Cranmer Hall, Ushaw College and Wesley Study Centre MA in Theology and Ministry

Module 401

THEOLOGICAL AND PRACTICAL REFLECTION ON MINISTRY AND MISSION

SUMMATIVE ESSAY

NOW WHAT SHALL I WEAR? A DILEMMA FOR AN ASSAULT SHIP CHAPLAIN

Simon Springett, Cranmer Hall

4371 words

June 2008

“… demonstration of further learning, theological reflection and ministerial outcomes.”

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M401 TPR Summative Assignment ­ Simon Springett Page 1 NOW WHAT SHALL I WEAR?

A DILEMMA FOR AN ASSAULT SHIP CHAPLAIN

MINISTERIAL CONCERN and PERSONAL EXPERIENCE

HMS ALBION’s diverse Ship's Company, men and women; Royal Navy and Royal

Marines; ratings and officers perform many activities and wear many different uniforms even over a single day. On one not untypical day recently I attended a

Heads­of­Department meeting, conducted pastoral interviews, helped carry rubbish ashore, taught GCSE English, visited around the ship, took two services in the chapel and attended an on­board social event; not to mention going for a run, eating three meals and sleeping. Chaplains have more allowed varieties of uniform (“rig”) than most. Not for us does uniform offer freedom from ‘try[ing] to figure out what … to wear for that day at work; [we are constantly] remaking [our] external character'.1

I have huge choice: what initially appears as uniformity is far from uniform. I can wear:

Combat Soldier 95 (CS95), for work ashore and (with a scarf) for services:

1 Fussell, Paul Uniforms: Why We Are What We Wear (New York: Houghton Mifflin, 2002), 108

M401 TPR Summative Assignment ­ Simon Springett Page 2 No 1 Uniform (but only the Chaplain of the Fleet wears the gold braid aiguillettes!).

No. 3 uniform (white shirt and tie)

possibly with jersey or hat.

A clerical shirt, with black

trousers, or a dark suit ... >>

M401 TPR Summative Assignment ­ Simon Springett Page 3 << ... or No. 4 (blue) uniform ...

... or: Red Sea rig; sports rig; Pirate rig or any of at

least four varieties of tropical rig.

My official role is to promote the spiritual growth of the Ship's Company, provide pastoral care, advise the Captain on chaplaincy matters and undertake secondary duties, such as Education and Resettlement Officer. Captains expect chaplains to be around the ship, particularly with Junior Rates. Sailors and Marines want an accessible listener, and their wishes sometimes relate directly to clothing: “CS95 shows you are one of us” said some Royal Marines, perhaps believing a same­uniformed chaplain ‘better [to] appreciate their problems’.2

Being in correct rig matters here: “You're out of the rig of the day” said my Executive

Officer on seeing me in immaculate white tropical uniform, and this was a mild rebuke: I should have been in “pirate rig”; tee shirt and civilian shorts.

2 Tagg, Mary Alison, ‘The ‘Jesus Nut’: A Study of New Zealand Military Chaplaincy’ (Ph.D. thesis, University of Auckland, 2000), 238 ­ 239

M401 TPR Summative Assignment ­ Simon Springett Page 4 Chaplains can substitute a dark clerical suit, or a clerical shirt and black RN trousers for the official “rig­of­the­day”. Within that freedom being in the “right” one of the many permissible rigs is clearly important. Other chaplains hold strong and divergent views: “a clerical shirt with uniform is wrong: it’s ‘mixed rig’”, “Naval uniform’s more practical”, “Priests should wear clerical dress”. The tension between uniformity and individuality is strongly felt: 'everyone must wear a uniform, but everyone must deny wearing one, lest one's invaluable personality and unique identity be compromised'.3

Rig can divide: a quick glimpse around the Junior Rates’ Dining Hall rarely reveals blue (Royal Navy) and green (Royal Marines) at the same tables.

Questions of authority may be troublesome for chaplains, who have neither executive authority nor military rank. Uniform, however, speaks of both, indicating status and power, though no chaplains I know would agree with Porch that we see ourselves first and foremost as military officers.4 Day­to­day I operate as having the rank of the person I am speaking with, but I live in the Wardroom, my uniforms are “officer­like” in appearance and the titles of some secondary duties contain the word “officer”. Might rig subvert these “officer­like” elements, or conversely might chaplains lacking self­confidence use rig to reinforce them and gain that ‘feeling of inward tranquillity which religion is powerless to bestow?”5 Given the relative freedom to decide what to wear, the variety of existing practice and the lack of authoritative guidance, what should I wear?

