Rachel Mann (born 1970) is a British Anglican priest, poet and feminist theologian.
Early life and education
Mann was born in 1970.
She grew up in Worcestershire, in the village of
Hartlebury, 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.
Ordained ministry
Mann was
ordained in the Church of England as a deacon in 2005 and as a priest in 2006.
She served her
curacy at St Matthew's Church,
Stretford in the Diocese of Manchester.
Between 2008 and 2017, she was
Priest-in-Charge 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. 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, 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.
Views
Mann belongs to the liberal Anglo-Catholic
Churchmanship of the Church of England, though she was brought up an
Evangelical-Charismatic Christian. She supports the full inclusion of the
LGBT people in the church.
Between 2020 and 2024, Mann was a patron of the Open Table Network, an ecumenical Christian charity supporting worship communities for
LGBT 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. 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, Manchester Metropolitan University.
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.
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 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, and The Quietus.
In the 2024 series of Christmas University Challenge on BBC2, Mann represented Manchester Metropolitan University and returned in the 2025 series to represent Lancaster University.
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)
-
The Archbishop of York's Advent Book 2024 for Do Not Be Afraid (2024)
-
Award of Merit, The Associated Church Press Awards 2024 for Festival of the Child, The Christian Century
Selected works
External links
