Authority
This mini-collection focuses on how authority in religious matters is created, where it may reside, how in specific contexts it has been maintained, how it has often been subverted or diluted. Topics include the notions of tradition, and authenticity, the use of lineage and genealogy to bolster authority, non-institutional, "vernacular" expressions of belief that challenge official truths, the designation of closed canons of scriptural authority, the reuse of myth and the uses of the "past" in historical narrative (including in New Age religions), interpretations of charismatic leadership and authority, and the physical memorializaton of legitimizing events through the creation of material culture or manipulation of geography and space.
Search more than 300 journal and chapter abstracts drawn from across the Equinox Religion Library.
![Fragment of a shallow Roman blown glass bowl showing Christ giving a scroll to two figures. The scroll reads “DOMINVS LEGE[M] DAT,” which translates to “the Lord giving the law.” The object is held in the Toledo Museum of Art.](https://equinoxreligionlibrary.com/system/project/b/f/b/bfb8fbf1-8bc4-468c-82b9-28a442877565/cover/medium-6e1e195f59814be49d22b1e2a84bd9ab.jpg)
Image:
Fragment of a Roman blown glass bowl with Christ giving a scroll to two figures. The scroll reads “DOMINVS LEGE[M] DAT,” which translates to “the Lord giving the law.” Toledo Museum of Art.
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