3 Fussell Uniforms, 5 4 Porch, Douglas, review of Soldiers, Commissars, and Chaplains: Civil­Military Relations since Cromwell (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2001), by Dale Roy Herspring, in War In History 11 (2004), 360­363 5 Bell Quentin On Human Finery (London: Allison and Busby, 2nd ed. 1992), 19Template

M401 TPR Summative Assignment ­ Simon Springett Page 5 METHOD

I have used Whitehead and Whitehead's Method in Ministry (Method)6 for my theological reflection. I appreciate their action focus: the minister reflects ‘in order to act on a question that demands practical resolution now’7 where time for decision may be short. This reflects a truth about salvation: it relates not 'only to inwardness … but is made visible by Jesus' action’.8 Method shares with praxis theology that 'the insight [often] becomes clear only in and as the decision is made.'9

In Method the voices of Personal Experience, Christian Tradition, and Cultural

Information are brought into a “trilogue”, 'in which the [Ministerial] Concern is always central.'10

6 Whitehead, James D. and Evelyn Eaton Whitehead Method in Ministry: Theological Reflection and Christian Ministry (Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 1995) 7 Whitehead Method in Ministry, 24 8 Schillebeeckx, Edward The Church with a Human Face – a New and Expanded Theology of Ministry (London: SCM Press, 1985), 21 9 Whitehead Method in Ministry, 100 10 Whitehead Method in Ministry, 12

M401 TPR Summative Assignment ­ Simon Springett Page 6 Method involves three stages:11

I. ATTENDING

Hearing the three voices; recognising and responding to 'religious experiences implicit in apparently secular concerns [and listening] to the explicit religious questions … that arise'.12

II. ASSERTION

Engaging the voices in mutual clarification and challenge, to expand and deepen religious insight. Such reflection; 'Christian theology … in dialogue with contemporary philosophy and culture;' is deeply Trinitarian.13

III. DECISION

Moving from insight through decision to concrete pastoral action.

Method is not beyond criticism. Questions remain about the relative authority of the voices. Perhaps reflecting its Roman Catholic authorship Method states without argument that there is ‘some mutuality among the partners [but] not a strict equality; the Christian Tradition [enjoys] privilege and priority in theological reflection’.14 Also unanswered are questions of pluriformity within the voices. Method’s claim that increased awareness of personal experience normally leads Christians towards their

11 Whitehead Method in Ministry, 22 12 Whitehead Method in Ministry, 86 13 Greenwood, Robin Transforming Priesthood (London: SPCK, 1994), 93 14 Whitehead Method in Ministry, 95

M401 TPR Summative Assignment ­ Simon Springett Page 7 Tradition15 is arguably naïve: the possibility of conflict between the two is unaddressed.

Having covered Personal Experience in my opening paragraphs, I turn to the other two voices of the trilogue.

15 Whitehead Method in Ministry, 61

M401 TPR Summative Assignment ­ Simon Springett Page 8 CULTURAL INFORMATION

The Psychology of Dress holds that clothing is not merely functional but carries significance through its various attributes.

'Colours have meanings [and] dark colours convey power'.16 Clerical dress or a dark suit therefore assert power, over against working blue (No. 4) or white (No. 3) rigs.

Surprisingly black also suggests inadequate and joyless faith, since faith should mean that ‘life [and] clothes will have colours rich and deep.’17 No. 1 uniform is navy blue: almost black’s equal in status but ‘without its darker implications of death and sin’.18 White suggests status; it is easy to soil so cannot be worn by manual workers: thus officers wear white overalls, ratings wear blue. Red speaks of ‘military orders’19 and ‘good sex’,20 even when the colour is only in the name, as with “Red Sea rig”, white shirt, black trousers and cummerbund, which does not necessarily have any red colour in it at all. Psychology views the theological ascription of different meanings to colours (e.g. black for humility, red for martyrdom)21 as confusing at best, disingenuous at worst.

