Psychological Typology of Anglican clergy in England: Diversity, Strengths, and Weaknesses in Ministry

Abstract

Recent research within the psychology of religion and empirical theology has drawn attention to the theoretical and practical power of psychological type theory to illuminate and to facilitate the practice of Christian ministry. Building on this tradition, in the present study the psychological type preferences of 626 male Anglican clergy and 247 female Anglican clergy in England were assessed using the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. The purpose was to profile the personal and professional qualities of those engaged in Christian ministry within this specific context. Both male and female clergy revealed preferences for introversion over extraversion, intuition over sensing, feeling over thinking, and judging over perceiving. Points of similarity and difference between the current sample and the wider United Kingdom population are explored, as well as with Anglican congregations and other clergy in the United Kingdom. The implications of these findings are discussed in terms of interpreting diversity, strengths, and potential weaknesses in ministry. The findings are valuable for practical theology in informing practices of selecting, training, deploying and supporting clergy. Questions can also be posed for theological construction, but that work is of another genre and will be done in future deliberations.

Psychological Type Profile and Work-Related Psychological Health of Clergy Serving in the Diocese of Chester

“…The core information is found in the section on dichotomous preferences, showing preferences for introversion (60%) over extraversion (40%), for intuition (55%) over sensing (46%), for feeling (57%) over thinking (43%) and for judging (76%) over perceiving (24%). These findings are basically in line with the normative data provided by Francis, Craig, Whinney, Tilley, and Slater (2007). In this sense clergy in the Diocese of Chester are typical of the psychological type profile of clergy within the Church of England as a whole.…”

“…In a second study, drawing on data from 622 clergymen, Francis, Robbins, Duncan, and Whinney (2010) found very similar results. Parallel studies, drawing on data from clergywomen reported by Francis, Craig, Whinney, Tilley, and Slater (2007) found that the differences in psychological type profile between clergymen and clergywomen were much smaller than the differences found among men and women in the wider population (Kendall, 1998).…”

“…A first attempt to provide an overall psychological type profile for Anglican clergy in England was published by Francis, Craig, Whinney, Tilley, and Slater (2007) drawing on data from 626 clergymen. In this study, they found more introverts (57%) than extraverts (43%), more intuitive types (62%) than sensing types (38%), more feeling types (54%) than thinking types (47%), and more judging types (68%) than perceiving types (32%).…”

“…These data were generated as part of a larger enquiry supported by the Diocese and reported in Ratter (2015). The profiles on psychological type and workrelated psychological health are to be compared with the normative data provided by Francis, Craig, Whinney, Tilley, and Slater (2007) and by Brewster, Francis, and Robbins (2011).…”

Psychological type and prayer preferences: A study among Anglican clergy in the United Kingdom

“…The first step in data analysis examined the scale properties of the eight scales Indicator and reported in Francis, Craig, Whinney, Tilley, and Slater (2007). On the other hand, such a clear preference for extraversion was not found in this earlier study.…”