An Ethnographic and Theological Study of Places and Boundary with Specific Reference to Methodist Circuits in Bradford

1 An ethnographic and theological study of places and boundary with specific reference to Methodist circuits in Bradford Philip Nigel Drake Submitted in accordance with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy The University of Leeds School of Philosophy, Religion and History of Science July 2019 2 "The candidate confirms that the work submitted is his/her/their own and that appropriate credit has been given where reference has been made to the work of others." “This copy has been supplied on the understanding that it is copyright material and that no quotation from the thesis may be published without proper acknowledgement.” The right of Philip Nigel Drake to be identified as Author of this work has been asserted by Philip Nigel Drake in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. 3 Acknowledgments My thanks go to my supervisors, Dr. Alistair McFadyen and Dr. Melanie Prideaux, for their persistent encouragement and insightful guidance, and without whose patience and dedication the project might never have been completed. I would also like to thank other members of the School staff, who have given me support, especially those working in the office. Equally, I would like to show my appreciation for the support given by the Methodist Church, through funding and other means, at Connexional and District levels. My special thanks goes to Rev. Dr. Roger Walton, Chair of the West Yorkshire Methodist District (now part of the Yorkshire West District), for his encouragement to study, and for offering feedback on a work in progress. I offer my thanks to the people of the churches in the Bradford North and Bradford South Methodist Circuits, especially those who helped facilitate the research, or showed an interest in the project. I am especially grateful for the colleagueship of the staff of the two circuits, and to those who have taken time to read materials generated by my studies. I want to thank all who took part in the research as a collage-maker or an interviewee, and for the contribution of each individual. I would also like to acknowledge those participating in Work in Progress seminars at the University, and in the Annual Methodist Research Conference for receiving my papers with interest, insight and critical comment. Finally, I say thank you to my family and my friends; to Ruth, my wife, who has treated my academic distractions with tolerance and grace over an extended period; to my children, whose creativity and path of learning has been an inspiration to my own on-going urge to study; and to Nick and Petra Baker, whom I have known since the start of training for church ministry, and whose gentle urging and continuing interest has kept me going to the conclusion of my doctoral studies. 4 Abstract An ethnographic and theological study of places and boundary with specific reference to Methodist circuits in Bradford The thesis tests the extent to which Christian ministry, understood as movement, is a meaningful form of engagement with the many boundary situations apparent in modern urban living. In the thesis opportunity is given for Methodists to revisit their own self-understanding, through looking at ministry in terms of its movement and as an everyday practice. The research also offers a more general investigation of ministry in terms of its spatial relationships and of the relationship of churches with place. The thesis is tested through an ethnographic and theological study carried out in the Metropolitan City of Bradford. The study is conducted ethnographically through exploration of Bradford as a place, and through a detailed study of some of the boundary spaces that help to give the city its character. The thesis also addresses a theological concern in giving consideration to a theology of place as it relates especially to these boundary spaces of movement. The main finding of the research is that the extent to which a notion of Christian ministry understood as movement offers a means of engagement with situations of the boundary is a measure of its connectedness, with movements at, across, and along the boundaries of place. The study also concludes that movement is a form of practised connectedness, and that ministry as explored in the thesis operates through everyday processes of moving and paying attention. A further key finding is that this ministry of movement contributes to the making of places through an itinerary set out as a gathering of fragments and a glimpsing of flows. Finally, it is argued that when theology is done itinerantly, it becomes a resource for producing theology that is relational, motional and transformational. 5 Table of contents Acknowledgments .......................................................................................... 3 Abstract ............................................................................................................ 4 Table of contents ............................................................................................ 5 List of figures .................................................................................................. 9 List of tables .................................................................................................. 11 Introduction ................................................................................................... 12 Setting out the thesis .............................................................................. 12 The purpose and scope of the thesis ............................................ 12 Key themes of the research ........................................................... 15 Bradford boundaries as collage ............................................. 15 Methodist ministry as movement ........................................... 18 Key aims and research questions ................................................. 21 Development and outline of the research .............................................. 21 Key scholarly conversation partners.............................................. 22 Summary of the chapters ............................................................... 24 Key findings and conclusions ........................................................ 27 Chapter 1 An everyday ministry ................................................................. 29 1.1 Introduction: ministry in the everyday .............................................. 29 1.2 A framework for studying the everyday ........................................... 33 1.2.1 Movement and everyday religious practice .......................... 33 1.2.1.1 Movement as an everyday Methodist practice ......... 35 1.2.2 Situating ministry in everyday life ......................................... 38 1.2.2.1 Making strange .......................................................... 38 1.2.2.2 Paying attention to the everyday ............................... 40 1.3 Conclusion to Chapter 1................................................................... 42 Chapter 2 Spatialising Methodist relationships in the everyday ........... 44 2.1 Introduction: the spatial character of the everyday ......................... 44 2.2 The relationships of social space ..................................................... 46 2.3 The conceived space of connectedness ......................................... 49 2.3.1 Methodist connexion ............................................................. 49 2.3.2 Connected place ................................................................... 52 2.4 The perceived space of practised connectedness .......................... 55 6 2.4.1 Mobilities and movements .................................................... 55 2.4.2 A people of movement .......................................................... 58 2.4.3 Boundary movements of crossing and dwelling .................. 61 2.5 The lived space of grounded connectedness .................................. 66 2.5.1 Relationships of care ............................................................ 67 2.5.2 Place as possibility................................................................ 70 2.6 Conclusion to Chapter 2................................................................... 71 Chapter 3 A theology of connected place ................................................. 74 3.1 Introduction: theologies of place ...................................................... 74 3.2 The relational character of connected place ................................... 76 3.2.1 A theology of relationships ................................................... 77 3.2.2 A theology of ‘a global sense of place’ ................................. 80 3.2.3 The boundaries of connected place ..................................... 84 3.3 The motional character of connected place .................................... 85 3.3.1 Movement as a theological theme........................................ 85 3.3.2 Motional theology as transformational theology .................. 87 3.3.3 Crossing the boundary and dwelling at the boundary ......... 91 3.4 The transformational character of connected place ........................ 94 3.4.1 An ethic of care as a theological ethic of everyday space ...................................................................................... 95 3.4.2 A theological ethic of everyday space: the theme of brokenness ............................................................................. 98 3.4.3 A theological ethic of everyday space: the theme of becoming .............................................................................

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