16 Rafaeli, Anat and Michael G. Pratt, ‘Tailored Meanings: On the Meaning and Impact of Organizational Dress’ in Academy of Management Review 18, no. 1 (1993), 36 17 Harvey, John Men in Black (London: Reaktion Books, 1995), 257 18 Lurie, Alison The Language of Clothes (London: Bloomsbury, 1992 ed.), 199 19 Harvey Men in Black, 50 20 Harvey Men in Black, 254 21 Fussell Uniforms, 69

M401 TPR Summative Assignment ­ Simon Springett Page 9 Style is significant and again meanings may not be those clergy would wish: a dog­collar, for example, with its high neckband psychologically ‘symbolises

‘unapproachableness … stand­offishness’.22 Uniform may indicate that a chaplain has given up the ‘right to act as an individual’.23

An example: The officers all wear white. Ratings are in blue. Variance of uniform allows comparisons between members of the organisation. Note subtleties: the Chief

Petty Officer lecturer’s white vest shows status, as do well worn overalls (left) compared to new ones. Not seen in the photo, the Navigating Officer (centre) wears cuff links: less practical = higher status.

22 Flügel, J. C. The Psychology of Clothes, The International Psycho­analytical Library 18 (London: Hogarth Press, 1930), 78 23 Lurie The Language of Clothes, 18; also Rafaeli, ‘Tailored Meanings', 36 and Hurlock Elizabeth B. The Psychology of Dress: An Analysis of Fashion and Its Motive (New York: Arno Press Inc., facsimile of 1929 ed. (Oct 1976)), 45

M401 TPR Summative Assignment ­ Simon Springett Page 10 Uniform demonstrates a fortieri the psychological link between clothing and morality: we can speak of “unimpeachable” uniform or “shabby” conduct.24 A ‘lack of rigid form [may] betoken a corresponding “slackness” in the wearer:’25 perhaps it is to combat this that Royal Marines may iron a pointless horizontal razor sharp crease across the back of their designedly soft and shapeless CS95. Clothing can affect individual and organisational outcomes:26 vividly cueing behaviours by ‘making [the] individual more aware of his or her current role’.27 Anecdotally chaplains who wear

CS95 act in more military ways than those who wear clericals, but enforcing dress is more complex than a simple 'inscription of power relations onto the body’;28 it involves a negotiation between individual and context.29

Naval uniform is a masculine form of dress. In many ways it typifies the ‘great masculine renunciation’30 of c. 1800: colour was abandoned and dress simplified.

Useful elements were ‘retained, but only on the condition that they cease to be useful',31 for example the aiguillettes of the Chaplain of the Fleet are no longer needed to tether a passing bishop's horse. Symbols abound: not only a bewildering variety of small but significant badges and colours,32 but also even more diverse and

24 Bell Quentin On Human Finery (London: Allison and Busby, 2nd ed. 1992), 20 25 Flügel The Psychology of Clothes, 75 26 Rafaeli, ‘Tailored Meanings', 32 27 Lin, Shin­Far, ‘A Study Of Dress Code And Employee’s Performance’, in Proceedings of the Fifth Asia Pacific Industrial Engineering and Management Systems Conference (Australia, 2004), http://www.asor.asn.au/apiems2004/topicaction.php?paper=apiems2004_4.1.pdf (16 Jun 2008), 4.1.1 28 Entwistle, Joanne and Elizabeth B. Wilson Body Dressing (Dress, Body, Culture) (Oxford: Berg Publishers, 2001), 50 29 Contra Entwistle Body Dressing, 51 30 Flügel The Psychology of Clothes, 110­113 31 Bell On Human Finery, 61 32 Fussell Uniforms, 196

M401 TPR Summative Assignment ­ Simon Springett Page 11 subtle unofficial symbols, often involving old­style or worn items, indicating experience.

Even modest dress can have ‘an erotic pull’,33 simultaneously hiding and emphasising the body.34 Shoulder boards (worn with tropical shirts by officers) are typical of male uniform: not only indicating rank, but broadening and emphasising the shoulders.

