Abstract
Power is an integral aspect of religion. Robert Wuthnow defines religious power as the “asymmetric capacity that enables a person, group or whole sector of a population acting in the name of religion to accomplish what it wants” (2). His work examines the power exercised in religious practices, especially whenever it oversteps its bounds: when, for example, it inspires violence, when it excludes people of color, when priests become pedophiles, or when pious constituents foment hatred. His definition of religion is based on practice theory, which acknowledges “discursive power as the unrecognized and unacknowledged meanings through which asymmetries of status, resources, opportunities, influence, and convictions are produced and reproduced” (51).
To show how religious power operates in practice theory, Wuthnow discusses five mechanisms that constitute specific means through which power is established, namely, power in ritual practice, religion’s discursive power, the institutional power of religion, religion and identity power, and religion and political power. These mechanisms are embodied and situational, are shaped by the structures in which they take place, and are day-to-day activities governed by dispositions.
Religious power inheres in sacred power, that which is transcending and expressed in rituals. This power is expressed by specialists in ritual performances. In this way, ritual is a form of communication represented in the relations among the persons involved and the things to which rituals are devoted. For Wuthnow, power is manifested in rituals through staging, and so “an understanding of ritual power therefore requires attending to the ways in which the ritual itself constructs, dramatizes, and affirms the power of these specific relations” (20). The power of religious discourse, on the other hand, exists in its textual and ritual narratives of divine authority. Discursive power is used to elicit emotions through grand narratives, such as stories about the ultimate meaning of life. In this regard, Wuthnow asserts, “the degree to which the categories of thought, symbolizations and linguistic conventions, and meaningful models of and for the world determines the ability of some actors to control the actions of others, or to obtain new capacities” (52).
Wuthnow then emphasizes the mechanisms by which religious organizations exercise power. The institutional power of religion lies in its capacity to generate and maintain legitimating practices by providing the contexts, the resources for those contexts, and the rules that perpetuate the practices though which legitimation occurs. Because of its social aspect, collective action is the most evident feature of institutional power, especially considering the broad division of collective action directed toward reform.
Turning to religion and “identity power,” Wuthnow claims that identity power has the ability to control how large categories of people define themselves, relate to one another, and promote inequality (142), using such categories as race, ethnicity, social class, gender, and sexual orientation. Identity power is showcased in religious categories through the “capacity of large dominant groups or traditions to shape how people categorize themselves and thereby influence who they associate with and what beliefs they hold dear” (142). It is, moreover, institutional, interpersonal, and symbolic, as religious organizations use power to forge identities, convene meetings, bring people together, and create social capital as a resource.
Wuthnow finally brings to the fore the notion that religious power can be achieved and maintained through political power. The relationship between religion and politics, he argues, is multi-dimensional and complex. Although religion does not exercise political power directly, it influences the political system, as religion benefits from resources (such as tax exemption) controlled by political system. Religious groups seek to make claims on political systems through signaling, storytelling, political engagement, and protests.
This book investigates the age-old questions about what makes religious groups powerful and in what way religious organizations control time and space. Yet it is timely, as it highlights contemporary and historical situations of religion and power dynamics. Indeed, many faith communities do not fully comprehend how ritual power operates within their own communities. It is also evident that there is a great deal of power playing out among faith communities, and there is a need to be aware of those different aspects of power. Wuthnow’s work has also opened up conversations about power differences between the church and state relationship, about media projection of religious roles in politics, about how religious power is exercised behind the scenes in politics, and about the various ways power operates in religious settings. However, one notes that Wuthnow’s discussion of religious power is mainly focused on the American Christian context. One might wonder, for example, in what other ways do different religions express power apart from the Christian examples that Wuthnow includes, and what other parallels can be drawn from outside the American (perhaps even in non-Christian, non-democratic) contexts?
This book is recommended to students and scholars of religion, especially specialists in the increasingly popular Religion and Public Life programs. This book is also valuable to policy makers, government bodies, and anyone who is interested in knowing about the dynamics of power in religious traditions.