Evangelical Women Negotiating Faith in Contemporary Scotland

Henderson, Gwen Deborah (2008) Evangelical women negotiating faith in contemporary Scotland. PhD thesis. http://theses.gla.ac.uk/323/ Copyright and moral rights for this work are retained by the author A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge This work cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the author The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the author When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given Enlighten: Theses https://theses.gla.ac.uk/ [email protected] Evangelical Women Negotiating Faith in Contemporary Scotland Gwen D. Henderson A Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements of the University of Glasgow for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Theology and Religious Studies February 2008 i Abstract This thesis explores the experience of spiritual dissonance described in the spiritual life histories of twenty one Christian women associated with the evangelical Christian community in Scotland. It describes the symptoms of constriction, paralysis and impasse which some of these women report and explores the reasons for their interpretation of their symptoms as signs of spiritual sickness. It uses faith development theory to explain some aspects of these symptoms in the context of healthy transitional faithing change. It suggests however that women’s reluctance to speak publicly about their experience, their habitual repression of their deep emotions and questions, their tendency to use psychological ‘splitting’ to conform within their faith communities and resist the fragmentation of their spiritual identity, indicate that their development has been seriously damaged by spiritual restriction in some congregations. It argues that patriarchal church culture, androcentric educational approaches and the deliberate perpetuation of dependent faithing styles militate against women’s spiritual development. It demonstrates the extent to which some women’s interiorisation of the patriarchal structures and values of their communities has led them to separate themselves from aspects of their relationship to self, church and God in a manner resembling the behaviour of those who have been abused. This thesis calls the evangelical church in Scotland to acknowledge and respond to this phenomenon, recognising that while some of these women are at present ‘internal leavers’ in the church - physically present within but emotionally detached from their congregations - they may ultimately make the decision to leave. ii Declaration of Authorship I hereby affirm that this dissertation is my own composition. It has not been submitted in any previous form for a degree. All quotations have been distinguished by quotation marks, and all sources of information drawn upon have been specifically acknowledged in the body of the work or in corresponding footnotes. Gwen Henderson February, 2008 Word Count The text of this thesis contains approximately 100,138 words including footnotes and appendices. iii Acknowledgements The following pages represent not merely four years’ study but the route-map of a journey through perilous terrain traversed by myself and my research participants. We are indebted to those who have proved faithful companions to us on this journey. I am indebted to my supervisors: Dr. Jeff Keuss in the foothills and Dr. Heather Walton on the terrifying ‘North Face’, without whose painstaking and persevering encouragement I would have turned back at my very first crevasse. For hot tea, patience despite snowbound delays and ‘a good strong rope’ I am immensely grateful. To my many colleagues and friends from the faculty, staff and student body of the International Christian College in Glasgow where I have worked throughout this extended period of study I owe my heartfelt thanks. In particular I must mention Ruth Laing, Alison Nicholson, Phill March, Lucy Carroll, Gudrun Porter, David Miller, Rory MacKenzie, David Smith, Marion Carson, Vicki Shaver, Julie Green, Sara Rettie and Aileen Pender whose provision of soup, study space and an occasionally wicked sense of humour preserved my sanity when the going got tough. Perhaps more than to any other however I am indebted to my friend and colleague Becky Short whose willingness to shoulder my college work-load as well as her own that I might progress unencumbered on the final ascent bears testimony to a profound friendship. Behind these daily companions stand an ‘immense crowd of witnesses’ from the church and Para-church families who have adopted and cared for me over many years. Thank you for cheering me on, relentlessly, from the spectator’s