Rachel Mann (born 1970) is a British

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

priest, poet and

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...

theologian Theology is the study of religious belief from a religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of ...

. She is a

trans woman A trans woman or transgender woman is a woman who was assigned male at birth. Trans women have a female gender identity and may experience gender dysphoria (distress brought upon by the discrepancy between a person's gender identity and their ...

who writes, speaks and broadcasts on a wide range of topics including gender, sexuality and religion. She has served as Archdeacon of Bolton and of Salford (in the Diocese of Manchester) since 2023.

Early life and education

Mann was born in 1970. She grew up in Worcestershire, in the village of

Hartlebury Hartlebury is a village and civil parish in the Wychavon district of Worcestershire, England. It is south of Kidderminster. The village had a population of 2,549 in the 2001 Census. The village is green-buffered from surrounding villages exc ...

, and attended Stourport-on-Severn High School. Between 1988 and 1991, she studied philosophy at Lancaster University and completed an M.A. at the same university from 1992 to 1993. She studied for a PhD in philosophy at Lancaster and was a teaching fellow from 1994 to 1996. From 2003 to 2005, she trained for ordained ministry at Queen's College, Birmingham, an

ecumenical Ecumenism ( ; alternatively spelled oecumenism)also called interdenominationalism, or ecumenicalismis the concept and principle that Christians who belong to different Christian denominations should work together to develop closer relationships ...

theological college A seminary, school of theology, theological college, or divinity school is an educational institution for educating students (sometimes called seminarians) in scripture and Christian theology, theology, generally to prepare them for ordinatio ...

. She holds an M.A. in creative writing from Manchester Writing School and she undertook postgraduate studies in the Bible and 19th-century literature at

Manchester Metropolitan University Manchester Metropolitan University is located in the centre of Manchester, England. The university has 40,000 students and over 4,000 members of staff. It is home to four faculties (Arts and Humanities, Business and Law, Health and Education ...

. Her

doctoral thesis A thesis (: theses), or dissertation (abbreviated diss.), is a document submitted in support of candidature for an academic degree or professional qualification presenting the author's research and findings.International Standard ISO 7144: D ...

was titled "The representation of fecundity and barrenness in the poetry of

Elizabeth Barrett Browning Elizabeth Barrett Browning (née Moulton-Barrett; 6 March 1806 – 29 June 1861) was an English poet of the Victorian era, popular in Britain and the United States during her lifetime and frequently anthologised after her death. Her work receiv ...

Christina Rossetti Christina Georgina Rossetti (5 December 1830 – 29 December 1894) was an English writer of romanticism, romantic, devotional and children's poems, including "Goblin Market" and "Remember". She also wrote the words of two Christmas carols well k ...

, and the Bible: a critical and creative interrogation of a Christian-feminist poetics", and was completed in 2017.

Ordained ministry

Mann was

ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are Consecration in Christianity, consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the religious denomination, denominationa ...

in the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

as a

deacon A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. Major Christian denominations, such as the Cathol ...

in 2005 and as a

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deity, deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in parti ...

in 2006. She served her

curacy A curate () is a person who is invested with the ''care'' or ''cure'' () of souls of a parish. In this sense, ''curate'' means a parish priest; but in English-speaking countries the term ''curate'' is commonly used to describe clergy who are ass ...

at St Matthew's Church,

Stretford Stretford is a market town in Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, sited on flat ground between the River Mersey and the Manchester Ship Canal; the Bridgewater Canal bisects the town. The town is located south of Manchester, south of Salfo ...

in the Diocese of Manchester. Between 2008 and 2017, she was

Priest-in-Charge A priest in charge or priest-in-charge (previously also curate-in-charge) in the Church of England is a priest in charge of a parish who is not its incumbent; they will normally work on a short-term contract and have less freedom to act within the ...

at the Church of St Nicholas, Burnage, before being appointed its Rector in 2018. Between 2009 and 2017, she was also Resident Poet at

Manchester Cathedral Manchester Cathedral, formally the Cathedral and Collegiate Church of St Mary, St Denys and St George, in Manchester, England, is the mother church of the Anglican Diocese of Manchester, seat of the Bishop of Manchester and the c ...

. In 2017, she was made an honorary canon of Manchester Cathedral. Between February 2018 and the end of its extended quinquennium in July 2021, she was a member of the

General Synod of the Church of England The General Synod is the tricameral deliberative and legislative organ of the Church of England. The synod was instituted in 1970, replacing the Church Assembly, and is the culmination of a process of rediscovering self-government for the Church ...

, having been elected by the clergy of the Diocese of Manchester. In June 2021, she left St Nicholas Burnage to become full-time Area Dean of Bury and Rossendale. In the elections for the 2021-2026 Quinquennium, Mann was re-elected as a member of the Church of England's General Synod for Manchester. On 12 June 2023, she was announced as the next Archdeacon of Bolton and of Salford; she was duly collated to those archdeaconries ( in plurality) on 4 July.

