'Ordinary theology' characterizes the reflective God-talk of the great majority of churchgoers, and others who remain largely untouched by the assumptions, concepts and arguments that academic theology takes for granted. Jeff Astley coined the phrase in his innovative study, Ordinary Theology: Looking, Listening and Learning in Theology, arguing that 'speaking statistically ordinary theology is the theology of God's Church'. A number of scholars have responded to this and related conceptualizations, exploring their theological implications. Other researchers have adopted the perspective in examining a range of Church practices and contexts of Christian discipleship, using the tools of empirical study. Ordinary theology research has proved to be key in uncovering people's everyday lay theology or ordinary dogmatics. Exploring Ordinary Theology presents fresh contributions from a wide range of authors, who address the theological, empirical and practical dimensions of this central feature of ordinary Christian existence and the life of the Church.

'Ordinary theology' characterizes the reflective God-talk of the great majority of churchgoers, and others who remain largely untouched by the assumptions, concepts and arguments that academic theology takes for granted. Jeff Astley coined the phrase in his innovative study, Ordinary Theology: Looking, Listening and Learning in Theology, arguing that 'speaking statistically ordinary theology is the theology of God's Church'. A number of scholars have responded to this and related conceptualizations, exploring their theological implications. Other researchers have adopted the perspective in examining a range of Church practices and contexts of Christian discipleship, using the tools of empirical study. Ordinary theology research has proved to be key in uncovering people's everyday lay theology or ordinary dogmatics. Exploring Ordinary Theology presents fresh contributions from a wide range of authors, who address the theological, empirical and practical dimensions of this central feature of ordinary Christian existence and the life of the Church.

The key issues facing rural life and the rural church today are worth serious thought, serious theological reflection, and serious empirical evidence. The twenty-eight articles drawn together for the first time in this reader illustrate the significant contribution made to these debates over the past decade by the journal Rural Theology. The articles concentrate on the themes of perspectives from the Bible, perspectives from ordinary theology, theological and sociological perspectives, historical perspectives listening to visitors, listening to the community, listening to churchgoers, listening to church leaders and satisfaction and stress in ministry. The authors include voices from the Anglican, Baptist, Methodist and Pentecostal Churches, from England, Scotland and Wales. Rural Life and Rural Church provides an invaluable resource for clergy and lay Christians involved in rural ministry initial and continuing ministerial education and formation Christian men and women living in the countryside.

The Values Debate: A Voice from the Pupils presents findings from a survey conducted among 30,000 13-15 year olds throughout England and Wales, giving particular attention to social, personal and moral issues. The analysis begins with an overview of what teenagers really think. What are their views on sex, family, AIDS and homosexuality? What stand do they take on tobacco, alcohol and drugs? What values do they hold on pollution, poverty and responsibility for the developing world? What value do they place on themselves and on their future lives? The analysis then examines the factors which shape these fundamental values. How do values differ between male and female teenagers? What difference does social class make? How important is the family? Does religion continue to play a part? Does private schooling shape a different set of values? How important is the experience of being bullied at school? This analysis needs to be taken seriously by politicians, teachers, youth leaders, social workers, doctors, clergy and parents, and by all who are professionally or personally concerned with young people.

The key issues facing rural life and the rural church today are worth serious thought, serious theological reflection, and serious empirical evidence. The twenty-eight articles drawn together for the first time in this reader illustrate the significant contribution made to these debates over the past decade by the journal Rural Theology. The articles concentrate on the themes of perspectives from the Bible, perspectives from ordinary theology, theological and sociological perspectives, historical perspectives listening to visitors, listening to the community, listening to churchgoers, listening to church leaders and satisfaction and stress in ministry. The authors include voices from the Anglican, Baptist, Methodist and Pentecostal Churches, from England, Scotland and Wales. Rural Life and Rural Church provides an invaluable resource for clergy and lay Christians involved in rural ministry initial and continuing ministerial education and formation Christian men and women living in the countryside.

During the past two decades, the Science of Congregation Studies has blossomed significantly in the UK, as well as within the USA and Australia. In this illuminating and thought-provoking volume, Leslie J. Francis' research group draws on the Signs of Growth Survey conducted throughout the Anglican Diocese of Southwark to illustrate how the strength of combined qualitative and quantitative research methods can draw on the insights of psychological theory, sociological theory, and empirical theology to illuminate pressing questions of relevance to the sociology of religion, psychology of religion, practical theology and pastoral studies. Individual chapters discuss the missing generation of young people, the greying generation aged seventy and over, how occasional churchgoers express belonging and commitment, connections between psychological type and religious motivation, and the distinctive characteristics of growing congregations.

