ABSTRACT
The image of the rebellious clergyman’s son or daughter has become a common
cultural stereotype. Much like that of the vicar or bishop’s wife, these stereotypes
are often far from the truth, saying more about cultural perceptions of religion than
those they claim to describe. As far as clergy children are concerned it is often
supposed that the institutionalized constraints of the church upon them will either
trigger a thirst for freedom, marked by a rejection of Christianity and the embracing
of a more individually focussed – inevitably ‘modern’ – lifestyle, or else will foster
an emulation of the father’s traditionalism and piety. The predictable outcome
of a polarized twofold scheme of saint and sinner seldom matches the complex
reality of actual individuals, as demonstrated in this chapter with its focus on the
religious identities of the bishops’ children who took part in our study. Drawing from
questionnaire and interview data we set out to explore changing orientations and
paths of personal development. As in the previous chapter our approach concentrates
on the ways in which clergy children draw from the resources bequeathed them
by their childhood in making sense of their religious identities as adults. Mapping
patterns of religious affiliation and practice and then showing how clergy children
construct narratives about their religious identities in dialogue with their youthful
experience yields a complex picture that, inevitably perhaps, frustrates those simple
stereotypes of the ‘clergy child’.
