Oracles of God helps explain what divided a church, a society, and a new state in Ireland. This superbly researched book gives a detailed account of the political outlook and activities of the Roman Catholic Church, nationally and in the localities, during the fifteen years after the Treaty, both during and after the Civil War. Patrick Murray examines and assesses the clerical response to the Treaty, the involvement of bishops and priests in pro-Treaty and anti-Treaty politics, the fundamentalist Republicans of the left and right, and the Northern state. The author draws on a wide range of, hitherto, unexplored archival material, and on the expertise of local historians and scholars. No other account deals in such depth and detail with the political involvement of the Roman Catholic clergy, of every rank in Irish politics, North and South, between 1922 and 1937.