St Andrews Research Repository

St Andrews University Home
View Item 
  •   St Andrews Research Repository
  • Divinity (School of)
  • Divinity
  • Divinity Theses
  • View Item
  •   St Andrews Research Repository
  • Divinity (School of)
  • Divinity
  • Divinity Theses
  • View Item
  •   St Andrews Research Repository
  • Divinity (School of)
  • Divinity
  • Divinity Theses
  • View Item
  • Login
JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.

Isolation and the parish ministry

Thumbnail
View/Open
AndrewIrvinePhDThesis.pdf (20.01Mb)
Date
1989
Author
Irvine, Andrew R.
Supervisor
Lyall, David
Metadata
Show full item record
Altmetrics Handle Statistics
Abstract
The purpose of this thesis was to examine the concept of isolation as it occurs within the profession of ministry. Isolation, for the purpose of this thesis, is defined social-psychologically. Within the field research isolation is considered as evidenced professionally, socially and spiritually. This study utilized as its sample base 200 hundred Church of Scotland ministers (15% of total population) which provided 159 usable responses to an extensive mail survey. The mail survey consisted of a questionnaire designed and tested to measure experienced isolation; the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, a personality measure; and the Purpose In Life Test, a measure of motivation. A further 15% of the respondents were selected by random process for direct interviews. The thesis is divided into four primary sections; psychological perspective, theological perspective , field research, summary and conclusions. Chapter 1 reviews eight psychological perceptions of isolation as found in the works of such notables as Freud, Adler, Fromm, Horney, Laing, Sullivan, and Frankl. From these it was determined that common to all perspectives of isolation was a primary isolation from the SELF. In chapters 2 and 3a model of isolation was developed from the work of C. G. Jung and applied to the profession of ministry. Chapters 4 to 6 examine the concept of separation from the self from a theological perspective as found in the works of P. Tillich and E. Brunner. Chapter 6 develops a composite view of the self and considers it in light of the redemptive process. Chapters 7 to 10 review the actual field study conducted by the researcher among the Church of Scotland ministers. This study concludes in Chapter 11 with a summary of the findings and their implications for the ministry of the church. The salient factor evidenced was that isolation is not primarily an inter-relational problem, but rather an intrarelational phenomenon.
Type
Thesis, PhD Doctor of Philosophy
Collections
  • Divinity Theses
URI
http://hdl.handle.net/10023/2626

Items in the St Andrews Research Repository are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.

Advanced Search

Browse

All of RepositoryCommunities & CollectionsBy Issue DateNamesTitlesSubjectsClassificationTypeFunderThis CollectionBy Issue DateNamesTitlesSubjectsClassificationTypeFunder

My Account

Login

Open Access

To find out how you can benefit from open access to research, see our library web pages and Open Access blog. For open access help contact: openaccess@st-andrews.ac.uk.

Accessibility

Read our Accessibility statement.

How to submit research papers

The full text of research papers can be submitted to the repository via Pure, the University's research information system. For help see our guide: How to deposit in Pure.

Electronic thesis deposit

Help with deposit.

Repository help

For repository help contact: Digital-Repository@st-andrews.ac.uk.

Give Feedback

Cookie policy

This site may use cookies. Please see Terms and Conditions.

Usage statistics

COUNTER-compliant statistics on downloads from the repository are available from the IRUS-UK Service. Contact us for information.

© University of St Andrews Library

University of St Andrews is a charity registered in Scotland, No SC013532.

  • Facebook
  • Twitter