Reading the Church of England’s Response to the Covid-19 Crisis: The Diverging Views of Anglo-Catholic and Evangelical Clergy

Within the one Church, the Church of England holds together in tension two distinctive streams, one rooted in the Catholic tradition (shaping Anglo-Catholic clergy) and one rooted in the Reformed tradition (shaping Evangelical clergy). Comparing the responses of 263 Anglo-Catholic clergy with the responses of 140 Evangelical clergy (all engaged in full-time stipendiary parish ministry) to the Coronavirus, Church & You Survey, the present analyses tested the thesis that these two groups would read the Church of England’s response to the Covid-19 crisis differently. The data demonstrated that, although Anglo-Catholic clergy were as willing as Evangelical clergy to embrace the digital age to assist with pastoral care, they were significantly less enthusiastic about the provision of online worship, about the closure of churches, and about the notion of virtual rather than geographical communities. The centrality of sacred space (parish church) and local place (parish system) remain more important in the Catholic tradition than in the Reformed tradition. As a consequence, Anglo-Catholic clergy have felt more disadvantaged and marginalized by the Church of England’s response to the Covid-19 crisis.

Religion, Corruption, and the Social Contract

Religion is one of the most commonly cited explanations for cross-country variation in corruption. In particular, Protestantism, and the cultural values that follow from its doctrine, has been identified as particularly beneficial for getting corruption under control. Nevertheless, micro-level studies provide little evidence for religion producing norms and values conducive to good institutions. An alternate explanation for the observed macro-level variation is presented in this chapter, namely the historical systems for financing religious practices. The medieval parish system in Northwestern Europe, where members collectively paid for and administrated religious services as public goods, is compared with the Ottoman Empire, where such goods were normally provided through endowments from private individuals and tax collection was comparatively privatized. It is shown that these different systems can be seen as two very different social contracts that have had long-lasting implications for accountability, transparency, and representation.

Effect of Hierarchical Parish System on Portuguese Housing Rents

This manuscript analyzes an inter-parish housing rents gradient with respect to surrounding parishes. Using data on housing rents for 4049 Portuguese parishes in 278 municipalities, the paper explores the spatial patterns of housing rents using the geographically weighted regression (GWR) methodology. The housing rents can be explained by socio-economic factors comprising the effects of unemployment, sustainability, social diversity, elderly dependency, and population density. The proportion of overcrowded dwellings reflecting how poor living conditions affect housing rents was also included in the spatial analysis. On the structural side, characteristics of the dwellings were also included such as the area of the home and the number of other homes available in the parishes. Locational factors reflect households’ valuation for access to other parishes. In order to capture location characteristics, besides considering mobility within municipalities, the GWR allowed using distances to nearby parishes, i.e., parish hierarchy distance effect. The results suggest that the Portuguese rental housing market exhibits a heterogeneous pattern across the territory, displaying spatial variability and a hierarchical space pattern as a consequence of its locational attributes.

Religion and Institutional Quality: Long-Term Effects of the Financial Systems in Protestantism and Islam

Religion is one of the most commonly cited explanations for cross-country variation in institutional quality. In particular, Protestantism, and the cultural values that follow from its doctrine, has been identified as particularly beneficial. Nevertheless, micro-level studies provide little evidence for religion producing norms and values conducive to good institutions. We propose an alternate explanation for the observed macro-level variation: historical systems for local religious financing, contrasting the medieval parish system in Northwestern Europe, where members collectively paid for and administrated religious services as public goods, with the Ottoman Empire, where such goods were normally provided through endowments from private individuals and tax collection was comparatively privatized. We argue that a legacy of collective financing and accountability in the former region created a virtuous cycle of high state capacity and low corruption, reverberating to this day as good institutions.

Advowsons and Private Patronage

This article focuses on the role of private patronage within the Church of England. Private patrons own advowsons. These property rights can no longer be traded but may still be bequeathed or transferred without value. When there is a vacancy in a benefice, a patron has the right to nominate a new incumbent in accordance with the Patronage (Benefices) Measure 1986. This article uses contemporary and historical records to define private patronage and analyse the current role of the four broad categories of private patrons: private individuals, educational bodies, guilds and patronage societies. While acknowledging the benefits that patronage can bring, this article advocates substantive reform for the future including a sunset rule for private individual patronage. The article suggests that reform of the law of private patronage will make a positive contribution to other contemporary issues before the Church by promoting diversity in vocations, facilitating necessary pastoral reorganisation and adding to the dialogue about the future of the parish system.

Clérigos rurales, comunidades y formación de las estructuras parroquiales en la diócesis de León (siglos XI-XIII) = Rural Priests, Communities and the Development of the Parochial System in the Diocese of León (Eleventh to Thirteenth Centuries)

El presente artículo estudia el clero rural de la diócesis de León entre los siglos XI y XIII con el fin de profundizar nuestros conocimientos sobre las transformaciones sociales que implicó la formación de las estructuras parroquiales en el norte ibérico. El trabajo analiza los cambios que se produjeron en la relación entre el clero rural y las comunidades locales en las que ejercían el oficio religioso, tomando en consideración el desarrollo del poder episcopal sobre las iglesias locales y sus clérigos, los requisitos y procedimientos asociados a la ordenación clerical y el nombramiento eclesiástico, el rol que desempeñaban las comunidades rurales en la elección de los clérigos locales, y los conflictos que enfrentaron al clero diocesano con las comunidades por el control de las iglesias locales y sus clérigos.This paper examines the rural clergy of the diocese of León between the eleventh and thirteenth centuries in order to shed light on the social transformation resulting from the development of the parish system in northern Iberia. The study analyzes the changes in the relationship between rural priests and the local communities where they held office. This study takes into consideration the reinforcement of episcopal power over local churches and priests; requirements and procedures associated with clerical ordination and ecclesiastical appointment; the role played by rural communities in the election of their local priests; and the disputes between the diocesan clergy and the communities over the control of local churches and its priests.

The parish as existential space: A theological critique of territory

In this article I call for a reconceptualization of space in relation to the ecclesial parish system through differentiating between “space”, “place”, and “territory”, suggesting that the last term has been instrumental in introducing an ideological notion of space – in short, the reduction of place and space to administrative territory – into the ecclesiological self-understanding of the Church of Sweden. For my analysis of “territory” as an ideological notion and for a more productive understanding of what I call “existential space”, I refer to contemporary spatial theory in philosophy. The object of study is several paragraphs in the statutes of the Church of Sweden. Several empirical examples – the suburban areas of Rosengård and Flemingsberg – help to further the analysis and substantiate my theoretical argument. Finally, I offer some thoughts toward a more constructive theology of space than that provided by the territorial understanding of the parish. Although concerned with the understanding of parish within the Church of Sweden, the ultimate aim of this article is to contribute to a more general discussion of theological understandings of spatiality.