Mission-shaped curacy? : reshaping curacy for effective formation for authentic ministry in the twenty-first century Church of England

Abstract

This thesis poses the research question of whether curacy in the Church of England, in its current majority model of one curate in one benefice under the supervision of one training incumbent, continues to offer the most productive space for the post-ordination ongoing formation of the newly ordained. It uses an interdisciplinary methodology, in which theology and ecclesiology are brought into dialogue with the sociological thought of Casanova and Bourdieu, with Stanislavski’s theory of method acting, and with performance practice in art music and popular music. It additionally asks questions of how the increasingly complex external and internal contexts for ministry might be productively conceptualized, and of what kinds of ordained ministers might be needed by the twenty-first century Church of England. Consideration of these questions contributes to the conclusion that whilst aspects of good practice can usefully be retained from the current model of curacy, contextual demands and the changing nature of the role of the ordained, coupled with a significant shift in the demographic profile of those coming forward for ordination, call for a reframing of its structures.

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