stand and for pointing out hand- holds when it seemed there was no earthly way up the cliff. Finally, and perhaps most significantly, I am grateful to the many women who contributed to this project by welcoming me as a fellow traveller into their lives, allowing me to accompany them at least part of the way. Your honesty, insight and creativity, despite the rigours of the journey, were the ‘milk and honey’ which sustained me on my way. ‘Blessed are those whose strength is in you, Who have set their hearts on pilgrimage. As they pass through the Valley of Baca, They make it a place of springs; The autumn rains also cover it with pools. They go from strength to strength, ‘Till each appears before God in Zion.’ Psalm 84 Gwen Henderson Glasgow February, 2008. ‘I remember one morning when I discovered the cocoon in the bark of a tree, just as the butterfly was making a hole in its case and preparing to come out. I waited a while, but it was too long appearing and I was impatient. I bent over it and breathed on it to warm it, I warmed it as quickly as I could and the miracle began to happen before my eyes, faster that life. The case opened, the butterfly started crawling slowly out and I shall never forget my horror when I saw how its wings were folded back and crumpled. The wretched butterfly tried with its whole body to unfold them. Bending over it, I tried to help it with my breath. In vain. It needed to be hatched out patiently, and the unfolding of the wings should be a gradual process in the sun. Now it was too late. It struggled desperately and, a few seconds later, it died in the palm of my hand.’ An extract from Zorba the Greek by Nikos Kazantsakis. ‘Listen to me…you whom I have upheld since you were conceived and carried since your birth. Even to your old age and grey hairs I am he, I am he who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you.’ Isaiah 46:3-4. This discourse is dedicated to the women whose voices form the core of my thesis. Were it not for their courageous speech and integrity this story could never have been told. vi Table of Contents Abstract i Declaration of Authorship ii Acknowledgements iii Epigraph iv Dedication v Table of Contents vi Introduction Introduction 1 Memoirs of a Traveller 2 The Widening Circle 4 Charting a Course through the Research Literature 4 The Contours of Limitation 5 PART ONE: Setting the Scene Chapter One Towards a Feminist Research Methodology Introduction: On the Inadequacy of Knowledge about Women 7 The Dilemmas of Knowing: Epistemological Concerns from a Feminist Perspective 7 The Contextual Nature of Knowledge 8 The ‘(Im)Balance’ of Power 9 Finding a Voice: the Problem of Women’s Silence 10 The Dilemmas of Interpreting Experience: The Pursuit of a Reliable Perspective 11 An Emerging Methodology 13 The Challenge of Exploration 14 The Cost of Speech: Ethical Questions and Practical Solutions 15 The Pilot Interview Process 16 Problems Identified by the Pilot Interviews 17 vii Emerging Trajectories 18 The Main Project Construction: A Methodological Overview 20 The Spiritual Life History 21 Tapping the Inchoate: The Missing Piece 24 Researcher Bias and the Myth of the Insider 25 The Participants 27 Church Affiliation 28 Education, Employment and Ministry Experience 29 The Procedure 30 The Interview Process 30 Data Collection and Analysis 30 The Pursuit of Clarity: Finding Patterns and Reforming Community 33 The Projected Value of this Research 35 Chapter Two The Nature of Christian Spirituality and the Contours of Christian Growth Introduction 36 An Epistemological Journey 36 The Origins of Christian Spirituality 37 The Concept of Universal Human Spirituality 38 Metaphors and Models: Triangulation Points in the Life of Faith 40 Biblical Imagery: Pictures of Growth 41 Metaphors and Maps in the Emerging Traditions 42 Faith Development Theory: The Birth of a New Language 45 The Strengths of Fowler’s Cognitive Structural Approach 47 The Critical Response 50 A Feminist Perspective: Women’s Ways of Knowing God 52 Androcentricity, Imperialism and the Limitations of a ‘Tongue’ 52 viii The Relational Nature of Women’s Spirituality 53 Connected Knowing and its Implications for Women’s Spirituality 53 The Ethic of Care and Developmental Immaturity 54 The Lure of Living Falsely: Women’s Ways of Sinning 55 The Path to Maturity: A New Way of Travelling 56 The Problem of Linearity: From Progress to Process 56 New Maps and Metaphors: Women’s Ways of Imaging Spiritual Growth 58 Expanding the Boundaries 58 ‘Leaving’ Home: From Brick Walls to a Permeable Membrane 59 Darkness, Paralysis and Apophatic Faithing: Impasse and Alienation 61

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