Uniform is ‘truly sexy’,35 and a dog­collar is as much uniform as No. 1s in contrast to

‘the antisexual garb of monks and friars’.36 For female chaplains the experience would be different: even wearing a suit ‘her identity will always be as a “female professional”’.37

Uniform ‘“glue[s]” identities in a world where they are uncertain';38 announcing and placing ‘personal and social identities’.39 The role and importance of chaplaincy has diminished40 and chaplains may find that dressing in a particular way ­ whether uniform or in clerical dress – stabilises their individual identity.

33 Hollander, Ann Seeing through clothes (Berkley: University of California Press, 1993),85 34 Flügel The Psychology of Clothes, 16 35 Fussell Uniforms, 187 36 Fussell Uniforms, 50 37 Entwistle Body Dressing, 53­4 38 Entwistle Body Dressing, 47 39 Arthur, Linda B, Religion Dress and the Body (Oxford: Berg, 1999), 6 40 Soeters, Joseph L., review of The Sword of the Lord: Military Chaplains from the First to the Twenty­First Century (Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 2004), by Doris L. Bergen, in Armed Forces & Society 32 (2006), 488

M401 TPR Summative Assignment ­ Simon Springett Page 12 On a chart of the relative attributes of different rigs overalls (unsurprisingly) demonstrate the least status and No. 1s the highest. More unexpected is the high status of the suit, which was once everyday dress for all naval officers, and which chaplains wear as such. The photographs illustrate how unhelpful a rig it now is.

The sheer impracticability of wearing a lounge suit next to an oily, metal, brutally functional, sharp­edged helicopter (left) is distancing the chaplain from the rating.

Visually, psychologically, the Naval officer (right) appears at home; the Chaplain the

VIP visitor: in fact the reverse was the case.

M401 TPR Summative Assignment ­ Simon Springett Page 13 TRADITION

The third voice in the trilogue is the pluriform voice of Christian Tradition.

Schillebeeckx draws attention to two models of church. The first is as ‘a brotherhood and sisterhood of equal partners', suggesting clergy 'should be distinguished … by purity of thought not by peculiarities of dress',41 a model maintained in the monastic traditions, whose dress 'contrasted with the greater elaboration of ecclesiastical vestments’.42

A second model is of the church as the household of God, with a linked appropriation by clergy of ministerial power.43 Distinctive clerical dress, modelled on Senatorial dress (but not ‘Levitical … priestly garments, [which is] a later idea’)44 indicates ordination 'defined wholly in relation to the cult’.45

41 Schillebeeckx, Edward The Church with a Human Face – a New and Expanded Theology of Ministry (London: SCM Press, 1985), 47 42 Mayo, Janet A History of Ecclesiastical Dress (London: B. T. Batsford Ltd, 1984), 38 43 Schillebeeckx The Church with a Human Face, 66 44 Mayo, A History of Ecclesiastical Dress , 11 45 Schillebeeckx The Church with a Human Face, 190

M401 TPR Summative Assignment ­ Simon Springett Page 14 In the Middle Ages Roman Catholic imposition of sartorial discipline and the

Protestant abolition of purple and fine linen represent a moralistic rejection of the model of the priest as a man of property and fashion, and a call for a return to godliness.46 Reformed clergy retained ecclesiastical power but rejected the sacerdotalism of vestments by turning to the “canonical coat”, a (black, of course) gown which eventually became the cassock.47

Post­restoration clergy in England wore a knee length frock­coat and waistcoat: this was 'in no way a uniform special to the ordained',48 but a full white tie marked the clergyman. The frock­coat gave way to the shorter jacket of the fashionable man, worn with a dog­collar, in the 1890s.49 This was similar in style to the uniform worn by naval officers, from whom the chaplain was largely distinguished only by his collar and a bronze lapel badge.50 Clergy adopted the lounge suit in the mid 20th Century51 at about the same time that uniform was introduced for chaplains: before World War II

'the “dog­collar” was his (sic) uniform'.52 By the later 20th century some clergy

(roughly half of evangelical Anglicans for example)53 had abandoned distinctive dress.

