The Gospel of Empathy According to Archdeacons: Empirical–Theological Reflections on Emotional Intelligence in Anglican Ministry – Part One

Abstract This article, the first of a two-part empirical–theological study, examines the significance of empathy within Anglican ministry through the perspectives of Archdeacons in the Church of England. Drawing on qualitative interviews with twenty-five Archdeacons, a suffragan bishop and the National Executive Officer for Archdeacons, the study situates archidiaconal testimony within contemporary research on emotional intelligence, personality and Anglican pastoral theology. Part One establishes empathy as a decisive marker of ministerial flourishing and a recurrent deficit among struggling clergy, often with serious relational and ecclesial consequences. Archdeacons consistently identify empathic attunement, self-awareness and emotional flexibility as foundational to healthy pastoral leadership, while persistent dysfunction is frequently associated with relational blindness, rigidity or defensiveness. This article develops the empirical and conceptual foundations for Part Two, which explores whether empathy is formable, how it may be cultivated through formation and supervision and why it is theologically integral to the Anglican understanding of the cure of souls.