AboutDan Hotchkiss Expertise I will answer questions about strategic planning, conflict management, fund raising, and clergy transition in synagogues and churches.
Experience I have fifteen years' experience assisting congregations as a consultant and denominational official. As a Senior Consultant for the Alban Institute I work with a wide range of churches and synagogues across North America. Previously I served 12 years as a parish minister.
Organizations Society for Professionals in Dispute Resolution. Unitarian Universalist Ministers Association
Publications Ministry and Money: A Guide for Clergy and Their Friends (Alban, 2002). Congregations: the Alban Institute Journal. The Journal of Unitarian Universalist History.
Education/Credentials B.A. Oberlin College
M.Div. Harvard University
Question I noticed your comment about the common practice of ministers wearing clergy stoles with street clothes, etc. What about wearing clergy stoles with a doctoral robe? I can't seem to find anything about his anywhere. I perform a number of weddings and would like to wear my all-black doctoral robe, but would prefer to not wear my academic stole. I would prefer to wear a standard clergy stole with Christian symbols, etc. What is your opinion? Thanks, Ed
Answer You don't name your denomination, but generally this question arises among Reformed and other non-liturgical Protestants. Whether it is OK to wear a priestly stole over a doctoral robe is ultimately up to you. I can perhaps offer a wider context for your decision.
The tradition of academic robes and hoods goes back to medieval times, when students and faculty had to be, at least nominally, "clerics." The regalia used by European universities varied widely. So did the dress worn by European Catholic priests, but the two traditions became noticeably different by the sixteenth century. The stole belonged to the priestly tradition, while on the academic side the hood was more common.
By the Protestant Reformation of the sixteenth-century, academic and priestly garb had diverged enough to make it remarkable that John Calvin chose to preach wearing academic dress. Because Calvin's idea of worship had eschewed the miracle of the mass in favor of a service centered on a scholarly sermon, it seemed appropriate to dress as a professor rather than a priest. No stole appears on any picture of Calvin that I know of.
The Protestant churches following in Calvin's wake--including the Presbyterian, Reformed, Congregational, and Unitarian churches--for all their disagreements, shared a professorial view of the minister's role and dress: a black "Geneva" gown and no stole. Clergy of those Protestant churches whose worship stayed closer to the Catholic style--including Lutheran, Anglican, Methodist, Episcopalian churches--dressed in priestly costume, including the stole.
American colleges standardized their graduation robes in 1895, and ministers accustomed to preaching in academic gowns brought the new standards into the pulpit with them. The distinctive doctoral gown, with three bars on the sleeve, belongs to this new standard.
At around the same time, many Protestant churches participated in the Gothic Revival, which celebrated all things medieval. Since then, virtually every church has undergone some kind of liturgical revival, and of course ministers have lost some of their social prestige, which may make dressing up in symbols of authority attractive. Maybe twenty years ago, you started seeing stoles on ministers in denominations that would never have used them before.
The bottom line is this: Neither John Calvin nor Martin Luther would have put a priestly stole on top of an academic gown. They would have been astonished at the concept of decorating such a stole with "Christian symbols, etc." However, both practices are quite common now, and clergy dress is more a matter of self-expression than church-wide norms. The question becomes: given the history of these symbols, which combination best expresses your and your congregation's understanding of ministry?
