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Lynn Horan, Ph.D. is a 2024 graduate of the PHD Program in Leadership and Change at Antioch University.

Lynn Horan at her Dissertation Defense.

From L-R: Dr. Harriet Schwartz, Committee Chair, Dr. Martha Reineke, Committee Member, Dr. Lem Watson, Committee Member

Dissertation Committee

  • Harriet Schwartz, PhD, Committee Chair
  • Lem Watson, Ed.D, Committee Member
  • Martha Reineke, JD, PhD, Committee Member

Lynn Horan with Dissertation Chair, Dr. Harriet Schwartz, Professor of Relational Practice and Higher Education

Keywords

feminist constructivist grounded theory, women and leadership, women clergy, psychological safety, executive derailment, mimetic theory, scapegoating, boundaries, intergenerational trauma, mother-daughter wound, toxic masculinity, servant-leadership

Document Type

Dissertation

Publication Date

2024

Abstract

In today’s mainline Protestant churches, young women clergy navigate a precarious leadership space. While women’s ordination is well-established in American Protestantism (Burnett, 2017), Gen-X/Millennial clergy women find themselves at the crosshairs of conflicting gender narratives and unsustainable expectations of what it means to be both a woman and an ordained pastoral leader. Through the use of feminist constructivist grounded theory methodology, this study explored the lived experiences of Gen-X/Millennial clergy women who have left active ministry or a specific pastoral position due to concerns over their own interpersonal boundaries and psychological safety. Through dimensional analysis of in-depth interviews with 20 clergy women representing eight mainline Protestant denominations, this study identified the co-core dimensions of experiencing feminized servanthood as dehumanizing and experiencing feminized servanthood as abusive. The social processes within these co-core dimensions severely compromised the clergy women’s physical and psychological safety and informed their decisions to leave their respective ministry contexts. Extending from these co-core dimensions were five primary dimensions: 1) developing a sense of call; 2) differentiating self from system; 3) exposing vs. protecting toxic leaders and harmful systems; 4) nail in the coffin; and 5) reconstituting self. As a result of these findings, this study presents five theoretical propositions that address 1) the shadow side of servant leadership in the context of feminized servanthood; 2) reclaiming Gen-X/Millennial women’s leadership strengths; 3) perceptions of self-differentiated women leaders as a “dissident daughter” and an “emasculating disruptor”; 4) gendered scapegoating and the disappearance of Gen-X/Millennial clergy women; and 5) reconstituting self beyond “reckoning” and “resilience.” This dissertation is available in open access at AURA (https://aura.antioch.edu) and OhioLINK ETD center (https://etd.ohiolink.edu).

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Lynn Horan

ORCID: #0009-0007-6600-9525

Lynn M. Horan, PhD, MA, MDiv is a gender and embodied leadership scholar and professional leadership and life coach specializing in women's leadership and life development. Lynn's work focuses on the inter-personal boundaries and psychological safety of empathetic, purpose-driven women leaders. Her research has been presented at the Global Center for Religious Research and the International Leadership Association. She is a contributing author of Leadership at the Spiritual Edge: Emerging and Non-Western Concepts of Leadership and Spirituality (Routledge), where she explores the roots of embodied social change as both a form of activism and spiritual ritual.

A former Presbyterian clergy and health policy analyst for the New York State Senate, Lynn holds a deep understanding of complex religious and political systems and their impact on social narratives. Lynn is passionate about cross-cultural relationship-building and addressing the wounds of intergenerational trauma, having worked in health education, homeless advocacy, and domestic violence prevention in communities in Southern Mexico, Central Peru, and Upstate New York. A trained contemporary dancer and yoga practitioner, Lynn believes strongly in the restorative capacity of movement and embodied awareness as a means of cultivating healing, wholeness, and reconciliation in individuals and communities.

EDUCATION:

PhD, MA, Antioch University, Graduate School of Leadership and Change (Gender and Embodied Leadership)

MDiv, Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary (Feminist Theology & Community Ethics)

BA, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (Gender Studies, Political Science, Contemporary Dance)

LINKS:

Website: https://www.lynnhoran.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lynn-m-horan-phd-490933245/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@LynnHorancoaching

Facebook: www.facebook.com/lynnhoranleadership

ORCID Profile: https://orcid.org/0009-0007-6600-9525

RECENT PUBLICATIONS

Leadership at the Spiritual Edge: Emerging and Non-Western Concepts of Leadership and Spirituality (Routledge)

https://www.routledge.com/Leadership-at-the-Spiritual-Edge-Emerging-and-Non-Western-Concepts-of-Leadership-and-Spirituality/Raei-Guenther-Berkley/p/book/9781032500591?gad_source=1

Chapter 8: "Activism, Performance, and Spiritual Ritual: The Indigenous Roots of Embodied Social Change"

PODCASTS:
Listen Here "Breaking free from toxic systems and leading at the spiritual edge" on Live the Width of Your Life with Aneta Ardelian Kuzma
Listen Here "Hope is in the body" on The Blue Room with MaryAnn McKibben Dana

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