Abstract
This paper continues the fourth cluster’s comparative examination of how the Teflon pattern operates across institutional contexts, extending the analysis from explicitly religious traditions to the secularized priesthoods that have emerged within modern ideological frameworks. The argument proceeds through four interlocking analyses: the operation of the academic credentialed class as a secularized priesthood whose authority is administered through institutional structures that reproduce many of the features that have characterized religious priesthoods across history; the development of technocratic credentialing within the broader institutional life of contemporary societies as a distinct form of secularized religious authority operating across multiple sectors; the emergence of activist classes whose moral authority within contemporary public discourse operates through dynamics that exhibit many of the features the analytical framework has identified within religious institutions; and the broader pattern of secularized priesthoods as a recurring feature of modern institutional life, with attention to what the broader pattern reveals about the human tendency toward the construction of credentialed religious authority regardless of whether the underlying framework is formally religious. The paper applies the biblical critique developed in the first cluster to the patterns it documents, demonstrating that the dynamic identified by the Lord operates not merely within traditions that formally identify themselves as religious but within secular institutions that have, through the operation of recognizable historical processes, developed institutional structures that reproduce the patterns the biblical critique addresses.
I. The Domain and Its Particular Significance for the Cluster
The contemporary domain examined in this paper differs from those examined in the preceding papers of this cluster in an important respect. The preceding papers examined religious traditions that formally identify themselves as religious and that operate through institutional structures that have been recognized as religious institutions across substantial historical periods. The present paper examines secular institutional contexts that do not formally identify themselves as religious but that have, through the operation of recognizable historical processes, developed institutional structures that reproduce many of the features characteristic of religious institutions. The recognition of these secular institutions as functioning religious institutions has substantial implications for the broader argument the volume has been developing, and the implications warrant careful articulation before the analytical work begins.
The category of the secularized priesthood is not a novel analytical construction. The category has been employed across various scholarly literatures across recent decades, with attention to the institutional dynamics by which secular credentialed classes have come to occupy positions of moral authority that, in earlier historical periods, would have been occupied by explicitly religious credentialed classes. The category captures, in the present paper, the broader phenomenon by which the institutional functions that religious priesthoods have historically performed have come, in various contemporary contexts, to be performed by credentialed classes that operate through institutional structures whose formal articulation is secular but whose substantive operation exhibits many of the features characteristic of religious institutions.
The recognition of secularized priesthoods as functioning religious institutions has several specific implications for the analytical work the paper undertakes. The first implication is that the analytical framework developed throughout this volume applies to secularized priesthoods on the same basis as it applies to the religious institutions examined in the preceding papers of the cluster. The framework captures the underlying dynamics that operate across institutions in which credentialed classes have come to occupy positions of authority over populations subject to their determinations, and the dynamics operate within secularized priesthoods on the same basis as they operate within explicitly religious institutions. The application of the framework to secularized priesthoods produces conclusions that are consistent with the conclusions produced by the application to religious institutions, and the consistency supports the broader argument that the framework captures the underlying dynamics with substantial generality.
The second implication is that the biblical critique developed throughout this volume applies to secularized priesthoods on the same basis as it applies to the religious institutions examined in the preceding papers. The critique addresses the substantive patterns by which credentialed classes exempt themselves from the standards they articulate for the broader populations subject to their authority, and the patterns operate within secularized priesthoods on the same basis as they operate within religious institutions. The application of the critique to secularized priesthoods is not an inappropriate extension of the critique beyond its proper scope; it is the natural and necessary application of the same critique to a category of institutions that exhibit the same substantive patterns the critique addresses.
The third implication is that the recognition of secularized priesthoods as functioning religious institutions has substantial implications for the broader cultural analysis that the volume’s argument supports. The patterns this volume has been examining are not features of religious institutions specifically; they are features of human institutional life that recur wherever credentialed classes have come to occupy positions of authority over broader populations. The recognition of this fact requires the abandonment of the assumption that the secularization of institutional structures, considered as a historical process, has produced any substantial alteration in the underlying dynamics that operate within those structures. The dynamics continue to operate, regardless of whether the formal articulation of the institutional structure is religious or secular, and the continuation of the dynamics across the secularization process provides additional confirmation of the broader argument the volume has been developing regarding the universality of the patterns the analytical framework identifies.
The fourth implication is that the contemporary cultural situation, within which secularized priesthoods have come to occupy substantial portions of the institutional landscape, requires the application of the analytical framework to those priesthoods if the broader cultural patterns are to be adequately understood. The substantial influence that secularized priesthoods exercise over contemporary public discourse, over the operation of contemporary institutions, and over the broader cultural formation of contemporary populations means that the patterns operating within those priesthoods have substantial implications for the conditions under which contemporary populations live their lives. The application of the analytical framework to secularized priesthoods is therefore not merely an academic exercise but a substantive engagement with the institutional conditions that shape contemporary life.