46 Bell On Human Finery, 151 47 Harvey Men in Black, 142 48 Harvey Men in Black, 77 49 Harvey Men in Black, 93 50 May, Commander William Edward, R.N. The Dress of Naval Officers (London: HMSO, 1966), 12 51 Mayo, A History of Ecclesiastical Dress , 118 52 Pocock, Lovell With those in peril: the journal of a Royal Navy Chaplain during and after the Second World War (Upton­upon­Severn: The Self Publishing Association, 1989 ed.), 23 53 Randall, Kelvin Evangelicals Etcetera: Conflict and Conviction in the Church of England's parties (Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing, 2005), 180

M401 TPR Summative Assignment ­ Simon Springett Page 15 Current practice varies between chaplains: such ‘arbitrariness … needs to be evaluated by theological reflection’.54 If asked, most refer to an incarnational theology requiring identification with “ordinary” people and sometimes differentiation from officers and the system. Here incarnation is regarded as a ‘sort of enshrining rather than a model of engagement’,55 reflecting a revisionist view of incarnation as a

'general truth about the human condition’.56

Even using a traditional doctrine of incarnation as the key concept has problems:

God demonstrates that he is with us … [so] the Christian stance with people is also … to be with them. ... We assume that we understand [people] and so inadvertently slip into a patronising stance.57

Confusion arises thus: Jesus is homoousios, the same as us, but 'in a generic sense ... we do not share an identical substance with him'.58 Misunderstanding here leads to an ‘ecclesiology which regards the church as the extension of the incarnation

[with the] danger of taking the Spirit into one's own hands' 59 and to clergy avoiding the necessary tension of clerical life: that the priest is a Christian minister, ‘not just a counsellor or befriending human being’.60

54 Schillebeeckx The Church with a Human Face, 11 55 Carr, Wesley Say One for Me: The Church of England in the Next Decade (London: SPCK, 1992), 111­112 56 O'Collins, Gerald Incarnation (London: Continuum, 2002), 5 57 Carr, Wesley The Pastor as Theologian: The Integration of Pastoral Ministry, Theology and Discipleship (London: SPCK, 1989), 87 58 Schillebeeckx The Church with a Human Face, 68 59 Schillebeeckx The Church with a Human Face, 206 60 Carr The Pastor as Theologian, 90

M401 TPR Summative Assignment ­ Simon Springett Page 16 The incarnation indicates that salvation is for all,61 and is therefore most useful in informing an understanding of evangelistic and diaconal ministry. Christ is simultaneously 'in the human mode of being [and in the] mode of being God',62 and if clothing is to reflect a connection with Christ then it must reflect these two modes: a sign of divine calling, but also a sign of our humanity.

Carr suggests the concept of Orders as a more helpful key,63 though relying solely on the differentiation of orders may lead increasing marginal clergy to ‘retreat within … the community of faith [to find] a clearly defined and visible role’.64 Croft suggests that all presbyters/priests operate in all three dimensions of ministry: diaconal (loving ministry within and outside the church community), presbyteral (centred around ministry in the local congregation) and episcopal (keeping watch over the life of the local and wider Church and enabling others in ministry).65 Each form of ministry naturally suggests an associated suitable dress. Diaconal, servant, ministry, which is

‘important for ... relationships with those [we serve and is] hidden and secret'66 suggests practical and inconspicuous dress, for example blue overalls when taking part with junior ratings in carrying rubbish ashore. Presbyteral ministry, both ‘being and doing’,67 suggests visibly clerical dress as a protection against secular leadership styles displacing ‘prayer, preaching and pastoral care’.68 The episcopal function of

61 O'Collins Incarnation, 124 62 O'Collins Incarnation, 59 63 Carr Say One for Me, 121 64 Croft, Steven J. L. Ministry in Three Dimensions: Ordination and Leadership in the Local Church (London: Darton Longman & Todd, 1999), 19­20 65 Croft Three Dimensions, 40 66 Croft Three Dimensions, 65 67 Croft Three Dimensions, 106 68 Croft Three Dimensions, 109

M401 TPR Summative Assignment ­ Simon Springett Page 17 'enabling and building community [in] collaboration [and] vision'69 is shared by all in ministry. Clothing which speaks of executive authority in this context would sell out to

‘secular management philosophy’70 rather than speaking of servant leadership which holds ‘a special care for the outcast and the needy, ... discerning underlying values’. 71

Appropriate clothes might therefore signify ecclesiastical and moral authority within the community.

Other keys could be used, for example Schillebeeckx’s two models of ministry. The community of faith model, within which the priest is '“bound to service” … for his (sic) brothers and sisters'72 is associated with simple or non­distinctive dress. This would be appropriate for pastoral work. Clothing suggestive of authority is more appropriate to the “household of God” model, and useful when the chaplain is operating in an

'authoritarian way'73 for example as a “Head­of­Department”.

