More Power to You: The Wise Practice of Christian Authority
Publication Date
5-20-2008
Publication
The Christian Century
Document Type
Article
Abstract
"Speak truth to power.” The phrase resonates with the biblical prophets and the courage it takes to challenge those who become preoccupied with maintaining their power at the expense of truth—as well as justice, fairness and compassion. The phrase rings powerfully true in situations such as that of Robert Mugabe’s rule over Zimbabwe or the stonewalling silence of a church in the wake of a sexual abuse crisis.
Yet in American culture, and especially in mainline Protestantism, the phrase has become hackneyed. Pastors invoke the phrase in sermons; seminary professors call on it in classroom lectures; groups organize around it. One person even suggested to me that the phrase is not just an element of pastoral ministry, but the very heart of the pastoral vocation.
Is it really? The phrase can be as blinding as it is revealing; it can induce self-deception as often as it does courage. When we say “speak truth to power” we assume that we are the ones with the truth, and someone else has the power. Sometimes that is true. But sometimes we deceive ourselves, thinking that we possess the truth when all involved may have at most partial perspectives, or thinking that we lack power when we actually have power and need to exercise it.
Recommended Citation
Jones, Gregory, "More Power to You: The Wise Practice of Christian Authority" (2008). Public Intellectual Writing. 106.
https://repository.belmont.edu/gregoryjones_public/106