In the past decade, cathedrals have blossomed as signs of growth for the Anglican Church in England and Wales. They have opened their doors to growing congregations, to widening participation at the major Christian festivals, and to visitors, pilgrims, and tourists on a changing quest for religious experience and for spiritual fulfilment. In this thought-provoking volume Leslie J. Francis' research group presents ten focused empirical studies that illuminate what is really going on in these cathedrals.

During the past two decades, the Science of Congregation Studies has blossomed significantly in the UK, as well as within the USA and Australia. In this illuminating and thought-provoking volume, Leslie J. Francis' research group draws on the Signs of Growth Survey conducted throughout the Anglican Diocese of Southwark to illustrate how the strength of combined qualitative and quantitative research methods can draw on the insights of psychological theory, sociological theory, and empirical theology to illuminate pressing questions of relevance to the sociology of religion, psychology of religion, practical theology and pastoral studies. Individual chapters discuss the missing generation of young people, the greying generation aged seventy and over, how occasional churchgoers express belonging and commitment, connections between psychological type and religious motivation, and the distinctive characteristics of growing congregations.

This is a practical guide to preaching, grounded in the innovative and original theory of the SIFT method, written by two practical theologians who preach Sunday by Sunday.This is a practical book about preaching, written for preachers by two practical theologians who themselves preach Sunday by Sunday. It is a practical book because it is grounded in an innovative and highly original theory about the nature of preaching known as the SIFT method. This theory draws together the best of contemporary scholarship about hermeneutics with compelling insights from modern research concerning psychological type.After presenting the theory, Leslie J Francis and Andrew Village provide concrete examples of the SIFT method of biblical hermeneutics and liturgical preaching. This approach releases the gospel message to be proclaimed and to be heard in a full and rounded manner that touches all of the human mind and soul.Part 1 - Preaching and Hermeneutics includes: Preaching and meaning; Preachers as readers; Perception and evaluation in reading; Reading the Bible; and, Reading the Spirit; Reading the context. Part 2 - Preaching and Psychological Type includes: Theology and individual differences; Models of personality; Understanding psychological type; Psychological type and faith; Psychological type and reading the Bible; and, Psychological type and preaching.

Jung's theory of psychological type distinguishes between the four functions of sensing, intuition, thinking and feeling. This book uses type theory to explore 26 passages from Matthew's Gospel as they appear in the Revised Common Lectionary. The insights gained provide an invaluable resource for teachers and leaders, as well as a key tool for personal meditation. The Theory has profound implications for Christian leaders, who need to nurture all four psychological types in their congregations, and also for how individual Christians meditate on scripture to nourish their whole selves. The Personality Type and Scripture Series covers all three Gospels in Years A, B and C of Lectionary cycle. Exploring Mark's Gospel and Exploring Luke's Gospel are already in print. The series gived support and inspiration to all those using the Lectionary each year as part of their Bible reading.

At the dawn of the third millennium, Rowan Williams the 104th Archbishop of Canterbury faces the daunting challenge of leading the highly diversified and fragmented Church of England. The very essence of Anglicanism remains in the capability of embracing alternative perspectives in teaching and practice. "Fragmented Faith?" draws attention to three fault-lines within the Church of England: the continuing differences between evangelicals and Catholics, liberals and conservatives and charismatics and non-charismatics. But the fragmentation is more profound than these distinctions of church orientation. This well-informed and perceptive analysis shows that the real divisions are between the generations, between the sexes and between the laity and the clergy.

Once seen as a major enemy of faith, psychology is now recognised as a key ally by many Christians. In this clear and challenging book Francis demonstrates how the theory of psychological type can help us to understand better the shape of our personal spirituality, our preferences in publoc worship and the nature of our religious experience.