69 Croft Three Dimensions, 141 70 Croft Three Dimensions, 109 71 Croft Three Dimensions, 155­156 72 Schillebeeckx The Church with a Human Face, 234 73 Schillebeeckx The Church with a Human Face, 258

M401 TPR Summative Assignment ­ Simon Springett Page 18 Croft’s portfolio approach is not entirely comprehensive. Evangelism, for example, does not fit neatly within his 'tripartite division of episcopacy, presbyterate and diaconate'74 and he risks treating ministry and ordination as two sides of one coin:75 lay ministry is by definition not covered.76 Adequately defining 'the role of the ordained ministry [needs to relate] an understanding of ministry to the ontology of

God'77 rather than simply adopting 'monistic understandings of church and ministry'78 based on the discredited 'foundation myth [of] a single development of ministerial order ... which exactly support[s] Anglican Polity'.79

74 Schillebeeckx The Church with a Human Face, 262 75 Schillebeeckx The Church with a Human Face, 190 76 Greenwood Transforming Priesthood, 31 77 Greenwood Transforming Priesthood, 149 78 Greenwood Transforming Priesthood, 31 79 Greenwood Transforming Priesthood, 30

M401 TPR Summative Assignment ­ Simon Springett Page 19 ASSERTION

In Method new practice emerges from the crucible of assertion. It proved most helpful to focus the assertions on a number of propositions.

Personal experience asserts that I do well when I feel comfortable. The trilogue has expanded the definition of what I am comfortable in, partly by exposing and crystallising those things I am not comfortable in.

Psychology asserts that the implicit (psychological) messages of clericals and uniform alike are louder than the explicit ones: uniform is not purely practical clothing simplistically indicating rank, nor does it convey theological meanings except to

(some of) the faithful.

Psychology asserts that what I wear will affect how I act. This may helpfully re­form the ministerial concern, to ask not “What should I wear in a given circumstance?”, but

“What circumstance will occur if I wear particular clothing?” Once this second question is answered I am better able to return to the first one.

Psychology asserts that the meaning of dress changes over time; a particular problem for military uniform since the ‘signs of rank [have a] tendency to immutability’.80 For example, a freedom to continue wearing what all officers wore

(the suit) now witnesses to claims of power; what was protective from the world has become isolating from people. 81

80 Flügel The Psychology of Clothes, 32 81 Michelman, Susan O., ‘Fashion and Identity of Women Religious’, in Amy De La Haye and

M401 TPR Summative Assignment ­ Simon Springett Page 20 Psychology and the Navy assert that even subtle variance of rig (say, a dog­collar under overalls which shows only as a tiny flash of white) will be noticed and is significant. Bold statements, such as a jacket, may be unnecessarily brash.

Some elements of the Tradition (contra others, including some chaplains)82assert that it doesn’t really matter what I wear. This has biblical (Mark's interest is in not externals but ‘the ethics and spirituality of ministries')83 and historical (Schillebeeckx’s first model) support. My experience is that it matters less as I know the community more: that loving relationships mitigate ‘strict dress codes and moral codes’.84

All voices in the trilogue agree that explicit reasons for dress may cover less palatable implicit ones. What is claimed as a sign of the divine mystery or the authority of the

Gospel may in fact be an assertion of power or a gratification of the ‘vanity of belonging'.85

All voices in the trilogue further agree that the issue concerns not simply the chaplain’s rig, but the dynamic between the two or more participants (as clothed beings) in any encounter. This is particularly widely found in the Tradition:

Greenwood’s relational Trinitarian theology, Schillebeeckx’s first model of church and

Croft’s “diaconal” ministry.

