What I'm Reading #8: As One With Authority (Jackson Carroll)

As One With Authority: Reflective Leadership in Ministry, by Jackson W. Carroll

As One With Authority was loaned to me by my summer field education supervisor. I'm reading select chapters, and although I don't really like to think about authority in relation to my ministry, I know it's important for me to realize that I probably have more authority than I think I do, and Carroll's book is helping me see the many ways in which authority can be exercised.

A major emphasis in this book is the relational nature of authority. This seems pretty basic--the more you know and respect someone, the more you trust them and are willing to give them power--but a lot of the time, we assume that a degree or a name is enough to give us authority even with total strangers. Of course, sometimes it is--Carroll points out three bases of authority (from Max Weber): traditional, charismatic and rational-legal. Sometimes any one of these is enough to grant a person authority, but Carroll notes that it can be important to have more than one of the bases of power. He points out that Jesus' charisma aided in his speaking "as one with authority" (Matthew 7:29) (hello book title)--but the same was true of Hitler. Yikes.

Another distinction Carroll made that I found interesting was the difference between social authority and cultural authority. Social authority involves influencing behavior while cultural authority involves influencing thinking. Of course, one assumes that when a person's thinking is influenced, so, too are their actions. This reminds me of a time in high school when I was having difficulty getting other youth volunteers in a tutoring program of which I was a student leader to uphold our discipline code consistently. Frustrated, I finally went to one of our adult supervisors, who flatly told me I couldn't make anyone do anything. Nor could I wash my hands of one particularly frustrating youth's conduct. I had to find a way to help him see why our rules were the way they were and why it was important for him to stick to them, in a way that he could understand and that was persuasive but not coercive. I was undermining my own authority by expecting the adult to step in a lay down the law.

Finally, Carroll talks about the difference between the authority of representing the sacred vs. the authority of expertise. In a way, the concept of a clergy person representing the sacred is different for Catholics and Protestants, but the broader question is an interesting one: is it enough to have a background in theological education, or does one need also a sense of calling? Or vice versa--can someone with a profound vocation to holy leadership wield spiritual authority without technical expertise? At Duke Divinity School, students are theoretically required to have both, certainly when they graduate but also to some extent when they apply for admission. An undergraduate degree is required and not just any GPA gets you consideration; however, you also have to describe your experience of a calling from God. You can be unsure about exactly what your calling means, but the Div School expects your application to be a response to the Holy Spirit's work in your life.

At a first-year spiritual formation retreat last fall, I had an interesting conversation with some fellow seminarians about whether we planned to display our diplomas in our offices in the future (most of us were planning to enter parish ministry). One person said he'd be very proud of his degree and would want to have it framed and mounted--not just for his own pride, but because it would earn him respect as soon as people saw it. I told the group that I was hesitant because I have had experiences with people who wrote me off as elitist the moment they learned I went to Duke; does a diploma on the wall earn you respect or intimidation? I recalled my dad telling me about the first church he served, a lovely country church where he still has dear friends. When he first became the pastor, he was still finishing his Ph.D., and somehow this got mentioned in worship, but in very vague terms. Apparently a few members thought it meant that my dad hadn't finished school--as in high school or college--and they were thrilled to have a pastor with a humble education like theirs. In that community, a doctoral degree might be more of a curse than a blessing for an authority figure.

Of course, all of that comes back to the relational dimension of authority. No good pastor can responsibly wield authority before she or he knows the community.

Now, to figure out all the details before I get my first church...


Favorite Quotations

"...to have authority is to use power in ways that a congregation or other church body recognizes as legitimate, as consonant with and contributing to the basic beliefs and purposes of the church."

"Authenticity and competence may have been assumed as a basis for ordination and a call, but they have to be proved in practice before a congregation or community accords the pastor full legitimacy to lead."

"While the Hebrew prophets and Jesus are prime examples of charismatic leaders, so also was Hitler in his appeal to Germany's sacred past and his projection of a thousand-year reich."

"If we have authority as clergy, it is because laity perceive us to be reliable interpreters of the power and purposes of God in the context of contemporary society. And this involves both spirituality and expertise, not one without the other."