This study is a contribution from empirical theology towards interpreting the health and potential of the Christian priesthood today. Empirical theology employs the techniques of the social sciences to address key issues raised by the agenda of practical theology. The issues raised by this new study concern the nature and health of the priesthood, a topic of most urgent concern at a time of clerical scandal and abuse. Empirical theology has the capability of stripping bare the illusions and facade that the Church may wish to see and revealing the human reality within. This is not an alien empirical study peering in at the Church from without. Empirical theology holds up a mirror to the Church from within. The book is based on a questionnaire sent out to all parish clergy. One Bishop wrote to his clergy instructing them not to reply to the survey. The authors anticipate a similar level of enthusiasm, encouragement and support for the findings from their enquiry The conclusions of this book are revealing but fundamentally positive for anyone concerned with the future of the Christian Church at the start of a new millennium.

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) has been extensively used as an aid to spiritual growth, self-knowledge, and community building. This volume brings together the texts from St. Luke's gospel, which are included in Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary, and uses the insights of MBTI theory to explore the range of possible responses to them. Accessible enough for use in personal Bible reading, its disciplined and professional approach also makes it an invaluable companion for Bible study leaders and preachers.

Following the events of September 11th 2001, public focus has been on the power of religion in world politics. This book addresses the role of religious education in a polarised and globalised world where terrorism has impacted on western democracy. Through an analysis and evaluation of all the different models of religious education across the western world, the book considers if religion is part of the answer or part of the problem. Internationally, religious educators have been required to face the challenge of developing and justifying their subject matter in a world keen to combat terrorism and to promote peace. This book demonstrates that while some claim religious education inflames fundamentalist sensitivities and in some cases lead to sectarian violence, it also has the counterbalancing capacity to inform and enrich communal life.

Religious diversity, religious enthusiasm, and religious misunderstanding remain at the heart of so much social, economic and political conflict in the world today. Never before has religious education been so important. In this climate, religious educators have become increasingly aware of the significance of listening to the religious perceptions of adolescents, using the best research techniques pioneered by the empirical social sciences, including sociology, psychology, and anthropology. This collection of innovative and pioneering empirical studies, sponsored by the International Seminar of Religious Education and Values, draws together Christian, Islamic, and Jewish perspectives from England, Germany, Israel, Norway, Turkey and Wales.

Personality, Religion, and Leadership studies Jungian psychological type theory and the dynamic power of Jungian archetypes to help religious leaders understand and deal with their personal spiritual journey in times of stress and success, and enables them to build religious community from the diversity personality types in their care. This book argues that psychologically mature individuals draw on the full range of the eight function-orientations described by psychological type theory as: introverted sensing, extraverted sensing, introverted intuition, extraverted intuition, introverted feeling, extraverted feeling, introverted thinking, and extraverted thinking. The role played by these function-orientations varies within each of 16 psychological types: within different psychological types each function-orinetation emerges from the unconscious into the conscious mind at different points in the life-cycle. The balance between the function-orientations gives individuals their distinctive psychological strengths, and alerts them to their psychological weaknesses.

The essays in this dialogue demonstrate how sociology can be enriched by the scrutiny and insights of theology, and how the proper subject matter of theology can be illuminated by the theories and empirical methodlogies of sociology. Within this work: theologians reflect on sociological method, explore social theories of the human agent and offer a theological transformation of sociology; sociological methods are employed to interpret the Toronto blessing, to understand glossolalia, to interrogate church leavers, to give voice to gay and lesbian Christians, to explore the development of local non-stipendiary ministry, and to identify the roots of church growth; a focus is placed upon the church college and its students, highlighting the interplay between the church college as an area of sociological interest itself, and as an institution where sociology is studied.

In Personality, Religion, and Leadership, Christopher F. J. Ross and Leslie J. Francis illustrate how Jungian archetypes can help religious leaders understand and deal with their personal spiritual journeys in times of stress and success and build strong religious communities that contain a diverse array of psychological types.

This volume brings together 15 studies reporting the latest international research on developments and trends in religious education. Together these 15 studies illustrate recurrent themes affecting the development of religious education in diverse locations and also illustrate the distinctive trajectories of locations shaped by different histories and by different contemporary contexts. These contributions were brought together in a recent seminar convened by the International Seminar on Religious Education and Values, the leading international association for religious educators and values educators across the world. This volume has selected key contributions made to the seminar, spanning both conceptual and empirical perspectives, rooted in both religious and secular traditions.

