1. The role of the Anglican clergyman.
- Author
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Bocock, Robert J.
- Subjects
- *
ANGLICAN priests , *CLERGY , *ANGLICANS - Abstract
This paper explores the role problems of the Anglican clergyman in various levels such as the level of the total society, the organisational level and the local community level. There have been a number of changes going on in England in the twentieth century that have affected the authority of the clergyman in contemporary society. Clergy are no longer the major group exercising an influence over the normative orientations of the general public. The major dilemma for the churches is how far if at all, to change the basic theological beliefs and the expression of these in order to make the claims of Christianity comprehensible to modern people. Clergy do apply moral concepts to human actions, something which the professional counsellors are supposed to avoid at all costs. There are two major points about the nature of the Church of England which affects all Anglican clergymen in England in their roles as parish priests. One of these is cultural, that is, theological and the other is structural, about the organisational structure of the Church of England. The parish system suffers under conditions of more rapid social change, social and geographical mobility, in the same way as other locally based organisational structures do such as local government. Anglicanism is characterised by a lack of consensus among its members, both clerical and lay, about the nature of the church, the role of sacraments and the type of worship a clergyman should perform.
- Published
- 1970
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