The biblical perspective the volume maintains throughout produces the controlling framework within which the analytical work of this paper proceeds. The biblical perspective recognizes that the human tendency toward the construction of religious authority operates across cultural and historical contexts, and that the secularization of institutional structures does not eliminate this tendency but redirects it into alternative institutional channels. The biblical recognition of this tendency provides the foundation upon which the analytical work of the present paper proceeds, and the recognition supports the application of the biblical critique to the patterns within secularized priesthoods on the same basis as the application of the critique to the patterns within explicitly religious institutions.
II. The Academic Credentialed Class
The first analytical task of the paper is to examine the operation of the academic credentialed class as a secularized priesthood whose authority is administered through institutional structures that reproduce many of the features that have characterized religious priesthoods across history. The academic credentialed class operates through the broader system of higher educational institutions that have developed across the modern period, and the system has produced a distinct category of credentialed authority that exhibits the patterns the analytical framework of this volume has been examining throughout.
The academic credentialed class operates through several specific institutional mechanisms. The first mechanism is the system of credentialing through which academic authority is administered. The credentialing involves the completion of extended periods of formal training through institutional structures that the academic class itself dominates, the production of work that is evaluated by other members of the academic class, and the acquisition of formal positions within the institutional structure that the academic class administers. The credentialing process has substantial parallels with the credentialing processes that have operated within religious priesthoods across history, including the extended periods of formal training, the evaluation of candidates by existing members of the credentialed class, and the formal entry into the institutional structure through procedures that the credentialed class controls. The recognition of these parallels is essential for understanding the academic credentialed class as a functioning secularized priesthood rather than as a category of professional expertise that operates outside the dynamics that the analytical framework identifies.
The second mechanism is the substantial interpretive authority that the academic credentialed class exercises over the broader cultural and intellectual life within which contemporary populations operate. The class produces the authoritative readings of the various texts, traditions, and bodies of evidence that shape the broader understanding of contemporary populations on a wide range of substantive matters. The interpretive authority operates through the publication of academic work, through the formation of students who subsequently enter the broader institutional life, through the consultation that the broader institutional structure of contemporary societies provides to academic authorities on various substantive matters, and through the various other mechanisms by which the substantive content of contemporary cultural and intellectual life is shaped. The interpretive authority parallels the interpretive authority that religious priesthoods have historically exercised over the substantive content of religious traditions, and the parallel is essential for understanding the secularized priestly character of the academic class.
The third mechanism is the substantial institutional standing that the academic credentialed class enjoys within the broader social and political structures of contemporary societies. The standing operates through the formal positions that members of the class hold within academic institutions, through the consultation that the broader institutional structure provides to academic authorities, through the various forms of formal recognition that the broader culture extends to academic credentials, and through the various other mechanisms by which academic standing translates into broader social and political influence. The institutional standing parallels the institutional standing that religious priesthoods have historically enjoyed within the broader social and political structures of the societies in which the priesthoods have operated.
The fourth mechanism is the substantial institutional protection that the academic credentialed class enjoys within the broader institutional structure that supports its operations. The protection operates through the formal arrangements of academic tenure, through the institutional support that academic institutions provide to their members when those members come under external challenge, through the broader cultural deference that contemporary populations extend to academic authority, and through the various other mechanisms by which the institutional position of the academic class is maintained. The institutional protection parallels the institutional protection that religious priesthoods have historically enjoyed within the broader institutional structures within which they have operated.
The operation of the academic credentialed class exhibits the patterns that the analytical framework of this volume identifies. The class operates as a credentialed mediator between the broader population and the substantive content of various intellectual and cultural traditions, and the mediation produces conditions in which the broader population’s access to those traditions is substantially dependent upon the class’s mediating function. The class operates under conditions of institutional standing that differ substantially from those that apply to the broader populations whose intellectual and cultural life the class influences, and the differential standing produces patterns of asymmetric application that the analytical framework identifies as characteristic of the Teflon pattern. The class operates within institutional structures that provide substantial protection from the consequences ordinary participants would face for analogous conduct, and the protection contributes to the broader pattern that the framework has been examining throughout.
The application of the analytical framework to the academic credentialed class produces substantial analytical traction in understanding the patterns within contemporary academic life. The patterns include the systematic concentration of credentialing within institutional structures that the class itself dominates, the development of interpretive frameworks that systematically privilege the perspectives of the class over alternative perspectives, the institutional protection of members of the class when their conduct comes under challenge from outside the institutional structure, and the various other patterns that the broader analytical framework identifies. The recognition of these patterns as features of the academic credentialed class, rather than as features specific to particular academic institutions or particular academic disciplines, supports the broader argument that the academic class operates as a secularized priesthood whose substantive operation exhibits the dynamics the analytical framework identifies.
