Managing Clergy Lives: Obedience, Sacrifice, Intimacy

(Hardback)

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Managing Clergy Lives gives a unique insight into the everyday lives of Church of England parish priests. It examines how men and women priests manage their many and everyday commitments to God, the Church and their personal relationships. In a fast-changing world, Managing Clergy Lives shows how the vocational commitment of priests to their ordinal vows remains steadfast. For today's clergy, the ordained life means obedience, sacrifice and a loss of intimacy, embodied in spiritual self-discipline and the ultimate dedication of body and soul to God. Written by an Anglican Bishop (Peyton) in Dundee and a Senior Lecturer from Lancaster University (Gatrell), Managing Clergy Lives opens a window onto clergy households in terms of personal relationships, spirituality and work-home balance. Drawing upon in-depth interviews with 46 Area/Rural Deans, it reports their everyday experiences using their own words. The book reveals the stories behind the enduring commitment within the Church and gets behind the scenes in order to understand the staying power of men and women who are 'becoming priests' across a lifetime.

Reviews

This careful and comprehensive study is based on rigorous research, designed and delivered by an experienced archdeacon and an academic. The authors well understand both interior and exterior aspects of clergy life ... [It] has much wisdom about how this might happen in twenty-first-century England. -- Alan Wilson, Buckingham * Theology, Issue 118.3 *
As an overview of how things are in the Church today the book is both useful and insightful -- Richard Steel, Convenor of the Grove Books Leadership strand * MODEM Matters, ed. 28 *
Managing Clergy Lives: Obedience, Sacrifice, and Intimacy is a fascinating read...Both of these authors are more than trained to produce such a thought provoking book for ministers like me who are struggling to find our way in the long walk of faith...I found each one of these sections intriguing an caught myself underlining key passages on nearly every page. While reading this book I didn't feel alone anymore, I felt connected with a large community of clergy, just like me who struggle every day with their parish, with their families, with their faith.I hope that Managing Clergy Lives is required reading in Anglican seminaries because it provides much food for thought for both the present Church and the future Church as well...Managing Clergy Lives will be a handy resource for the years to come. -- William C. Mills * Walking with God *

Author Bio

Dr Caroline Gatrell is Senior Lecturer in the School of Management, Lancaster University. Her research centres on relationships and personal lives in the context of the body; health; work-life balance; family practices and employment. She is the author of Hard Labour: The sociology of parenthood and Embodying Women's Work (both Open University Press).