What is the meaning of equal marriage in the Church of England? Item Type Thesis or dissertation Authors Henwood, Gillian Citation Henwood, G. (2019). What is the meaning of equal marriage in the Church of England? (Doctoral dissertation). University of Chester, United Kingdom. Publisher University of Chester Rights Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Download date 24/09/2021 17:40:21 Item License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10034/622631 J14319 Henwood, G.K January 2019 Professional Doctorate in Practical Theology 1 J14319 What is the meaning of equal marriage in the Church of England? Thesis submitted in accordance with the requirements of the University of Chester for the degree of Professional Doctorate in Practical Theology by Gillian Kathleen Henwood January 2019 2 J14319 The material being presented for examination is my own work and has not been submitted for an award of this or another HEI except in minor particulars which are explicitly noted in the body of the thesis. Where research pertaining to the thesis was undertaken collaboratively, the nature and extent of my individual contribution has been made explicit. 3 J14319 What is the meaning of equal marriage in the Church of England? Abstract The Church of England’s traditional theology of marriage between one man and one woman is protected in the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013 from reforms to civil law to include same-sex couples. Within the Church of England, same-sex couples who enter civil unions (of partnership or marriage) are not permitted to have a service in church to celebrate with prayer for God’s blessing. Clergy in civil partnerships are not permitted by the Church of England to convert their union to civil marriage if they hold a bishop’s licence to practice. This research questions the meaning of equal relationships, both marriage and same-sex unions, to test three of the benefits of marriage asserted by the Church to the UK Government: mutuality, fidelity, and the biological complementarity of the couple with the possibility of procreation (Church of England, 2012). A methodology of practical theology, where my practice-based research leads to theory that reforms practice, fosters dialogue among voices of theology within the context of the Church of England. A postliberal interdisciplinary approach recognises plural meanings within my research field and adopts narrative methods for data generation, analysis, interpretation and presentation. Theologies of equal marriage and union, interpreted from narratives co-constructed with my participants, are brought into conversation with premodern liturgies for blessings of unions of Christian harmony and peace, seeking a fusion of horizons expressed through performed ritual. This research argues that two of the Church’s benefits of marriage, mutuality and fidelity, are embodied in all participants’ marriages and civil partnerships, but challenges the Church’s third benefit, because it is stated as derived from acknowledgement of an underlying biological complementarity of the couple. Changes in the legal and social contexts in England, academic research literature in the fields of gender and sexuality, and evidence from research participants’ lived practices lead to reinterpretation of the third benefit as responsible choices for parenting and the nurture of children in a pro/creative relationship. Implications for the Church of England are that emerging theologies in this research mandate policy changes, to lift the Church’s prohibition of services in church after same-sex civil unions and to pilot new liturgies of blessing. For mixed-sex couples to marry each other in a liturgy of Christian equal marriage, this research offers two areas for light revision of the Church’s contemporary liturgy to provide alternative options: gender-neutral language and rubrics, and nuanced language expressing loving intimacy rather than specific emphasis on sexual union. These changes will enable the Church of England to renew Christian marriage based on a recovered and reinterpreted theology of Christian unions of harmony and peace, so that couples can celebrate in church with prayer for God’s blessing either through marriage or a service after their civil union. 4 J14319 Summary of Portfolio Conversations with couples preparing for marriage in my Church of England parishes raised questions in my pastoral practice as a priest, leading to this research. Mixed-sex couples sought to express and celebrate their equal relationships in a church wedding ceremony and same-sex couples asked for a service with blessing after their civil partnerships, raising questions about meanings of equal marriage in Church. My pastoral concern for couples, some of whom felt excluded by the Church, initiated this practice-based research through the professional doctorate. I surveyed literature on the power of Christian community storytelling because through practice I had experienced rituals with symbols, actions and words that transformed the people present. I focused on marriage both for the pastoral reasons above and because weddings involved people from the wider community, fulfilling a traditional role in English culture and society. My literature review prompted me to search for a theological approach beyond the adversarial groupings within the Church I had experienced in General Synod debates between traditionalists and liberals. My published article questioned whether equal marriage is an Anglican ideal, coinciding with reform of civil marriage law to include same-sex couples and the Church’s response to reiterate its theology of marriage as between one man and one woman. My research design adopted an inductive narrative methodology within practical theology, based on a postliberal approach that recognises the particular cultural context of the religion lived in the Church of England. I invited participants to be co-researchers seeking meanings of equal marriage within the Church. Stories of their own relationships and experience grounded the research in practice, for analysis with interpretation of emerging theologies of marriage and partnership. Evidence from this research signposts significant practices and theologies of equal marriage and partnership within the Church of England, interpreted in dialogue with premodern liturgies for unions of Christian harmony and peace. Reflecting on my professional doctorate undertaken as a practitioner-researcher, I have recognised the timeless and powerful significance of community sacred rituals in Christian churches not only for couples seeking marriage or a blessing, but for their families and wider society. In the light of my portfolio and this research I argue that the Church of England can lift its prohibition of blessing of same-sex couples. I argue that the Church can welcome through liturgies of marriage and blessing all couples who seek to celebrate their loving, committed unions in Church. 5 J14319 Contents Introduction 7 Chapter 1: Formal voices of theology 13 Chapter 2: Operant voices of theology in conversation with three benefits of marriage in the Church of England 68 Chapter 3: Espoused theologies of marriage and parenting interpreted in this research 110 Chapter 4: Normative voices of theology in liturgies of marriage and union in the Church in conversation with operant and espoused voices of theology in this research 136 Conclusion 166 Bibliography 172 Appendices 1. Participant Information Sheet 187 2. Participant Consent Form 191 6 J14319 What is the meaning of equal marriage in the Church of England? Introduction My research thesis argues that emerging theologies of equal marriage and partnership offer evidence to mandate reform of the Church of England’s policy and liturgies, so that parish clergy can offer a Christian pastoral welcome to couples who seek either to marry in church under canon law, or to celebrate in church with a service of prayer for God’s blessing after their civil union. My professional practice as a parish priest in the Church of England (“the Church”) raised questions and pastoral concerns about the meaning of equal marriage, leading to this research. After a decade in England of rapid social change when civil law was reformed by Parliament, firstly to introduce civil partnership (2004) followed by enacting equality in marriage for mixed- and same-sex couples (2013), the Church of England’s canon law remained unchanged. The Church had accepted Parliament’s introduction of civil partnership for same-sex couples (2004) because it provided legal and economic benefits as a matter of justice for partners sharing a household (Church of England, 2012, p. 1). Church of England clergy in same-sex relationships were permitted to enter a civil partnership whilst holding a licence to minister, on condition they affirmed conformity to the Church’s teaching, that sexual intercourse ‘properly belongs within marriage exclusively’ (Church of England, 1991, 2005). The Church of England’s teaching on traditional marriage and recognition of civil partnership are, therefore, as two different relationships with distinctive meanings. Mixed-sex couples have a long-standing right to marry in English parish churches, where clergy continue to receive enquiries from couples for church weddings, and they may enquire for a service with prayer for God’s blessing after a civil marriage. Same-sex couples from within the Church of England including clergy entered into civil partnerships, in a town