Religious Authority Religious Leaders Religious Laity

Religious authority is not something that exists "out there," independent of humanity. On the contrary, the existence of religious authority is predicated upon a particular kind of relationship between those who are "religious leaders" and the rest of a religious community, considered "religious laity." It is in this relationship that questions about religious authority, problems with religious conflict, and issues of religious behavior play out. Because the legitimacy of any authority figure lies in the how well that figure meets the expectations of those over whom authority is supposed to be exercised, the ability of religious leaders to meet the varied expectations of the laity poses what may be the most fundamental problem of religious leadership. Many of the problems and conflicts between religious leaders and religious laity are located in the varied nature of religious authority itself.

 

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