

Reforming the Kirk is essential reading for anyone who cares about the future of the Church of Scotland or who wants to understand the deep challenges facing it in contemporary Scotland. The Church of Scotland has had a profound social and cultural influence on all aspects of Scottish life for over 450 years. Yet many feel that times now are harder for the Church than ever before - and that spirits are low. People are asking what has happened to the Church that they have loved, served and belonged to for so long and how the Church can have a strong, vibrant future. The Church's motto, semper reformanda, means 'always to be reformed,' but what kind of reformation is needed now to bring about the future for which so many so long? Doug Gay's analysis brings a rich blend of historical, theological and cultural understanding to bear on analysing patterns of decline within the context of a secularising Scotland and proposing bold and creative ways for the Kirk to respond. Based on the 2017 Chalmers Lectures.