III. The Technocratic Credentialed Class
The second analytical task of the paper is to examine the development of technocratic credentialing within the broader institutional life of contemporary societies as a distinct form of secularized religious authority operating across multiple sectors. The technocratic credentialed class was examined in White Paper 14 in connection with the contemporary domains examined in the third cluster of this volume, and the present section returns to the technocratic class with attention to its character as a secularized priesthood that operates across the broader institutional landscape.
The technocratic credentialed class operates through institutional structures that share substantial features with both the academic credentialed class examined in the preceding section and the religious priesthoods examined in the preceding papers of the cluster. The class is administered through credentialing processes that involve extended periods of formal training, the evaluation of candidates by existing members of the credentialed class, and the formal entry into the institutional structure through procedures that the credentialed class controls. The class operates through substantial interpretive authority over the substantive content of the various technical and policy matters that it addresses, and the interpretive authority operates through institutional mechanisms that parallel those by which religious priesthoods have historically administered their interpretive authority. The class enjoys substantial institutional standing within the broader social and political structures of contemporary societies, and the standing operates through formal positions, consultation arrangements, and various other mechanisms that parallel those by which religious priesthoods have historically enjoyed institutional standing. The class operates within institutional structures that provide substantial protection from the consequences that ordinary participants would face for analogous conduct, and the protection contributes to the broader pattern that the analytical framework identifies.
The distinctive feature of the technocratic credentialed class, relative to the academic class examined in the preceding section, is the substantial integration of the class with the broader operations of contemporary governance. The class operates not merely as an interpretive authority over the substantive content of contemporary cultural and intellectual life but as a substantive participant in the broader decisions through which contemporary societies are governed. The integration produces conditions in which the substantive operations of contemporary governance are substantially mediated by the technocratic class, with the consequence that the broader populations subject to those operations are positioned to experience the operations substantially through the mediation of the credentialed class. The mediation produces systematic advantages for the technocratic class in the broader operation of contemporary governance, and the advantages contribute to the broader pattern that the analytical framework identifies.
The institutional and sociological mechanisms examined in the second cluster of this volume operate within the technocratic credentialed class with substantial visibility. The gap between formal and informal power operates within the class through the relationship between the formal articulations of technocratic authority and the informal patterns through which the authority actually operates. The discretionary enforcement mechanisms operate through the various forms of discretion that the class exercises in the administration of its functions. The insider protections operate through the relationships among members of the class that extend across institutional boundaries. The procedural asymmetries operate through the conditions under which substantive challenge to technocratic determinations would have to be conducted. The sociological dynamics of prestige shielding, elite networks, and status preservation operate within the class through the broader social environment within which the class operates. The performative sacrifice dynamics operate within the class through the elaborate institutional life through which the class conducts its public functions while the substantive material conditions of the class frequently diverge substantially from the visible symbols of public service.
The recognition of the technocratic credentialed class as a secularized priesthood has substantial implications for the broader argument the volume has been developing. The class operates across multiple sectors of contemporary institutional life, including the sectors examined in the third cluster of this volume, and the operation across multiple sectors produces patterns that affect substantial portions of the conditions under which contemporary populations live their lives. The recognition of the class as a functioning priesthood whose substantive operation exhibits the dynamics the analytical framework identifies provides the foundation for the broader cultural analysis that the volume’s argument supports, and the foundation has implications for any subsequent engagement with contemporary technocratic governance from a perspective that takes seriously the analytical framework the volume has been developing.
The application of the biblical critique to the technocratic credentialed class proceeds on the same basis as the application to the religious priesthoods examined in the preceding papers of the cluster. The critique addresses the substantive patterns by which the class exempts itself from the standards it articulates for the broader populations subject to its authority, and the patterns operate within the technocratic class on the same basis as they operate within religious priesthoods. The application of the critique to the technocratic class is not an inappropriate extension of the critique beyond its proper scope; it is the natural and necessary application of the same critique to a category of institutional authority that exhibits the same substantive patterns the critique addresses.
IV. The Activist Credentialed Class
The third analytical task of the paper is to examine the emergence of activist classes whose moral authority within contemporary public discourse operates through dynamics that exhibit many of the features the analytical framework has identified within religious institutions. The activist credentialed class differs in important respects from both the academic credentialed class examined in the second section and the technocratic credentialed class examined in the third section, but the broader institutional patterns within which the activist class operates exhibit substantial parallels with those that operate within the other categories of secularized priesthood.