This volume brings together three key and contested areas facing educationalists within schools, colleges and universities: values education, religious education and human rights education. Challenges and opportunities within each of these three areas may be illuminated and explored by bringing them into creative dialogue. These core constructs were explored in a recent seminar convened by the International Seminar on Religious Education and Values, the leading international association for religious educators and values educators across the world. This volume presents twenty-one key contributions made to the seminar, spanning both conceptual and empirical perspectives and rooted in both religious and secular traditions. It draws together a unique collection of international perspectives on the interlocking themes of values, human rights and religious education.

This volume brings together two core concepts that are central to understanding the social and public significance of religions and theologies within the contemporary world and are therefore of key importance to the discipline of religious education: diversity and intersectionality. Religious diversity requires an understanding of religions and theologies and their roles within a plural society. However, the effect of the intersectionality of multiple social identities on a person's flourishing illuminates the ways in which the broader complexity of diversity must be viewed from different perspectives. These core constructs were brought together in a recent conference convened by the International Seminar on Religious Education and Values, the leading international association for religious educators across the world. This volume presents twelve key contributions made to the seminar, spanning both conceptual and empirical approaches, and represents a unique collection of international perspectives on the interlocking themes of intersectionality and diversity.

This title provides an authoritative and timely review of the OLM experiment - its achievements, its weaknesses, and its ongoing relevance for the Church today. Ordained Anglican ministry is changing rapidly. Soon the majority of clergy are likely to be volunteers and, especially in rural areas, female. All mainstream Churches recognise that new contexts need new forms of ministry. Ordained Local Ministers (OLMs) are priests specifically called out by their local congregation and ordained to minister in that locality. Half the dioceses in England and elsewhere in the Anglican Communion including Australasia, Scotland and North America have established formal schemes to enable this type of ministry. Some dioceses believe the process has helped to revitalise parishes and raise the spiritual temperature of congregations. Others have called a halt, believing their schemes have somehow gone wrong or have not 'delivered'. The time has come for a calm assessment of available evidence about an experiment into which the Church has poured considerable time, effort and money over the last twenty years. Does it have ongoing value, or is it just one more bright idea that has flourished for a season and has now had its day?

Originally published as Personality, Type and Scripture, this acclaimed book is now republished in a revised and expanded form. It is also retitled to make it absolutely clear what the book is and why it is indispensable as a guide.Each cycle of the Revised Common Lectionary is based on one of the synoptic gospels (Mark, Luke, Matthew). However interspersed throughout all three years are also included gospel readings from the fourth gospel, the gospel of St. John. In the original edition of this splendid book, only the readings from St. Mark were covered. In this new expanded edition the authors now include a guide to the entire cycle of gospel readings- the readings from St. Mark and St. John as well.Jung`s theory of psychological type distinguishes between the four functions of sensing, intuition, thinking and feeling. This book uses type theory to explore readings from the gospels appropriate for the liturgical year. The theory has profound implications for Christian leaders who need to nurture all four psycholoigcal types in their congregations. It also has profound implications for how an individual Christians meditate on scripture to nourish their whole selves.This book will give support and inspiration to all those using the Revised Common Lectionary each year as part of their Bible reading.

In this exciting and thought-provoking collection of essays, key Christian religious educators from America, Australia, Britain and Europe address the crucial role of education in religion and values for critiquing and shaping the major social, political and moral issues facing us in the third millennium.Professor Jeff Astley (UK) examines the challenges posed by science. He demonstrates how religious education is crucial to the proper shaping of scientific progress.Professor Friedrich Schweitzer (Germany) confronts the challenges of supranational and global developments. He argues that education in inter-religious dialogue is essential for international co-operation and for our future society.Professor Mary Elizabeth Moore (US) tackles the challenges of ethnic diversity and biodiversity. She argues that religious education holds the key to releasing the world from ethnic oppression and ecological destruction.Professor Brian V. Hill (Australia) analyses the challenges confronting young people in the global village. He maintains that religious education can enfranchise young people in their personal search for meaning.Other contributors include Dr J. Mark Halstead (UK), Dr Eleanor Nesbitt (UK), Dr Heinz Streib (Germany), Dr Andrew Wright (UK), and Professor Hans-Georg Zieberz (Germany).ABOUT THE EDITORSThe Rev. Professor Astley is Director of the North of England Institute for Christian Education. The Rev. Professor Leslie J. Francis is Director for the Welsh National Centre for Religious Education at the University of Wales, Bangor. Mandy Robins is Teaching and Research Fellow in the Welsh National Centre for Religious Education at the University of Wales, Bangor.