In Search of Spiritual Authority: The Agile Spiritual Leadership Challenge
As nonhierarchical, egalitarian characteristics of the digital realm provide practitioners with novel avenues to express and enact their beliefs, religious authority becomes a significant subject of academic inquiry. This paper investigates the construction and perception of spiritual authority with...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Interlibrary Loan: | Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany) |
| Published: |
2025
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| In: |
Journal of media and religion
Year: 2025, Volume: 24, Issue: 1, Pages: 33-48 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (kostenfrei) |
| Summary: | As nonhierarchical, egalitarian characteristics of the digital realm provide practitioners with novel avenues to express and enact their beliefs, religious authority becomes a significant subject of academic inquiry. This paper investigates the construction and perception of spiritual authority within the Wisdom School, a minority Christian community committed to Christian mystical and contemplative traditions as a path to spiritual transformation that increasingly engages followers through virtual spaces. Building on the theoretical frameworks of New Media Studies and Digital Religion Studies and utilizing qualitative methodology, including in-depth semi-structured interviews with participants, the research explores how spiritual authority is constituted, maintained, and challenged within a community at the ecclesial periphery, and which leadership style conforms best with the role of the spiritual authority and the expectations of the followers. The findings further reveal a resonance between the expected behavioral patterns and roles of spiritual authorities in such environments and the agile leadership approaches. |
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| ISSN: | 1534-8415 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Journal of media and religion
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1080/15348423.2024.2447122 |