The activist credentialed class operates through institutional structures that have developed across the recent period through the convergence of several institutional and cultural developments. The structures include the various non-governmental organizations that constitute the institutional infrastructure of contemporary activism, the educational and credentialing processes through which activist authority is administered, the broader cultural and media environment within which activist authority is articulated and disseminated, and the various other mechanisms through which the class operates within the broader institutional landscape of contemporary societies.
The operation of the activist credentialed class exhibits several characteristic features that connect it to the broader analytical framework this volume has been developing. The first characteristic feature is the substantial moral authority that the class exercises over the broader cultural discourse within which contemporary populations form their understandings of various substantive matters. The class produces the authoritative moral framings within which various substantive issues are characterized within contemporary public discourse, and the framings shape the broader cultural understandings of those issues across substantial portions of the contemporary population. The moral authority operates through the publication of activist work, through the formation of subsequent generations of activists who enter the broader institutional life, through the consultation that the broader institutional structure of contemporary societies provides to activist authorities on various substantive matters, and through the various other mechanisms by which the substantive content of contemporary moral discourse is shaped.
The second characteristic feature is the substantial institutional standing that the class enjoys within the broader social and political structures of contemporary societies. The standing operates through the formal positions that members of the class hold within activist institutions, through the consultation that the broader institutional structure provides to activist authorities, through the various forms of formal recognition that the broader culture extends to activist credentials, and through the various other mechanisms by which activist standing translates into broader social and political influence. The institutional standing parallels the institutional standing that other categories of secularized priesthoods enjoy within the broader institutional landscape.
The third characteristic feature is the substantial institutional protection that the class enjoys within the broader institutional structure that supports its operations. The protection operates through the formal arrangements of the institutions within which activists operate, through the institutional support that activist organizations provide to their members when those members come under external challenge, through the broader cultural deference that contemporary populations extend to activist authority, and through the various other mechanisms by which the institutional position of the activist class is maintained. The institutional protection parallels the institutional protection that other categories of secularized priesthoods enjoy within the broader institutional structures within which they operate.
The fourth characteristic feature is the systematic differentiation between the moral standards that the activist class articulates for the broader populations subject to its moral authority and the substantive conduct of members of the class themselves. The differentiation operates through the various mechanisms that the broader analytical framework of this volume has been examining throughout, including the construction of categorical considerations that distinguish the conduct of credentialed activists from analogous conduct by ordinary participants, the operation of institutional protections that shield credentialed activists from the consequences ordinary participants would face for analogous conduct, and the various other mechanisms by which the credentialed class operates under conditions of substantial advantage relative to the broader populations subject to its moral authority. The patterns of differentiation have been documented across extensive journalistic and academic sources, and the documentation is sufficient to establish that the activist class operates under the same dynamics that the analytical framework identifies within other categories of secularized priesthood.
The application of the analytical framework to the activist credentialed class produces substantial analytical traction in understanding the patterns within contemporary activism. The patterns include the systematic concentration of moral authority within institutional structures that the class itself dominates, the development of moral framings that systematically privilege the perspectives of the class over alternative perspectives, the institutional protection of members of the class when their conduct comes under challenge from outside the institutional structure, and the various other patterns that the broader analytical framework identifies. The recognition of these patterns as features of the activist credentialed class, rather than as features specific to particular activist organizations or particular activist causes, supports the broader argument that the activist class operates as a secularized priesthood whose substantive operation exhibits the dynamics the analytical framework identifies.
The activist credentialed class exhibits, with particular visibility, the operation of the performative sacrifice dynamics examined in White Paper 10. The class articulates moral commitments whose substantive practice would require substantial costs to be borne by those who take the commitments seriously, and the class urges the substantive practice upon the broader populations subject to its moral authority. The substantive practice of the commitments by members of the class themselves, however, has frequently been documented to fall substantially short of the substantive practice the class urges upon others, and the differential has produced the patterns of asymmetric application that the broader analytical framework identifies. The performative dimensions of activist credentialing have been examined extensively in recent journalistic and academic literature, and the literature provides substantial empirical material for the analytical work the present section has undertaken.
V. The Broader Pattern of Secularized Priesthoods
The fourth analytical task of the paper is to examine the broader pattern of secularized priesthoods as a recurring feature of modern institutional life, with attention to what the broader pattern reveals about the human tendency toward the construction of credentialed religious authority regardless of whether the underlying framework is formally religious. The three categories examined in the preceding sections — the academic credentialed class, the technocratic credentialed class, and the activist credentialed class — exhibit substantial differences in their specific institutional articulations, but the broader pattern that operates across the three categories exhibits sufficient consistency that the pattern can be analyzed as a distinct phenomenon.
The broader pattern operates through several common features that recur across the three categories. The first common feature is the development of credentialed classes whose authority is administered through institutional structures that the classes themselves dominate. The credentialing operates through extended periods of formal training, the evaluation of candidates by existing members of the credentialed class, and the formal entry into the institutional structure through procedures that the credentialed class controls. The recurrence of this feature across the three categories indicates that the development of credentialed classes through such mechanisms is a recurring feature of modern institutional life, and the recurrence parallels the development of credentialed classes within religious priesthoods across historical periods.