Elizabeth Wilson (ed.), Defining Dress: Dress As Object, Meaning, and Identity (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1999), 361 82 Tagg, ‘The ‘Jesus Nut’, 119 ­ 120 83 Schillebeeckx The Church with a Human Face, 88 84 Salamone, F., ‘The Polynesian Cultural Center and the Mormon image of the Body: Images of paradise on Laie, Hawai’, in Amy De La Haye and Elizabeth Wilson (ed.), Defining Dress: Dress As Object, Meaning, and Identity (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1999), 67 85 Fussell Uniforms, 72

M401 TPR Summative Assignment ­ Simon Springett Page 21 DECISION

The distinction between uniform or non­uniform now appears meaningless: all clothing has both theological and psychological meanings. So, which of the allowed alternatives is the appropriate rig in a particular situation? Given Method’s creativity and non­linearity it is unsurprising that the connection between the worked model above and the changed practice below is not always obvious even to me(!), however I have attempted to indicate how the two are connected.

For rubbish disposal duties I now wear blue overalls over clericals (dog collar), instead of No. 4s. Overalls are more practical for dirty or greasy rubbish, and simpler to put on and remove. The shoulder rank slides of No. 4 uniform spoke of some rank:

I was visible but mainly as I looked out of place. With overalls the half­hidden dog­collar indicates that this is Christian diaconal ministry among my community.

Because the relational dynamic is now correct my commando’s green beret is a quirky individuality, rather than the further oddity it was before.

I have rationalised my dislike of No. 3 uniform: it screams “officer” and has nothing of

God in it. It has neither the humility inherent in Schillebeeckx's first model nor the authority in his second; it is too impractical to be diaconal and too subordinate to be presbyteral. It speaks of a sterile and hierarchical structure of relationships rather than Greenwood's dynamic Trinitarian interrelatedness.

M401 TPR Summative Assignment ­ Simon Springett Page 22 I wear the ‘excessively … even sinisterly’86 formal clerical suit less. The messages of this rig are identity distancing:87 wrong in almost every way. It is inoffensive at meetings of similarly dressed service chaplains, and acceptable in officer­only contexts where bonds of friendship neutralise psychological messages of power and distance. If, however, I need to make a powerful statement of pastoral interest in opposition to executive, medical or welfare interests, the strong message of authority

(colour, formality) might fit with Croft’s episcopal style ministry and Schillebeeckx’s second model of church. But I will use it with care, lest it raise the emotional temperature and antagonise.

I wear a clerical shirt and black Naval trousers more. This has a particular advantage on board, as it is neither blue (RN) nor green (RM), but more importantly it says

“Christian minister” and “Naval colleague” without fuss and without rank.

Psychologically it shows comfort in role, witnesses to the importance of the spiritual to the Navy and affirms that I am there for my flock: that people, of any rank, are my first priority.

I have ­ to my surprise ­ found a respect for No. 1 uniform, for formal occasions where previously I would have worn a suit. As uniform it speaks powerfully of the chaplain as part of the Navy, but the dog collar speaks powerfully of a Christian presbyteral and episcopal position within that system. The messages are strong and balanced.

86 Harvey Men in Black, 248 87 Michelman 'Fashion and Identity', 351

M401 TPR Summative Assignment ­ Simon Springett Page 23 CONCLUSION

If my work above has been successful I will have ‘a good … theological and practical' method,88 a ‘working tool … to act more effectively’.89 As I completed the draft of this assignment the opportunity arose to test whether this is the case. I needed to go ashore in Sierra Leone to do some charity work, and in the past would have unthinkingly worn CS95. Today a deliberate but quick reflection helped me to see

CS95 as role differentiating but in an unhelpful way – it would have identified me merely as a soldier, in contrast to the sailors, wearing No. 4 uniform, with me.

Theologically CS95 would have been non­relational in Greenwood's terms and reflected Schillebeeckx's Kingdom of God model, when a community of faith model was appropriate. Fifteen minutes later I was in my No. 4 uniform, chaplain's rank slides visible and commando beret peeking out of my pocket, going ashore with my colleagues and friends to do my job as a chaplain – and in the right rig.

