Ritual and Narrative in the Contemporary Anglican Wedding
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Durham E-Theses Ritual and Narrative in the Contemporary Anglican Wedding FARRIMOND, SARAH,LUCY How to cite: FARRIMOND, SARAH,LUCY (2009) Ritual and Narrative in the Contemporary Anglican Wedding , Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/78/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk Ritual and Narrative in the Contemporary Anglican Wedding Sarah Lucy Farrimond Ph.D. University of Durham Department of Theology and Religion 2009 2 Sarah Lucy Farrimond ‘Ritual and Narrative in the Contemporary Anglican Wedding’ ABSTRACT Contemporary wedding ritual is a little-explored area of both the Christian theology and the English social reality of marriage. As persistently important rituals in contemporary England, weddings are of great interest in any attempt to describe and account for the place of ritual in contemporary life. As events which are simultaneously acts of Christian worship, efficacious legal ceremonies and popular cultural rites, Anglican weddings bring into focus numerous issues about the inter-relation of social and religious institutions and experiences, theological responses to contemporary culture, material culture and the defining and mapping of personal relationships. The central part of the research consists of a close, empirical study of weddings in the Church of England. This includes semi-structured interviews with marrying couples and officiating clergy, and observation of weddings and wedding rehearsals. This research was conducted within one deanery in West Yorkshire in 2006 and 2007. Theories of ritual, including rites of passage, and of performance are critically employed to examine the structure and function of wedding ritual, and the way in which specifically Christian ritual is incorporated into and informs a more complex ritual whole. Narrative, an increasingly important interpretative concept in both theology and the social sciences, is also employed as an analytical tool to examine both the way individuals make sense of their own experiences and actions. In addition to a detailed account of contemporary practice, weddings are shown to offer important insights into pastoral and liturgical practice and the ministerial identity of clergy. Moreover, weddings are revealed as vital events in contemporary social life, consolidating and displaying the socially embedded identity of marrying couples. 3 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I should like to thank the following people for their support and assistance in this research. The clergy and couples who generously gave up their time to talk about their work or their weddings. My supervisors, David Brown, Ann Loades, Mathew Guest and Douglas Davies. Trevor Johnson and Ben Gordon-Taylor, for very thorough (and fast) proofreading. Friends and relatives who offered ideas, suggestions, books, accommodation, most importantly, lots of other things to think about. This list is not exhaustive, but I must mention, Peter Allan CR, Marion and Philip Ball, Jane and Brian Bedlington, Richard and Melody Briggs, Stephanie Buchanan, Margaret and John Cadman, Edward and Suzanne Cardale, Roy Clements, John and Kath Farrimond, Ruth Farrimond, George Guiver CR, Chris and Rosie Irvine, Kate Johnson and Andy Naslund, Maria and Glen Johnson, Joe Kennedy, Christine McMullen, Ann and Alan Mottershead, Paul Roberts, Sue Rose, Thomas Seville CR, Andy and Bina Shield, Eric Simmons CR, Stephen Spencer, Cathy Thornton, Nigel Thornton and Catherine Cameron and Sue and David Whitelaw. Lastly, but most important of all, my parents, Margaret and Trevor Johnson, my husband Ken Farrimond and children Maria and Jacob. Sarah Farrimond, September 2009 The copyright of this thesis rests with the author. No quotation from it should be published in any format, including electronic and the Internet, without the author‟s prior written consent. All information derived from this thesis must be acknowledged appropriately. 4 CONTENTS CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION .................................................................. 7 What is an Anglican Wedding? ....................................................... 8 A Yorkshire Wedding .................................................................... 11 Existing Perspectives ..................................................................... 23 SECTION I: MARRIAGE IN CHURCH AND STATE ........................ 34 CHAPTER 2: MARRIAGE AND WEDDINGS IN ANGLICAN THEOLOGY AND PRACTICE .................................................................. 36 Marriage as a Personal Relationship .............................................. 40 Responses to Contemporary Culture .............................. 43 Marriage in Society ........................................................................ 47 Divorce ........................................................................... 49 The Theological Significance of Marriage .................................... 52 „Christian‟ Marriage: Early Developments .................... 53 Marriage and Ritual ....................................................................... 55 CHAPTER 3: MARRIAGE IN ENGLISH CULTURE AND SOCIETY ... 68 English Marriage Law ................................................................... 68 Marriage in Practice ....................................................................... 75 Statistics ........................................................................ 75 Attitudes ......................................................................... 82 Weddings in Contemporary England ............................................. 87 The Wedding Industry .................................................... 89 SECTION II: RITUAL AND NARRATIVE ........................................... 95 CHAPTER 4: RITUAL ................................................................................ 95 The Christian Church and the Concept of „Ritual‟ ........................ 96 Ritual Theory ............................................................................... 101 Passage ...................................................................................... 106 Performance ................................................................................. 113 Symbolism ................................................................................... 116 Embodiment ................................................................................. 119 CHAPTER 5: NARRATIVE ..................................................................... 121 What is a Story? ........................................................................... 121 Story Telling in Everyday Life .................................................... 123 Genre ............................................................................ 126 Narrative and Scholarship ............................................................ 128 Story and the Social Sciences ....................................... 129 Story and Theology ...................................................... 140 5 SECTION III WEDDINGS: CLERGY AND COUPLES .................... 143 The Local Context ....................................................................... 143 The Interviews ............................................................................. 145 CHAPTER 6: CLERGY ............................................................................. 148 The Parish Priest .......................................................................... 150 The Wedding as Work ................................................................. 153 The Rehearsal ............................................................... 157 The Wedding Service ................................................... 159 The Reception and Afterwards ..................................... 160 Thinking About Pastoral Care ..................................................... 162 Thinking About Liturgy ............................................................... 166 Ritual Expertise ............................................................ 172 Thinking About Society ............................................................... 174 Divorce ......................................................................... 175 „The Vicar‟ ................................................................... 177 Local Character ............................................................ 178 Social Class .................................................................. 180 Contemporary Values ................................................... 181 Thinking About Theology ........................................................... 183 Thinking About Weddings: Ritual and Narrative ........................ 186 CHAPTER 7: COUPLES ........................................................................... 193 Our Story .....................................................................................