The second common feature is the substantial interpretive or moral authority that the credentialed classes exercise over the broader cultural and intellectual life within which contemporary populations operate. The authority operates through the production of work that shapes the broader cultural understanding of substantive matters, through the formation of subsequent generations who enter the broader institutional life, through the consultation that the broader institutional structure provides to credentialed authorities on various substantive matters, and through the various other mechanisms by which the substantive content of contemporary cultural and intellectual life is shaped. The recurrence of this feature across the three categories indicates that the substantial influence of credentialed classes over contemporary cultural and intellectual life is a recurring feature of modern institutional life.
The third common feature is the substantial institutional standing that the credentialed classes enjoy within the broader social and political structures of contemporary societies. The standing operates through formal positions, consultation arrangements, formal recognition that the broader culture extends to credentials, and the various other mechanisms by which credentialed standing translates into broader social and political influence. The recurrence of this feature across the three categories indicates that the substantial institutional standing of credentialed classes within contemporary societies is a recurring feature of modern institutional life.
The fourth common feature is the systematic differentiation between the standards that the credentialed classes articulate for the broader populations subject to their authority and the substantive conduct of members of the classes themselves. The differentiation operates through the various mechanisms that the broader analytical framework of this volume has been examining throughout, and the operation produces patterns of asymmetric application that the framework identifies as characteristic of the Teflon pattern. The recurrence of this feature across the three categories indicates that the operation of the Teflon pattern within secularized priesthoods is not specific to any particular category of secularized priesthood but a general feature that operates across the broader range of secularized priestly institutions within contemporary societies.
The recurrence of these four common features across the three categories establishes that the broader pattern of secularized priesthoods is a recurring feature of modern institutional life, and the recurrence has substantial implications for the broader argument the volume has been developing. The volume has been demonstrating, across its various clusters of papers, that the Teflon dynamic operates across institutional contexts regardless of whether the contexts formally identify themselves as religious. The recurrence of the pattern across the three categories of secularized priesthood examined in the present paper provides further confirmation of this broader argument, and the confirmation supports the application of the analytical framework to any institutional context in which the relevant dynamics can be identified.
The broader pattern also reveals something about the human tendency toward the construction of credentialed religious authority. The pattern indicates that the secularization of formal institutional articulation does not eliminate the human tendency toward the construction of such authority but redirects the tendency into alternative institutional channels. The credentialed classes that have emerged within contemporary secular institutions exhibit the same dynamics that have operated within explicitly religious priesthoods across historical periods, and the exhibition of the same dynamics across the diverse institutional contexts indicates that the underlying tendency operates independently of the formal articulation of the institutional structure within which it manifests. The recognition of this fact has substantial implications for any contemporary engagement with the broader institutional landscape, and the implications include the recognition that the application of the analytical framework developed throughout this volume is essential for any adequate understanding of the conditions under which contemporary populations live their lives.
The biblical perspective the volume maintains throughout provides the controlling framework within which the broader pattern can be adequately understood. The biblical perspective recognizes that the human tendency toward the construction of religious authority operates across cultural and historical contexts, and that the secularization of institutional structures, considered as a historical process, does not eliminate this tendency. The biblical perspective also recognizes that the proper response to this tendency is not the elimination of all credentialed authority but the construction of institutional arrangements that prevent the credentialed class from exempting itself from the standards it articulates for the broader populations subject to its authority. The biblical critique developed throughout this volume articulates the standards against which any credentialed class — religious or secular — must be measured, and the application of the standards to secularized priesthoods proceeds on the same basis as the application to religious priesthoods. The standards apply wherever the dynamics the framework identifies can be observed, and the dynamics can be observed within secularized priesthoods as readily as within religious priesthoods.
VI. The Biblical Critique Applied and the Bridge to the Final Paper of the Cluster
The closing analytical task of the paper is to apply the biblical critique developed in the first cluster of this volume to the patterns the preceding sections have documented, and in doing so to provide the bridge to the final paper of the cluster.
The first observation is that the secularized priesthoods examined in the present paper exhibit, with substantial clarity, the operation of the Teflon dynamic across institutional contexts whose formal articulation differs substantially from that of the explicitly religious traditions examined in the preceding papers of the cluster. The recurrence of the dynamic across such diverse formal contexts confirms that the dynamic is not a feature of any particular type of institutional articulation but a feature of institutional life more broadly. The recurrence supports the broader argument the volume has been developing regarding the universality of the Teflon dynamic across institutional contexts.