Simon Springett

21 June 2008

88 Whitehead Method in Ministry, 2 89 Whitehead Method in Ministry, 11

M401 TPR Summative Assignment ­ Simon Springett Page 24 BIBLIOGRAPHY

Arthur, Linda B, Religion Dress and the Body (Oxford: Berg, 1999) Bell, Quentin On Human Finery (London: Allison and Busby, 2nd ed. 1992) Biecher, Elisa, Paul N. Keaton and A. William Pollman, ‘Casual Dress at Work’, SAM Advanced Management Journal 64 (Winter 99), 17­20 Breward, Christopher, ‘Men, Fashion and Luxury, 1870 ­ 1914’, in Amy De La Haye and Elizabeth Wilson (ed.), Defining Dress: Dress as Object, Meaning, and Identity (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1999) Carr, Wesley Say One for Me: The Church of England in the Next Decade (London: SPCK, 1992) Carr, Wesley The Pastor as Theologian: The Integration of Pastoral Ministry, Theology and Discipleship (London: SPCK, 1989) Croft, Steven J. L. Ministry in Three Dimensions: Ordination and Leadership in the Local Church (London: Darton Longman & Todd, 1999) De Marly, Diana Working Dress: A History of Occupational Clothing (London: Batsford 1986) Entwistle, Joanne and Elizabeth B. Wilson Body Dressing (Dress, Body, Culture) (Oxford: Berg Publishers, 2001) Flügel, J. C. The Psychology of Clothes, The International Psycho­analytical Library 18 (London: Hogarth Press, 1930) Fussell, Paul Uniforms: Why We Are What We Wear (New York: Houghton Mifflin, 2002) Greenwood, Robin Transforming Priesthood (London: SPCK, 1994) Hamilton, J. A. and J. Hawley, ‘Sacred Dress, Public Worlds’, in Amy De La Haye and Elizabeth Wilson (ed.), Defining Dress: Dress as Object, Meaning, and Identity (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1999) Harvey, John Men in Black (London: Reaktion Books, 1995) Hollander, Ann Seeing Through Clothes (Berkley: University of California Press, 1993) Hurlock, Elizabeth B. The Psychology of Dress: An Analysis of Fashion and Its Motive (New York: Arno Press Inc., facsimile of 1929 ed. (Oct 1976))

M401 TPR Summative Assignment ­ Simon Springett Page 25 Lin, Shin­Far, ‘A Study of Dress Code and Employee’s Performance’, in Proceedings of the Fifth Asia Pacific Industrial Engineering and Management Systems Conference (Australia, 2004), http://www.asor.asn.au/apiems2004/topicaction.php? paper=apiems2004_4.1.pdf (16 Jun 2008) Lurie, Alison The Language of Clothes (London: Bloomsbury, 1992 ed.) May, Commander William Edward, R.N. The Dress of Naval Officers (London: HMSO, 1966) Mayo, Janet A History of Ecclesiastical Dress (London: B. T. Batsford Ltd, 1984) Michelman, Susan O., ‘Changing Old Habits: Dress of Women Religious and its Relationship to Personal and Social Identity’, in Sociological Inquiry 67, no. 3 (August 1997), 350–363 Michelman, Susan O., ‘Fashion and Identity of Women Religious’, in Amy De La Haye and Elizabeth Wilson (ed.), Defining Dress: Dress as Object, Meaning, and Identity (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1999) Miller, Kimberly A. and Scott A. Hunt, ‘Cultures, Identities, and Dress: A Renewed Sociological Interest’, in Sociological Inquiry 67, no. 3 (August 1997), 320­322 O'Collins, Gerald Incarnation (London: Continuum, 2002) Pocock, Lovell With Those in Peril: the Journal of a Royal Navy Chaplain During and After the Second World War (Upton­upon­Severn: The Self Publishing Association, 1989 ed.) Porch, Douglas, review of Soldiers, Commissars, and Chaplains: Civil­Military Relations since Cromwell (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2001), by Dale Roy Herspring, in War In History 11 (2004), 360­363 Rafaeli, Anat and Michael G. Pratt, ‘Organizational Dress as a Symbol of Multilayered Social Identities’ in Academy of Management Review 40, no. 4 (1997), 862 ­ 898 Rafaeli, Anat and Michael G. Pratt, ‘Tailored Meanings: On the Meaning and Impact of Organizational Dress’ in Academy of Management Review 18, no. 1 (1993), 32­55 Randall, Kelvin Evangelicals Etcetera: Conflict and Conviction in the Church of England's parties (Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing, 2005) Salamone, F., ‘The Polynesian Cultural Center and the Mormon image of the Body: Images of paradise on Laie, Hawai’, in Amy De La Haye and Elizabeth Wilson (ed.), Defining Dress: Dress as Object, Meaning, and Identity (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1999)

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