Metaphors were introduced to the science of cathedral studies by Muskett in her book, "Shop window, flagship, common ground." Such metaphors have the power to inform and shape the perception of cathedrals, but lack theological or ecclesial authority. Gary Hall's analysis of "The purpose of cathedrals" offers a different…

The present paper reports findings from interviews with thirty ex-choristers from cathedrals and collegiate chapels in England, aged from eighteen to eighty. These interviews explored choristers' religious commitments before entering choir school and factors for staying with, leaving, or later returning to religious practice. The findings suggest…

Gerald Grace (2002. "Catholic Schools: Mission, Markets and Morality." London: Routledge), borrowing from the sociological constructs of Pierre Bourdieu, speaks of the significance of the spiritual and cultural capital of religious orders in providing a substantial catalyst in the development of Catholic education in England and Wales.…

The Church of England's vision for education is generous and seeks to allow the riches of Christian life to overflow throughout schools. The vision is captured by the strapline 'Deeply Christian, serving the common good'. The present study assesses the contribution made to service this vision by the 43 Anglican cathedrals within England and the…

The developing science of cathedral studies has focused mainly on Anglican cathedrals. The present study argues for drawing Catholic cathedrals into this field. Employing data gathered from the websites of the 22 Catholic cathedrals in England and Wales, alongside data gathered from the diocesan reports submitted to the Charity Commission, this…

Choir schools in the UK are educational institutions that, alongside standard education provision, train young choristers to provide music for an attached religious institution, usually a cathedral. Mostly fee-paying and known to be socioeconomically exclusive, up to now they have received almost no attention in the sociological literature.…

This study draws on data provided to the Covid-19 & Church-21 Survey by 2,017 Anglicans (clergy and laity) living in England to explore the experiences of those leading and those accessing online (pre-recorded and live-streamed) and in-church services within the Church of England between January and July 2021. The data demonstrated that for…

Drawing on the survey conducted by Christian Research and commissioned by the Youthscape Centre for Research and One Hope, this study examined the impact of a paid children, youth, or family worker on the weekly attendance of 5- to 18-year-old children within 786 Church of England churches with adult attendance ranging from 20 to 250 people.…

The aim of this article is to interact with Anita Gracie and Andrew W Brown's recent account of the historical development and nature of Controlled schools and of religious education in Northern Ireland in this journal. A complementary perspective is used to illustrate how the relationship between the Protestant churches and Controlled schools has…

This article considers how the head teacher's value system influences the ethos of the Church of England (C of E) Voluntary Controlled (VC) primary school. The findings were generated from a case study of six head teachers of rural primary schools in the East of England. The role of a head teacher in any school is a huge responsibility. Leading a…

This article explores the process of the formation of "the National Society for Promoting the Education of the Poor in the Principles of the Established Church" through focusing on disagreements amongst its promoters. It demonstrates that a discrepancy existed in the opinions of Anglican promoters concerning what an Anglican national…

The paper focuses on the essential problem of linguistic personality analysis. It aims to study language means representing linguistic personality of Metropolitan Antony of Sourozh (Bloom). The authors analyse the linguistic personality at three levels: semantic, linguo-cognitive and motivational. The linguistic personality is characterised…

Relationships and sex education (RSE), as set out in the recent Bill making RSE compulsory for all English schools, should be appropriate to the religious background of pupils. This paper suggests that this appropriateness is best found by gaining the best understanding about religious young people's lived experiences of relationships and…

This study employs multi-level linear statistical modelling to examine the power of school-level and individual-level factors to predict individual differences in scores recorded on the Francis Scale of Attitude toward Christianity by 6,036 students (who self-identified as either Christian or no religion) in year-seven, year-eight, year-nine,…

The origins of the charitable status of elite schools in England is a neglected topic. This article reconstructs the debate on the funding of schools which led to the establishment of the Charity Commission in 1853 and argues that it was the obdurate refusal of the Anglican Church to surrender its control of secondary education which first delayed…