The second observation is that the application of the analytical framework developed throughout this volume to the secularized priesthoods produces conclusions that are consistent with the conclusions produced by the application of the framework to the religious institutions examined in the preceding papers. The framework captures the underlying dynamics that operate across the various categories of secularized priesthood as it captures the underlying dynamics that operate across the various religious traditions, and the convergence of the conclusions across the diverse contexts supports the broader validity of the analytical framework. The framework operates as a general analytical resource that can be applied to any institutional context in which the relevant dynamics can be identified, and the application produces conclusions that are consistent with one another across the various contexts to which the framework has been applied.
The third observation is that the recognition of the universality of the Teflon dynamic across institutional contexts, including both religious and secular institutional contexts, has substantial implications for the broader argument the volume has been developing. The dynamic is not a peripheral feature of any particular type of institution but a central feature of institutional life that operates wherever credentialed classes have come to occupy positions of authority over broader populations. The recognition of this fact has implications for any subsequent institution that seeks to operate without producing the patterns that the analytical framework identifies, and the implications include the necessity of the kind of substantive institutional reform that the analytical framework, developed throughout this volume, has been articulating.
The fourth observation is that the biblical critique demands a particular response to the patterns documented in the present paper. The critique does not call for the affirmation of the substantive frameworks within which the secularized priesthoods operate; the biblical perspective the volume maintains throughout does not affirm the substantive ideological frameworks of modern academia, technocracy, or activism in their broader operations. The critique calls, rather, for the recognition that the dynamics within those secularized priesthoods operate as the dynamics that the Lord identified within the first-century religious establishment, and the recognition supports the broader argument that the dynamics are universal to institutions wherever credentialed classes have come to occupy positions of authority over broader populations.
The fifth observation is that the analytical work of the present cluster has, with the present paper, extended the comparative examination of the Teflon dynamic beyond explicitly religious traditions to include the secularized priesthoods that have emerged within contemporary institutional life. The final paper of the cluster will extend the examination further by addressing the broader universal human temptation toward exemption that operates across all religious and quasi-religious frameworks, and the final paper will draw together the cumulative conclusions of the cluster as a whole in preparation for the diagnostic instruments that conclude the volume.
The paper closes with the observation that the comparative analytical work conducted in the present paper has confirmed, with substantial generality, the broader argument the volume has been developing regarding the universality of the Teflon dynamic across institutional contexts. The dynamic operates within the explicitly religious traditions examined in the preceding papers of the cluster, and the dynamic operates within the secularized priesthoods examined in the present paper. The dynamic operates wherever credentialed classes have come to occupy positions of authority over broader populations subject to their determinations, and the recognition of this universality is essential for any adequate understanding of the broader patterns of institutional life across the diverse contexts in which institutions operate. The biblical critique developed throughout this volume applies to the dynamic wherever it can be identified, and the application proceeds on the same basis across the various contexts to which the analytical framework has been applied. The final paper of the cluster will extend the analytical examination to the broader universal pattern that operates across all religious and quasi-religious frameworks, and the cumulative work of the cluster will provide the foundation for the diagnostic instruments that conclude the volume and that will provide the practical tools for the identification of the Teflon pattern in any institutional context in which the dynamics that the analytical framework identifies can be observed.
Notes
Note 1. The analytical work of this paper has drawn on extensive scholarly and journalistic literature on the three categories of secularized priesthood examined, with attention to the institutional patterns that the literature documents. The work has not undertaken to settle disputed questions about particular aspects of the historical development of the categories, the relative weight of various historical factors in the development of particular institutional patterns, or the substantive evaluation of particular positions within the categories on their own terms. The biblical critique that the paper develops applies to the substantive patterns the literature documents, and the application does not depend upon the resolution of the disputed questions that subsequent scholarship has addressed.
Note 2. The category of the secularized priesthood employed throughout this paper is not a novel analytical construction. The category has been employed across various scholarly literatures across recent decades, with attention to the institutional dynamics by which secular credentialed classes have come to occupy positions of moral authority that, in earlier historical periods, would have been occupied by explicitly religious credentialed classes. The category captures, in the present paper, the broader phenomenon by which the institutional functions that religious priesthoods have historically performed have come, in various contemporary contexts, to be performed by credentialed classes that operate through institutional structures whose formal articulation is secular but whose substantive operation exhibits many of the features characteristic of religious institutions.
Note 3. The operation of the academic credentialed class examined in the second section has been documented across extensive scholarly and journalistic literature on contemporary higher education, with attention to the institutional patterns that have developed across recent decades. The literature includes works that examine the credentialed class from various perspectives, and the present paper has drawn on the literature primarily for its analytical purposes, with attention to the institutional patterns the literature documents rather than to the particular interpretive frameworks that the literature has developed.
