This research is premised on the investigation of two under-researched groups within the Church of England, whose subjectivities have altered since the Church of England made the momentous decision to allow the ordination of women in 1992. Whilst women priests more generally have been subject to research investigation and comment, priests as mothers and the non-ordained spouses of women priests are two groups of people whose experiences and subjectivities have not been explored in explicit detail. Indeed, at the heart of this research is the theme of gender identity and how femininities and masculinities are lived and negotiated by these two groups constructing their identities within the boundaries of the Church. Rather than considering gender in a one-dimensional way, by focusing on both femininities and masculinities a more nuanced and complex picture will be allowed to emerge. This study emphasises the way in which everyday life is negotiated and lived and how this often disrupts traditional established binaries such as public and private, masculinity and femininity, sacred and profane. It considers how women priests negotiate an institution governed by sacredly masculinist norms and how their positioning as mothers impacts on this mediation. Motherhood is taken as a topic of salient concern, unpicking its ideologies and how these dominant ideas have been informed by both secular and religious discourses, especially regarding how sacred and profane discourses impact on motherhood’s construction. And how men as spouses mediate a terrain established as explicitly feminine is considered, highlighting the means through which gender acts as an important mechanism through which expectation and practice is established but how this is explicitly interwoven through particular gendered ways of experiencing public and private divisions.

Research has suggested that religious beliefs can be important in the recovery from mental health difficulties. In addition, many individuals find it helpful to seek support from church leaders and congregations. However, few studies in the United Kingdom have explored how and why church leaders provide this support. The study involved interviewing ten church leaders in south Wales regarding their experience of supporting congregants with mental health difficulties. Their accounts were analysed using a grounded theory approach. The results suggested that the leader’s concept of mental health difficulties was a major influence in the way in which support was provided. All the church leaders believed that mental health difficulties had a spiritual aetiology, but differed according to whether this was the main cause, or one of many. Leaders describe providing practical, spiritual, long-term and crisis support to individuals. Spiritual support was prominent and included counselling, bible teaching and prayer. The type of support available was influenced by the values the leaders held and the members of their congregation. Church leaders varied regarding how much they perceived a need to access mental health services for congregants. The leader’s perception of their competency to support the individual and whether they had positive prior experience of mental health services influenced this. The majority of leaders felt under-trained to support people with mental health difficulties and unsure what the mental health services could provide. A number of barriers may prevent church leaders from accessing services such as feeling mutual suspicion between mental health professionals and the church. Consequently, many leaders recommended a Christian counsellor instead of mental health services. This research suggests that church leaders provide a unique relationship for congregants, offering social support and hope. The implications of these findings for psychologists, mental health services and church leaders are discussed and recommendations for future research are made.

In this thesis I examine the ways in which analysing open-air preaching as ‘radical street performance’ can inform our understanding of this expression of Christian preaching. Open-air preaching is commonly associated with negative stereotypes. Most contemporary homiletical writers also largely neglect considering this practice. Through my research, I posit radical street performance as a constructive and illuminating way to understand and analyse open-air preaching. In chapter 1, I introduce the practice of open-air preaching in relation to relevant homiletical literature. In so doing, I challenge the commonly held stereotypes about open-air preaching. I do so with reference to the long and diverse nature of the practice. In chapter 2, I critically analyse existing ‘preaching as performance’ literature. I first demonstrate the ways in which these authors show the suitability of performance as a concept for understanding preaching. I then go on to consider the limitations of their understandings of preaching as performance for exploring open-air preaching in performance terms. I do this to establish the immediate theoretical context for my own research. In chapter 3, I develop this argument further drawing on the work of performance theorists Jan Cohen-Cruz and Baz Kershaw. I argue accordingly, that radical street performance is a valuable way of understanding and analysing open-air preaching as performance. On the basis of these theoretical and methodological foundations, in chapters 4-6, I explore three case studies of open-air preaching according to this analytical approach. In chapter 4, I focus on the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century evangelical preaching of James Haldane (1768-1851), whose open-air preaching was directly related to his move to congregational Independency. In chapter 5, I explore the early to mid twentieth century open-air preaching of George MacLeod (1895- 1991), founder of the Iona Community. In chapter 6, I analyse the open-air preaching of OAC Ministries GB, a contemporary organisation that seeks to promote and practice open-air preaching in a creative way. The outcomes of the original research in chapters 4, 5, and 6 demonstrate the applicability and versatility of radical street performance as a way of understanding and analysing open-air preaching in performance terms. It also provides original understandings of the dynamics of each example of open-air preaching examined, highlighting differences and similarities between them. In chapter 7, I draw together by way of conclusions, the theoretical, theological, and practical outcomes of the research for the practice of open-air preaching and the consequent implications for in-church preaching. In this way I present open-air preaching as a minority but significant practice of incarnational witness which exists in a tensive relationship with the dominant practice of in-church preaching.

