From Spiritual Authority to Religious Manipulation: Psychological and Sociological Dimensions in the History of Christianity

A downhill narrative of the loss of charismatic spiritual power to institutional power play is common in the history of the Church. It’s a convenient theological linear story, and not very well supported by history! It doesn’t explain how good leaders are different from bad leaders, either. The purpose of this paper is to develop criteria that would help to distinguish spiritual from religious manipulation. It challenges this model in four past scenarios and one present one. It also outlines the psychological and institutional processes which enable manipulation to occur. The framework provides a common terminology for historians, theologians and clinicians. It also deemphasizes theory and documentary evidence. The research method used in this study was qualitative and used an interdisciplinary approach to studying historiography, sociological, social psychology and Christian theology. The finding in this study indicates that “Legitimate” and “Manipulative” uses of authority existed in all periods studied. Three factors combined to bring about manipulation again: asymmetric control over sacred resources, low accountability and psychological dependency. There was a reform and resistance in each period. The present progression thesis needs to be replaced with a concept of recurrent, contested possibility with direct implications to safeguarding this work. This work covers gaps such as the paper’s making links between the historical and clinical literatures, which have but rarely met, and its explicit statement of the limits of evidence.

Keywords: spiritual authority and religious manipulation, spiritual abuse, pastoral power, clericalism and Christian history.