Organizational Behavior and Theory Commons^™

Arising from my paper ‘The Sea of Faith: After Dover Beach’ (1997) this presentation to an annual conference of naval chaplains explores how water and sea might function as organizational metaphors for chaplaincy ministry. A fully revised version was published as ‘Water as an implicit metaphor for organizational change within the Church’ (2002) in the journal Implicit Religion and can be found here: https://www.equinoxpub.com/journals/index.php/IR/article/view/2946/

This paper brings together some organizational insights from within the Church (Carl Dudley’s ideas on rigorous and relational faith) and from outside the Church (Nils Brunsson’s thinking on action and political groupings) to explore how these might inform an understanding of the Church’s telos or purpose. It concludes by arguing that Alasdair MacIntyre’s notion of universities as places of constrained disagreement might also be a good model for this telos.

This paper was written before the introduction of Common Worship by the Church of England and explores the effects of earlier liturgical changes upon that Church, in particular the move from non-Eucharist forms of worship (such as Mattins and Evensong) to more Eucharistically centred liturgy and argues for affirmation and encouragement of diversity in parish worship.