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“We Are All The Decline”: A Mixed Methods Analysis Of Presbyterian Clergywomen’S Talk About Denominational Decline, Miriam Shelton
“We Are All The Decline”: A Mixed Methods Analysis Of Presbyterian Clergywomen’S Talk About Denominational Decline, Miriam Shelton
Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects
In this study, I have used social representation theory and discursive methods to explore developmental challenges posed to the clergy by the social changes brought about by the loss of membership and resources in one mainline denomination. Analyzing the interviews of 37 Presbyterian clergywomen, I document a Presbyterian social representation of decline, the core of which aligned with a report on decline issued by the PCUSA (General Assembly Task Force on Membership Growth and Decline, 1991), shaped by themâta of death versus liveliness, moving versus stagnation, growth versus decline and decline as good versus as bad. One way in which …