Note 4. The technocratic credentialed class examined in the third section was the subject of extended examination in White Paper 14, and the present section has returned to the class with attention to its character as a secularized priesthood operating across the broader institutional landscape. The patterns examined in the present section build upon the analytical framework developed in the preceding examination, with the extension of the framework to address the broader category of secularized priesthood within which the technocratic class operates.
Note 5. The activist credentialed class examined in the fourth section has been the subject of substantial scholarly and journalistic analysis across recent years. The literature includes works that examine the class from various perspectives, and the present paper has drawn on the literature primarily for its analytical purposes, with attention to the institutional patterns the literature documents. The recognition of the activist class as a category of secularized priesthood does not constitute any particular evaluation of the substantive merits of particular activist causes; the recognition addresses the institutional patterns within which the class operates rather than the substantive merits of the positions the class articulates.
Note 6. The reference in the conclusion of the fifth section to the human tendency toward the construction of religious authority should not be misunderstood as a claim that all forms of credentialed authority are equivalent to religious authority. The claim is, rather, that the institutional dynamics that have operated within religious priesthoods across historical periods reproduce themselves within secular credentialed classes through the operation of recognizable historical processes, and that the reproduction confirms the broader argument the volume has been developing regarding the universality of the dynamics across institutional contexts. The recognition of this pattern provides important resources for any subsequent engagement with the broader institutional landscape, including resources for the construction of institutional arrangements that would prevent the operation of the patterns the analytical framework identifies.
References
The Holy Bible, King James Version. (1611/Public Domain). Cambridge edition. References in this paper to the broader biblical witness follow the Authorized Version.
Berger, P. L. (1967). The sacred canopy: Elements of a sociological theory of religion. Doubleday. [Cited for analytical observations about religious institutions; theological framework is not endorsed in its entirety.]
Bloom, A. (1987). The closing of the American mind: How higher education has failed democracy and impoverished the souls of today’s students. Simon & Schuster. [Cited for analytical observations about contemporary academia; broader philosophical framework is presented as subject to ongoing debate.]
Boice, J. M. (1986). Foundations of the Christian faith. InterVarsity Press.
Brint, S. (1994). In an age of experts: The changing role of professionals in politics and public life. Princeton University Press. [Cited for analytical observations about credentialed classes; broader theoretical framework is not endorsed.]
Burnham, J. (1941). The managerial revolution: What is happening in the world. John Day Company. [Cited for early analytical observations about managerial classes; broader theoretical framework is not endorsed.]
Calvin, J. (1559/1960). Institutes of the Christian religion (J. T. McNeill, Ed.; F. L. Battles, Trans.). Westminster Press.
Carson, D. A. (1996). The gagging of God: Christianity confronts pluralism. Zondervan.
Chrysostom, J. (4th century/1996). Homilies on Matthew (G. Prevost, Trans.). Hendrickson.
Cuddihy, J. M. (1978). No offense: Civil religion and Protestant taste. Seabury Press. [Cited for analytical observations about contemporary credentialed culture; broader theoretical framework is not endorsed.]
Deneen, P. J. (2018). Why liberalism failed. Yale University Press. [Cited for analytical observations about contemporary credentialed classes; broader philosophical framework is presented as subject to ongoing debate.]
Dever, M. (2012). The church: The Gospel made visible. B&H Academic.
Ellul, J. (1965). The technological society (J. Wilkinson, Trans.). Vintage Books. [Cited for analytical observations about technical rationality; broader theoretical framework is not endorsed in its entirety.]
Ferguson, S. B. (2007). In Christ alone: Living the Gospel centered life. Reformation Trust.
Frame, J. M. (2008). The doctrine of the Christian life. P&R Publishing.
Gehlen, A. (1980). Man in the age of technology (P. Lipscomb, Trans.). Columbia University Press. [Cited for analytical observations about modern institutional life; broader theoretical framework is not endorsed.]
Goldsworthy, G. (2000). Preaching the whole Bible as Christian Scripture. Eerdmans.
Gouldner, A. W. (1979). The future of intellectuals and the rise of the new class. Seabury Press. [Cited for analytical observations about credentialed classes; broader theoretical framework is not endorsed.]
Hadden, J. K., & Shupe, A. (Eds.). (1989). Secularization and fundamentalism reconsidered. Paragon House. [Cited for analytical observations about secularization; broader theoretical framework is not endorsed.]
Henry, M. (1706/1991). Matthew Henry’s commentary on the whole Bible. Hendrickson.
Hodge, C. (1872/1997). Systematic theology. Hendrickson.
Hughes, R. K. (2001). Disciplines of a godly man (Rev. ed.). Crossway.
Hunter, J. D. (1991). Culture wars: The struggle to define America. Basic Books. [Cited for analytical observations about contemporary cultural conflict; broader theoretical framework is presented as subject to ongoing debate.]
