The Future of Religious Leadership in Turbulent Postmodernity

Session Submission Type: Symposium

Short Description

Europe has been a turbulent context for the praxis and interpretation of religious leadership during the last fifty years. Much has been written and said in historical and theological research about this past. But what does the future of religious leadership hold, particularly in Europe? Current research will be presented with an invitation for others to join the next phases of the research project.

Detailed Abstract

Religious leadership tries to navigate between religious traditions and secular context. The European context has manifested a vigorous secularism and yet an increasing religious influence since the turn of the millennium. This has created a turbulent context for the praxis and the interpretation of religious leadership during the last fifty years. These cultural evolutions are a challenge to religious communities on at least three levels: personal, institutional and educational. The personal level, including both the individual leader and the uncertainty of the members of religious communities, concerns the uncertainty about the role of religious leaders in a secularized culture. The institutional level deals with the re-interpretation of leadership within the context of their communities and their broader religious traditions. The educational level aims to create new concepts and programs for the training of future religious leaders in this changing culture.

However, the religious self-understanding of these traditions is primarily based on sacred writings, confessional statements, and the historical practice of religious leadership in specific historical contexts. The theory and praxis of religious leadership are often a sensitive issue since in many cases they function as an identity marker within their tradition. Yet, the broader leadership discourse is helpful in understanding the development of religious leadership. Moreover, in the Netherlands as in other European countries, a long-time reciprocal influence between culture and leadership in religious communities requires the inclusion of an historical perspective in this research.

Since 2012, a Dutch/Belgian research group from various universities and seminaries joined forces in order to research the future of religious leadership in turbulent postmodernity. It focusses its research on the above-mentioned three levels. The understanding and the practice of leadership in religious communities depends both on the specific religious traditions to which they belong and on the context within which they exist. Its main question is: How do religious leaders, religious communities, and their educational institutions reconstruct a new profile for religious leadership in a post-Christendom culture? The group seeks to enlist other viable European partners to map challenges for leaders, religious institutions, and for theological faculties and seminaries that are responsible for the training of religious leaders.

Currently, this program is interdisciplinary in nature, with contributions mainly from experts in religious studies, but also informed by historians, sociologists of religion, psychologists of religion, and cultural anthropologists. The ultimate goal of this research group is to contribute to the construction of a new profile for leadership of religious communities in a post-Christendom culture, where religious identities and activism have caused significant social and cultural turbulence. The research group maps challenges for leaders, religious communities as organizationally and religiously defined frames in which the leaders operate, and for educational institutions in the Netherlands and Belgium that are responsible for the training of the upcoming religious leaders.

In 2013 the research group described what had been researched over the last decades and what is still unanswered in relation to the functional well-being of (ex-)religious leaders, and the perception of their leadership within religious communities.
In 2014 the research group analyzed how religious denominations have reacted to the shifts in leadership style and roles over the last decades, and to the change in understanding of leadership in a secular age, against the background of their theologically defined normative interpretation of leadership.
In 2015 the research group mapped the way educational institutions in recent decades have adapted their vision, mission and curricula according to the changing number of candidates for religious leadership, the changing profile of the candidates and the shift in understanding of leadership in a secular age against the background of their religiously defined normative interpretation of leadership.

The research group is preparing two publications, an academic work in English and a professional-level book in Dutch. This symposium seeks to present some of our research findings before a larger international audience.

Sub Unit

• Business Leadership

Chair

• Craig Domeck, Palm Beach Atlantic University

Commentator

• Craig Domeck, Palm Beach Atlantic University

Individual Presentations

• Does Religious Leadership Have a Future? Introducing the Social Context (Turbulence) and the Project - Eddy Van De Borght, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam; Leon Van den Broeke, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam; Theologische Universiteit Kampen

• Well-Being and Burnout Among Dutch Religious Leaders in Times of Transition - Sake Stoppels, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam

• Changing Shapes and Constellations of Religious Leadership: Organizational Adaptation to New Realities - Jack Barentsen, Evangelische Theologische Faculteit, Leuven

• Educational Challenges for Religious Leader Development: The Story of Theological Universities and Seminaries - Hans Schaeffer, Theological University Kampen