The ministry of women in mid-nineteenth century England : Sister Dora and the Anglican sisterhoods

Abstract

The aim of this thesis is to identify and examine the distinctive features of ministry which are revealed by the lives and work of the women in the Church during the middle part of the nineteenth century in England, focussing particularly on the women in the Anglican sisterhoods and Sister Dora as an example of these women. These women were largely invisible in the history of the Church of England and have only begun to rise to notice during the last twenty years. Even then, that notice has been sociological rather than theological and yet they had a central role in the development of the identity of the nature of Church and its ministry. The thesis considers the diverse written material available about these women and critically analyses this information. It also considers the non-written evidence of their work which is revealed in buildings and the nature of work undertaken, as this period of time reflects non-universal literacy especially amongst women. The thesis concludes with a theological analysis of the work and identity of these women. These women laboured under some difficulties including the disapproval of a society and Church which believed that marriage and family were the proper concerns of women and yet in which there were more women than men available for marriage in the population. As a result, the women in the sisterhoods concealed their personalities and largely avoided further visible controversy in the work they undertook. This inevitably placed a strain on them which sometimes told on their health and reflected on the responsibility of the Church of which they were a part. They themselves chose not to undertake a theological reflection of their role or even particularly to consider the role of worship, with the result that their communities did not particularly reflect their Tractarian roots with any rigour. They offered a revelation of an immanent and transcendent God and the possibility of exploration of the nature of relationship for those who would care to seek and not retreat to the comfort of simply believing these women to be exceptional, both in their own time and in the present time for the Church