The research explores three interrelated theological problems – human suffering as encountered during the eruptions of the Soufrière Hills Volcano on Montserrat, the inadequacy of existing Protestant religious traditions on Montserrat to cope with the crisis situation, and the weaknesses of recommended models of pastoral care inherited from Western Christianity. The latter two concerns became obvious at a time of heightened demand for the churches to offer consolation in the face of natural disaster. At the intersection of the three stated concerns is the researcher who served as a pastor in the context of the disaster. Through critical utilisation of Thomas Groome’s practical theological method of Shared Christian Praxis, she acts as interlocutor between the theological reflections of focus groups and theological statements, including contributions from cultural art forms, originating in the wider community of people resident on Montserrat during the eruptions. Irreconcilable differences between the practice of pastoral care and the theological bases for the ministry of care are exposed. The exploration of the spaces between expounded theory and actual practice of pastoral care in this research yields resources to explain the discrepancies and to help move forward the process for a praxis oriented approach to pastoral care that is both theologically valid and contextually relevant. In identifying sources of traditional wisdom useful for providing care in disaster and for developing culturally appropriate models of care and counselling, the research also suggests Shared Christian Praxis as valuable to Caribbean pastoral theological method. It is also recommended as a way of caring and doing theology in disaster situations.

The strong emphasis on ecclesiology in the work of Stanley Hauerwas, John Milbank and others associated with ‘the new ecclesiology’1 brings theological challenges to the contemporary move to recast practical theology’s attention to church and society as ‘public theology’. A historical reading of three key examples of practice in the tradition of twentieth century Scottish reformed-ecumenical reflection on ‘church and society’ displays a rich seam of reflection on ecclesiology, with some significant affinities to ‘the new ecclesiology’. The work of Stanley Hauerwas is used to develop a critical reading of the practices of theology and the theologies of (church and world) practice embedded in each example. This leads to the claim that ‘the new ecclesiology’ offers practical theology a way of articulating the church-world relationship and expressing the social, political and cultural witness of Christianity within Scotland which is to be preferred to the rubric of ‘public theology’. Its appeal for practical theology in the face of church decline and the marginalisation of theological discourse within liberal culture lies not in a temptation towards the comforts of “sectarianism”, but in its confession of the “ironic” character of the politics of Jesus and the reign of God. Its promise for practical theology lies in its claim to offer a narrative display of how theology as “church pragmatics” can mediate a fruitful social, political and cultural imagining of the world Scotland is and the world it is called to be.

This thesis examines the part played by Christian churches in the communal stabilisation of three refugee settings and in the national resolution of the second Sudanese civil war. Based on extensive field research in Sudan and in Sudanese refugee camps in Kenya and Uganda, the thesis is further underpinned by current theories on displacement, social identity and conflict resolution. Ranging from grassroots pastors to Presidential Cabinet Ministers, altogether more than one hundred fifty church and political leaders were consulted through individual interviews and focus groups with more than seventy-five recorded hours. Archives at The Centre for Documentation and Advocacy in Nairobi, Kenya, the New Sudan Council of Churches’ Archive in Kampala, Uganda, the Sudan Archive at the University of Durham, United Kingdom and the Hudson Institute in Washington D.C., United States were also utilised. The thesis commences with an examination of three grassroots communities in refuge, Kakuma Refugee Camp in Kenya, the internally displaced of Hajj Yusuf, Khartoum and Oliji Refugee Camp in Uganda. In establishing the social impact and influence of the churches on the respective displaced community, each of the three local manifestations function as a case study detailing endeavours by Episcopalian, Presbyterian, Catholic and Pentecostal churches to respond to arisen needs, resolve political instabilities and reconcile ethnic tensions. Though the exact influence of the churches differs in each context one overarching theme that emerges is greatly enhanced communal stabilisation. Alongside the numerical growth and social impact of the churches at the local level, the ecumenical New Sudan Council of Churches (NSCC) employed a three-tiered strategy to facilitate national resolution of the second civil war as is delineated in the second half of the thesis. First, through ‘the people-to-people peace process’ the NSCC directly mediated grassroots reunification throughout southern Sudan. Second, the NSCC functioned as the primary channel of Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) criticism and utilised its growing clout to pressure the SPLM/A to adopt measures of good governance and pursue in good faith negotiated settlement with the Government of Sudan. Third, the NSCC stood behind a successful international campaign that lobbied and secured engagement from regional and European and American governments critical to the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement. By paralleling three local communities and the NSCC national resolution initiatives the thesis proffers several important conclusions about Christianity and the civil war in south Sudan including enumerating rationales related to the explosive growth of Christianity, demarcating several nascent indicators of a Christian influenced civil religion, highlighting the growing social and political impact of the churches throughout south Sudan and finally, delineating several general conflict mediatory keys relevant to the churches’ endeavours. The thesis furthermore clearly demonstrates that in the midst of civil war the southern Sudanese indigenous churches bolstered communal stabilisation at a grassroots level, substantively impacted the emergence of national political resolution and thereby directly facilitated the road to Sudanese peace.

