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Investigating And Re-Imagining Contemporary Religious Leadership, Amy Lawton, Feyza Akova

Sociology Faculty Research and Scholarship

Sociologists, anthropologists, cognitive scientists, and others have shown that religion is a feature of life in every known human society (Bellah 2011). While the cultural contexts, organizing principles, and values of each religion differ greatly – so much so that “religion” is a problematic universal category (Asad 1993) – many religions do share certain characteristics. One of those characteristics – shared among most social groups regardless of their purpose – is leadership, variously defined. Spiritual and religious groups, gatherings, and collectives have specific individuals that they turn to for wisdom, spiritual or moral guidance, fostering community, and/or ritual facilitation. We …