Start:Stop - Role Conflict and Joseph's Dream

Joseph's Dream by Georges de la Tour (1628-1645)

You can listen to an audio recording of this reflection at this link.

Role conflict is a significant cause of stress. It can occur in the workplace when we face seemingly incompatible expectations - for example, conflicting deadlines set by different supervisors or clients. Role conflict may also arise when there is ambiguity or overlap between the different roles we fulfill; for instance, where a manager has to discipline members of a team who they consider to be their friends. 

It’s not just at work that we encounter role conflict, but within all areas of life - and particularly where different areas of our lives meet. This can often be the case at this time of year - returning home for family gatherings we may have a role as siblings and children as well as parents - all at the same time.

It isn't always a third party - another person - who places these pressures upon us; it is just as likely that role conflict arises from expectations we place on ourselves or from a desire to conform to overlapping societal and cultural “norms” - to have, for instance, a successful career and a happy family.

This week our gospel reading confronts us with multiple role conflicts. What can the example of Mary and Joseph teach us about the conflicting roles we embody in our lives? 

BOOK REVIEW: Grace is not Faceless - Reflections on Mary by Ann Loades

Grace is not Faceless - Reflections on Mary by Ann Loades, published by DLT Books in 2021

Introduction and Context

Martin Warner, the Bishop of Chichester, introduced ‘Grace is not Faceless’ during a seminar at St Augustine’s College. It was especially interesting to hear his perspective on the text, a collection of essays by Ann Loades published earlier this year, because he was a student of the author and explained that like all the best teachers, she has an infectious energy for her subject which cannot but inspire her students. He explained that Ann Loades was the first British academic to write a book about feminist theology (Searching for Lost Coins, published in 1987).

BOOK REVIEW : Daughter of Jerusalem by Sara Maitland

Written by Sara Maitland and set around the time it was first published (1978), the book is divided into nine ‘months’ and tells the story of Liz and Ian as they struggle to conceive a child; with some passages containing quite graphic detail. 

Each chapter concludes with an imagined account of a biblical story, with no apparent separation in the way the text is set out - no double spacing or page marking - each month of the story of Liz and Ian is meant to be read as one with the parallel narrative, the content of which seems to relate to an event or theme earlier in the chapter. Each of the ‘biblical’ stories has a female character as its principal focus.

This is the first novel I have read by Sarah Maitland, who is a noted writer of what is described by some as “religious fantasy” although this novel seems more “religious reality” to me. Maitland is also known as a feminist author. Daughter of Jerusalem was her first novel. 

I was introduced to the book by Martin Warner, Bishop of Chichester, when he kindly gave a lecture at St Augustine’s College one Friday evening before the summer holiday. The subject of his lecture was Mary, the Mother of God. 

Start:Stop - Role conflict: a Marian perspective

The Virgin Spanking The Christ Child - Max Ernst (1926)

Role conflict is a significant cause of workplace stress. It can occur when we face seemingly incompatible expectations - for example, conflicting deadlines set by different supervisors or clients. Role conflict may also arise when there is ambiguity or overlap between the different roles we fulfill; for instance, where a manager has to discipline members of a team who they consider to be their friends. 

It’s not just in the workplace that we face role conflict, but within all areas of life - and perhaps especially at the point at which the different areas of our lives meet. Nor is it always a third party - another person - who places these pressures upon us; it is just as likely that role conflict arises from expectations we place on ourselves or from a desire to conform to overlapping societal and cultural “norms” - for instance, to have a successful career and a happy family.

This week, the church remembers the birth of Mary, the mother of God; who is also the Blessed Virgin Mary - someone who embodies the ultimate role conflict. 

What can the example of Mary teach us about the conflicting roles we embody? 

The gospel reading set for the Nativity of the Mary is from the Gospel according to St Matthew, chapter one, beginning at verse eighteen.