The Psychological Profile of Church of England Male Archdeacons at the Beginning of the Twenty-first Century: Drawing on Psychological Type and Temperament Theory

Abstract

Recent discussion and research has pointed to the changing functions of archdeacons within the Church of England as the role has become expanded to combine both the traditional statutory functions with flexible and visionary leadership skills within a changing church.This study draws on data collected in 2009 from 186 active and retired male archdeacons in order to assess the psychological profile established by that time. Compared with the psychological profile of 626 clergymen, male archdeacons were much more likely to prefer the SJ temperament (60% compared with 31%), a temperament ideally suited for effective administration of the statutory functions. As a consequence, preference for intuition was lower among male archdeacons (38% compared with 62%), as was preference for perceiving (9% compared with 32%), qualities core for flexibility and visionary leadership.

Psychological type profiles and temperaments of ministers in the Baptist Union of Great Britain (BUGB)

“…North American studies include profiles from Catholic convents and seminaries (Bigelow et al, 1988;Cabral, 1984;Harbaugh, 1984;Holsworth, 1984), Catholic clergy (Burns et al, 2013), and clergy in the Presbyterian Church (Francis et al, 2011c). Studies in the UK include profiles of various groups from the Church of England such as clergymen and women , ordained local ministers (Francis & Holmes, 2011;Village, 2011), women priests (Francis et al, 2011b), women in local ministry , bishops , male archdeacons (Francis & Whinney, 2020), and hospital chaplains . Profiles of other clergy or lay ministers in the UK include clergy in Wales (Francis et al, 2010, Readers (Francis et al, 2020b), male evangelical church leaders (Francis & Robbins, 2002), Methodist circuit ministers (Burton et al, 2010), and Methodist lay leaders (Francis & Stevenson, 2018).…”

Psychological Type Profile of Methodist Ministers in Britain: Contributing to the Atlas of Clergy Type Tables

“…Within this growing body of research, much is now known about the psychological type profile of clergy serving in the Anglican Church in England and Wales. The findings from these studies have drawn attention to the difference between clergymen and clergywomen (see, for example, Francis, Craig, Whinney, Tilley, & Slater, 2007), the differences between clergy serving in stipendiary ministry, non-stipendiary ministry (see, for example, Rutledge, 2021), and local ordained ministry (see, for example, Francis & Village, 2012), the differences between ordained ministers and lay ministers (see, for example, Francis, Jones, & Robbins, 2014), the difference between clergy serving in the Church of England and in the Church in Wales (see, for example, Francis, Robbins, Duncan, & Whinney, 2010;Francis, Payne, & Jones, 2011), and the difference between parish clergy and bishops (Francis, Whinney, & Robbins, 2013), or archdeacons (Francis & Whinney, 2019). As yet, however, considerably less is known about clergy serving in other denominations in the UK.…”

“…Following in the footsteps of Macdaid, McCaulley, and Kainz (1986), a growing body of research has begun to create an atlas of type tables mapping the psychological type profile of clergy (and lay church leaders) serving churches within the UK. Currently these studies comprise: Apostolic network leaders, with 164 male participants (Kay, Francis, & Robbins, 2011); Baptist ministers, with 232 male and 51 female participants (Garland & Village, 2021); Church in Wales clergy, with 427 clergymen (Francis, Payne, & Jones, 2001); with 213 clergymen (Francis, Littler, & Robbins, 2010); and with 268 clergymen (Payne & Lewis, 2015); Church of England clergy, with 626 clergymen and 237 clergywomen (Francis, Craig, Whinney, Tilley, & Slater, 2007); with 622 clergymen (Francis, Robbins, Duncan, & Whinney, 2010), with 83 clergywomen , with 97 training incumbents and 98 curates (Tilley, Francis, Robbins, & Jones, 2011), with 529 clergymen and 518 clergywomen (Village, 2011), with 90 curates under the age of forty (Francis & Smith, 2018), with 1,164 clergymen and 307 clergywomen (Francis, Village, & Voas, 2021), and with 77 stipendiary and 53 non-stipendiary clergy (Rutledge, 2021); Church of England Local Ordained Ministers, with 39 participants (Francis & Holmes, 2011), with 144 clergywomen (Francis, Robbins, & Jones, 2012), and with 56 clergymen and 79 clergywomen (Francis & Village, 2012); Church of England full-time hospital chaplains, with 101 participants (Francis, Hancocks, Smith, & Robbins, 2009); Church of England bishops, with 168 bishops, serving or retired (Francis, Whinney, & Robbins, 2013); Church of England archdeacons, with 186 archdeacons serving or retired (Francis & Whinney, 2019); Church of England readers, with 108 male and 128 female participants (Francis, Jones, & Robbins, 2014), and with 59 male and 96 female participants (Francis, Jones, & Village, 2021); Free Church Ministers, with 148 male and 41 female participants (Francis, Whinney, Burton, & Robbins, 2011); Methodist ministers, with 693 male and 311 female participants (Burton, Francis, & Robbins, 2010); Methodist local pre...…”

“…Extension is important because Burton, Francis, and Robbins (2010) did not set out to test whether there were significant differences in psychological type profiles among Methodist ministers distinguishing those appointed to the more senior position of superintendent. Among Anglican clergy distinctive psychological type profiles have been identified among bishops (Francis, Whinney, & Robbins, 2013) and among archdeacons (Francis & Whinney, 2019).…”

My Training Incumbent Is Doing a Good Job: An Empirical Investigation of Personal, Religious and Psychological Factors Shaping Curates’ Evaluation of their Training Incumbent within the Anglican Church in England and Wales

“…Within the field of psychology, personality psychology in general and Jungian psychological type theory in particular, 8 have begun to play an important part in the developing science of clergy studies 9 and in the developing science of congregation studies. 10 The basic building blocks of psychological type theory distinguish between two orientations (extraversion and introversion), two perceiving functions (sensing and intuition), two judging functions (thinking and feeling), and two attitudes toward the outer world (judging and perceiving).…”