Training incumbents have long worked to support and train new clergy for ministry in the Church of England and the Church in Wales. Often unacknowledged and uncelebrated, their skill, expertise and dedication has been one of the key elements in preparing junior ministers for the demands and challenges of the role of 'Vicar' in the Church. Employing quantitative data gathering, this thesis seeks to break new ground in investigating the reality of the life of the training incumbent today: their understanding of the role they undertake; their motivation for taking on or persevering in a training role; their profile from ethnicity to psychological type; their priorities and the resources available to them. This research recognizes the importance of context and so traces the history of training incumbency while offering an analysis of the mind of the wider Church on the role of the training incumbent as expressed in various reports. The verdict of those curates on the receiving end of the training is also to be weighed very carefully, acknowledging their unique insights and recognizing that the reality of the training experience for them will be different from that of their trainers. These insights will be treated as equally valid and prized for the way in which they illuminate the training dynamic from an alternative perspective. Psychological type theory will be employed to explore that dynamic further as the project seeks to understand to what extent approach to the training task is born out of theological conviction, personality type, prior experience or Church directives. Above all, this project seeks to celebrate the skill and dedication of an unheralded group of talented ministers; thereby disseminating their learning and pleading for further resources to enable them to continue to serve the Church.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:690486 |
| Date | January 2015 |
| Creators | Smith, Greg |
| Publisher | University of Warwick |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/80225/ |
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