Hunter, J. D. (2010). To change the world: The irony, tragedy, and possibility of Christianity in the late modern world. Oxford University Press.
Illich, I. (1977). Disabling professions. Marion Boyars. [Cited for analytical observations about credentialed authority; broader theoretical framework is presented as subject to ongoing debate.]
Keller, T. (2008). The reason for God: Belief in an age of skepticism. Dutton.
Kimball, R. (1990). Tenured radicals: How politics has corrupted our higher education. Harper & Row. [Cited for analytical observations about contemporary academia; broader theoretical framework is presented as subject to ongoing debate.]
Kuyper, A. (1898/1931). Lectures on Calvinism. Eerdmans.
Lasch, C. (1995). The revolt of the elites and the betrayal of democracy. W. W. Norton. [Cited for analytical observations about credentialed classes; broader theoretical framework is presented as subject to ongoing debate.]
Lloyd-Jones, D. M. (1959). Studies in the Sermon on the Mount. Eerdmans.
Lukianoff, G., & Haidt, J. (2018). The coddling of the American mind: How good intentions and bad ideas are setting up a generation for failure. Penguin Press. [Cited for analytical observations about contemporary academic culture; broader theoretical framework is presented as subject to ongoing debate.]
MacArthur, J. (2007). The Jesus you can’t ignore: What you must learn from the bold confrontations of Christ. Thomas Nelson.
MacIntyre, A. (1981). After virtue: A study in moral theory. University of Notre Dame Press. [Cited for analytical observations about modern moral discourse; broader philosophical framework is presented as subject to ongoing debate.]
Manton, T. (1693/1962). A practical commentary, or an exposition with notes on the epistle of James. Banner of Truth.
Mills, C. W. (1956). The power elite. Oxford University Press. [Cited for analytical observations about elite networks; broader theoretical framework is not endorsed.]
Mohler, R. A. (2008). Culture shift: Engaging current issues with timeless truth. Multnomah.
Murray, J. (1957). Principles of conduct: Aspects of biblical ethics. Eerdmans.
Niebuhr, R. (1932). Moral man and immoral society. Charles Scribner’s Sons. [Cited for analytical observations about institutional behavior; broader theological framework is not endorsed.]
Nisbet, R. (1971). The degradation of the academic dogma: The university in America, 1945–1970. Basic Books. [Cited for analytical observations about contemporary academia; broader theoretical framework is presented as subject to ongoing debate.]
Owen, J. (1668/1991). The mortification of sin in believers (W. H. Goold, Ed.). Banner of Truth.
Packer, J. I. (1973). Knowing God. InterVarsity Press.
Piper, J. (1995). Future grace: The purifying power of the promises of God. Multnomah.
Postman, N. (1992). Technopoly: The surrender of culture to technology. Knopf. [Cited for analytical observations about technocratic culture; broader theoretical framework is presented as subject to ongoing debate.]
Powlison, D. (2003). Seeing with new eyes: Counseling and the human condition through the lens of Scripture. P&R Publishing.
Ryle, J. C. (1879/2014). Holiness. Banner of Truth.
Schaeffer, F. A. (1976). How should we then live? The rise and decline of Western thought and culture. Crossway.
Scruton, R. (2017). On human nature. Princeton University Press. [Cited for analytical observations about contemporary culture; broader philosophical framework is presented as subject to ongoing debate.]
Sowell, T. (1995). The vision of the anointed: Self-congratulation as a basis for social policy. Basic Books. [Cited for analytical observations about credentialed discourse; broader theoretical framework is presented as subject to ongoing debate.]
Sproul, R. C. (1985). The holiness of God. Tyndale House.
Stott, J. R. W. (1992). The contemporary Christian: Applying God’s word to today’s world. InterVarsity Press.
Trueman, C. R. (2020). The rise and triumph of the modern self: Cultural amnesia, expressive individualism, and the road to sexual revolution. Crossway.
Veith, G. E. (1994). Postmodern times: A Christian guide to contemporary thought and culture. Crossway.
Watson, T. (1668/1965). A body of divinity. Banner of Truth.
Weber, M. (1922/1978). Economy and society (G. Roth & C. Wittich, Eds.). University of California Press. [Cited for analytical observations about credentialed classes and bureaucratic structures; broader theoretical framework is not endorsed.]
Wells, D. F. (1993). No place for truth: Or whatever happened to evangelical theology? Eerdmans.
Wells, D. F. (2008). The Courage to be Protestant: Truth-lovers, marketers, and emergents in the postmodern world. Eerdmans.
Wilson, D. (2014). Wordsmithy: Hot tips for the writing life. Canon Press.
Wright, C. J. H. (2004). Old Testament ethics for the people of God. InterVarsity Press.
