Distinctive Call, Distinctive Profile: The Psychological Type Profile of Church of England Full-time Hospital Chaplains

This article tests the hypothesis that the Church of England may be recruiting into stipendiary ministry a different psychological profile of clergy to respond to the changing demands of parochial ministry. Using the Francis Psychological Type Scales, the profiles of 90 male and 35 female curates under the age of 40 ordained into stipendiary ministry in 2009 and 2010 were compared with the profiles of 626 clergymen and 237 clergywomen reported in a study published in 2007. The major difference between the two groups concerns the significantly higher proportions of sensing types and the Epimethean temperament (SJ) among the curates. These shifts in psychological type and temperament promise a Church for the future that is more tightly managed but less inspirational and less responsive to transformative development.

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Safeguarding Tradition: Psychological Type Preferences of Male Vergers in the Church of England

Pastoral Psychology ◽

10.1007/s11089-005-0010-1 ◽

2006 ◽

Vol 54 (5) ◽

pp. 457-463 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Charlotte L Craig ◽

Bruce Duncan ◽

Leslie J Francis

Keyword(s):

Church Of England ◽

Psychological Type ◽

The Church

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Psychological type and psychological temperament among Readers within the Church of England: a complementary ministry?

Mental Health Religion & Culture ◽

10.1080/13674676.2020.1764517 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 1-15

Author(s):

Leslie J. Francis ◽

Susan H. Jones ◽

Andrew Village

Keyword(s):

Church Of England ◽

Psychological Type ◽

The Church

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Biblical Conservatism and Psychological Type

Journal of Empirical Theology ◽

10.1163/15709256-12341340 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 29 (2) ◽

pp. 137-159 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Andrew Village

Keyword(s):

Church Of England ◽

Psychological Type ◽

School Level ◽

University Level ◽

The Village

The Village Bible Scale, a measure of biblical conservatism, was completed by 3,243 Church of England readers of the Church Times in 2013 alongside a measure of psychological type. Overall, biblical conservatism was higher for men than women, for those under 60 than those over 60, for those with school-level than those with university-level qualifications, for laity than clergy, and higher among evangelicals and charismatics than among those in Anglo-catholic or broad-church traditions. For the sample as a whole, the perceiving process was the only dimension of psychological type to predict biblical conservatism, which was positively correlated with sensing and negatively correlated with intuition. Within church traditions, sensing scores predicted biblical conservatism in Anglo-catholic and broad-church traditions, but not for evangelicals. Thinking function scores were positively correlated with biblical conservatism among evangelicals, but negatively correlated among Anglo-catholics. The findings point to the possible roles of psychological preferences in influencing predispositions for retaining or changing theological convictions.

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The Changing Psychological Type Profile and Psychological Temperament of Church of England Clergy

Research in the Social Scientific Study of Religion, Volume 31 ◽

10.1163/9789004443969_007 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 93-110

Keyword(s):

Church Of England ◽

Psychological Type

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Reading and proclaiming the Advent call of John the Baptist: An empirical enquiry employing the SIFT method

HTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies ◽

10.4102/hts.v70i1.2718 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 70 (1) ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Leslie J. Francis ◽

Greg Smith

Keyword(s):

Type Theory ◽

Church Of England ◽

Psychological Type ◽

Myers Briggs Type Indicator ◽

Biblical Hermeneutics ◽

John The Baptist ◽

Type Indicator ◽

Clergy Training ◽

The One ◽

The Church

Drawing on Jungian psychological type theory, the SIFT method of biblical hermeneutics and liturgical preaching suggests that the reading and proclaiming of scripture reflects the psychological type preferences of the reader and preacher. This thesis is examined among a sample of clergy (training incumbents and curates) serving in the one Diocese of the Church of England (N = 22). After completing the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, the clergy worked in groups (designed to cluster individuals who shared similar psychological type characteristics) to reflect on and to discuss the Advent call of John the Baptist. The Marcan account was chosen for the exercise exploring the perceiving functions (sensing and intuition) in light of its rich narrative. The Lucan account was chosen for the exercise exploring the judging functions (thinking and feeling) in light of the challenges offered by the passage. In accordance with the theory, the data confirmed characteristic differences between the approaches of sensing types and intuitive types, and between the approaches of thinking types and feeling types.

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The Psychological Profile of Church of England Male Archdeacons at the Beginning of the Twenty-first Century: Drawing on Psychological Type and Temperament Theory

Journal of Anglican Studies ◽

10.1017/s1740355318000256 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 17 (1) ◽

pp. 74-92

Author(s):

Leslie J. Francis ◽

Michael Whinney

Keyword(s):

Church Of England ◽

Leadership Skills ◽

Psychological Type ◽

Visionary Leadership ◽

First Century ◽

Psychological Profile ◽

Recent Discussion ◽

Effective Administration ◽

Temperament Theory ◽

The Church

AbstractRecent discussion and research has pointed to the changing functions of archdeacons within the Church of England as the role has become expanded to combine both the traditional statutory functions with flexible and visionary leadership skills within a changing church. This study draws on data collected in 2009 from 186 active and retired male archdeacons in order to assess the psychological profile established by that time. Compared with the psychological profile of 626 clergymen, male archdeacons were much more likely to prefer the SJ temperament (60 per cent compared with 31 per cent), a temperament ideally suited for effective administration of the statutory functions. As a consequence, preference for intuition was lower among male archdeacons (38 per cent compared with 62 per cent), as was preference for perceiving (9 per cent compared with 32 per cent), qualities core for flexibility and visionary leadership.

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Liberalism and Conservatism in Relation to Psychological Type among Church of England Clergy

Journal of Empirical Theology ◽

10.1163/15709256-12341384 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 32 (1) ◽

pp. 138-154

Author(s):

Andrew Village

Keyword(s):

Church Growth ◽

Church Of England ◽

Research Programme ◽

Psychological Type ◽

Beliefs And Practices ◽

Church Congregations ◽

The Church ◽

Church Tradition

Abstract Liberalism and conservatism have been important stances that have shaped doctrinal, moral and ecclesial beliefs and practices in Christianity. In the Church of England, Anglo-catholics are generally more liberal, and evangelicals more conservative, than those from broad-church congregations. This paper tests the idea that psychological preference may also partly explain liberalism or conservatism in the Church of England. Data from 1,389 clergy, collected as part of the 2013 Church Growth Research Programme, were used to categorise individuals by church tradition (Anglo-catholic, broad church or evangelical), whether or not they had an Epimethean psychological temperament, and whether or not they preferred thinking over feeling in their psychological judging process. Epimetheans and those who preferred thinking were more likely to rate themselves as conservative rather than liberal. Conservatism was associated with being Epimethean among those who were Anglo-catholic or broad-church, but with preference for thinking over feeling among evangelicals.

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