The thesis that Caribbean Theology is Public Theology is an articulation of the praxis of seeking to build a just and responsible society. It surveys the historical and contemporary context of the Caribbean and defines its struggle against inequality and the distortion of identity. This history of the Caribbean is a history of the resistance by the people of the Caribbean against inequality and notions of their inferiority. Caribbean Theology is founded on this emancipatory imagination of the people and this spirit of resistance. The liberation biblical hermeneutic reading strategy of Caribbean Theology is a reader response approach which comes to the text from the world in front of the text. The Legion narrative in Mark Chapter Five is offered as an example of this reading strategy. The narrative is used as lenses to reflect upon the problem of self-mutilating violence in the Caribbean. It argues that the high incident of violence is the result of the interiorization of oppression and therefore the distortion of identity. The narrative is also an analogy of Caribbean reality in the ways in which recalcitrant forces collude in order to seek to re-entrench patterns of inequality and oppression. Caribbean Theology began as a self-conscious movement in response to the call for justice and liberation, to pursue Caribbean identity and to conscientize. It is also alert to the fact that the struggle for Caribbean selfhood contends with reactionary forces that are determined to reverse historical gains. These forces are aided and abetted by idolatry. Caribbean Theology must therefore pursue the triple tasks of exorcism, iconoclasm and holism through the congregational life and prophetic witness of the Church in the public square.

In this thesis I argue that architecture can sometimes evoke a sense of the numinous, or a sense of God. In volume one, beginning with Christopher Alexander I set out his theory of centres, and his argument that ‘the Blazing One’ can be known in and through building. I then turn to my own account of this experience, which draws especially on the Neo-Platonic tradition. In the second chapter I set out the aspects of architecture which seem to me to make possible a sense of the numinous in the building, and I illustrate how this might be achieved in buildings of my own. Chapters three and four are analyses of four great buildings, two sacred and two secular, which in my view evoke the numinous or mystical. The fifth and last chapter proposes a Temple for the ‘Universal Order’, a group interested in Neo Platonism. In the submitted plans and sketches for this, I hope, show how a sense of the numinous could be achieved. Since an architect’s language is through drawing, a large part of this thesis comprises drawings and illustrations. In volume two, these, with commentary, will support my argument that architecture can in itself, speak of God.

Since his death in 1607, Abraham Fleming has never been completely forgotten about. This thesis covers all aspects of Fleming's life. It begins with his time at Cambridge and the relationships he forged there. It studies his varied and sometimes groundbreaking contributions to the books associated with him (with a focus on his English texts and translations). It also covers his ordination into the Church of England and subsequent career as a chaplain to Charles Howard, earl of Nottingham. It also elucidates his previously unknown life as a curate in the parish of St Nicholas, Deptford and as a deacon and priest St Pancras, Soper Lane, and finally his sermons at Paul's Cross in the grounds of St Paul's Cathedral. Fleming's legacy of at least 52 printed books, which includes original godly protestant treatises, English translations of Latin and Greek classical works, and books commemorating unusual occasions, have ensured that his name lived on in bibliographic catalogues. Since the 1950s a few scholars have considered Fleming's work on Holinshed's Chronicles as significant contributions to the text. However, the subsequent articles that have been written about him have been narrow in scope and at times unreliable. Recent studies of Fleming have considered him only as a minor writer, yet this thesis demonstrates that he was a literary figure of considerable significance. Fleming made an important contribution to the emerging public sphere, as foregrounded by Jurgen Habermas, that was lauded by his contemporaries but he has largely slipped from view. Before this doctoral research little was known about Fleming's career as a preacher in the Church of England, a career in which he proved just as diligent as when he was a “learned corrector” of books. The aim of this thesis has been to throw fresh light on the multi-faceted career of Abraham Fleming and establish him as a leading figure in late-Sixteenth century political and print culture.

This thesis explores the relevance of a theology of natality for a theology of death and dying and pastoral care in the church. The concept of natality is drawn from the work of Grace M Jantzen and is characterised by beauty, creativity, newness, flourishing and birth. Following a survey of theological and pastoral approaches to death and dying, natality is expounded and the feminist practical theology research methodology employed described. Data from semi-structured interviews conducted with hospital chaplains, clinical staff, palliative care patients and their relatives/friends, coded according to Jantzen’s main features of natality of embodiment, engenderment, relationality and hope, is then presented and discussed. The data analysis shows that natality is strongly relevant to theology and pastoral care in death and dying, and, contrary to Jantzen, its most significant feature for research participants is not hope but, rather, relationality, as a vital source of hope. This indicates the importance of relationality for pastoral theology and care. Reflection upon this leads to the offering of holding as a metaphor for such theology and pastoral practice, and the recognition of the potential value of further qualitative research surrounding the concept of natality.