Views

Mann belongs to the

liberal Anglo-Catholic The terms liberal Anglo-Catholicism, liberal Anglo-Catholic or simply liberal Catholic, refer to people, beliefs and practices within Anglicanism that affirm liberal Christian perspectives while maintaining the traditions culturally associated wit ...

tradition A tradition is a system of beliefs or behaviors (folk custom) passed down within a group of people or society with symbolic meaning or special significance with origins in the past. A component of cultural expressions and folklore, common e ...

of the Church of England, though she was brought up an

Evangelical Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that emphasizes evangelism, or the preaching and spreading of th ...

Charismatic Christian Charismatic Christianity is a form of Christianity that emphasizes the work of the Holy Spirit in Christianity, Holy Spirit and spiritual gifts as an everyday part of a believer's life. It has a global presence in the Christian community. Practit ...

. She supports the full inclusion of the

LGBT LGBTQ people are individuals who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning. Many variants of the initialism are used; LGBTQIA+ people incorporates intersex, asexual, aromantic, agender, and other individuals. The gro ...

people in the church. Since 2020, Mann is a patron of the Open Table Network, an ecumenical Christian community for

people and their allies.

Author

She is the author of ''Dazzling Darkness: Gender, Sexuality, Illness & God'' (Glasgow: Wild Goose 2012) and ''The Risen Dust: Poems and Stories of Passion & Resurrection'' (Glasgow: Wild Goose 2013), both published by the publishing arm of the

Iona Community The Iona Community, founded in 1938 by George MacLeod, is an ecumenical Christian community of people from different walks of life and different traditions within Christianity. It and its publishing house, Wild Goose Publications, are headquar ...

. Mann is also a contributor to ''Fear and Friendship: Anglicans Engaging With Islam'' (Continuum 2012) and several books on liturgical theology, including ''Presiding Like a Woman'' (SPCK 2010). Her book about the First World War and Ritual, ''Fierce Imaginings: The Great War, Ritual, Memory & God'' (London: D.L.T. 2017) was shortlisted for the 2019 Michael Ramsey Prize for Theological Writing. In 2018, she was appointed Visiting Teaching Fellow in Creative Writing and English at the Manchester Writing School,

. She is also a visiting scholar at

Sarum College Sarum College is a centre of theological learning in Salisbury, England. The college was established in 1995 and sits within the cathedral close on the north side of Salisbury Cathedral. The Sarum College education programme ranges from shor ...

. In 2019, Carcanet published her debut full poetry collection, ''A Kingdom of Love''. The collection was Highly Commended in the 2020

Forward Prizes for Poetry The Forward Prizes for Poetry are major British awards for poetry, presented annually at a public ceremony in London. They were founded in 1992 by William Sieghart with the aim of celebrating excellence in poetry and increasing its audience. The ...

. In 2020, her debut novel, ‘'The Gospel of Eve'', was published by D.L.T. In 2024, Mann's second collection, ''Eleanor Among the Saints'' was shortlisted for the T. S. Eliot Prize. Mann is a regular contributor to ''

Church Times The ''Church Times'' is an independent Anglican weekly newspaper based in London and published in the United Kingdom on Fridays. History The ''Church Times'' was founded on 7 February 1863 by George Josiah Palmer, a printer. It fought for the ...

'' and contributes to BBC Radio 2's Pause for Thought and BBC Radio 4's '' Thought for the Day'', '' The Daily Service'' and ''Prayer for the Day''. She also writes about progressive music, metal and folk for '' Prog'', an offshoot of ''

Classic Rock Classic rock is a radio format that developed from the album-oriented rock (AOR) format in the early 1980s. In the United States, it comprises rock music ranging generally from the mid-1960s through the early-1990s, primarily focusing on comm ...

'', and ''

The Quietus ''The Quietus'' is a British online music and pop culture magazine founded by John Doran and Luke Turner. The site is an editorially independent publication led by Doran with a group of freelance journalists and critics. Content ''The Quietu ...

''. In the 2024 series of

Christmas University Challenge ''Christmas University Challenge'' is a British quiz programme which has aired on BBC Two since 19 December 2011. It is a spin-off from ''University Challenge'' that airs daily over the Christmas period, and features teams of noteworthy alumn ...

on BBC2, Mann represented

Awards and honours

*The International Michael Ramsey Prize for Theological Writing, 'Shortlisted' (2019) *Lancaster University ‘Outstanding Alumni Award' (2023) *The Poetry Book Society 'Spring 2024 PBS Recommendation' (2024) *T. S. Eliot Prize (shortlisted) for ''Eleanor Among the Saints'' (2024)

Selected works

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

References

External links

Personal website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mann, Rachel 1970 births Living people 21st-century English Anglican priests Transgender women writers Transgender poets English transgender women English transgender writers LGBTQ Anglican clergy 21st-century English poets British feminist writers 21st-century English theologians English women poets English LGBTQ poets English Anglican theologians Christian feminist theologians Anglican poets 21st-century English women writers English Anglo-Catholics Anglo-Catholic clergy Alumni of the Queen's Foundation Alumni of Manchester Metropolitan University Alumni of Lancaster University Members of the General Synod of the Church of England Archdeacons of Salford Archdeacons of Bolton