MATL- Who's the Boss?

Prompt: Please reflect on the following questions: Who has religious authority in Chrisianity? Why? When is authority good? When is authority bad? How does one distinguish between good and bad exercises of authority?

Religious authority in "Christianity" is too broad to define in anything but the vague answer of "God." Christianity assumes that there is a God, and that God reveals himself and his divine purpose to us through the aspect of the Trinity: It comes OF God, FROM Christ, THROUGH the Holy Spirit, and so God is the authority on Christianity.  Of course, as humans with brains and free will, we then reflect on these revelations and draw meanings and interpretations of these ideas and use that to create our beliefs. Authority, then, is the 'control' to monitor these interpretations and judge which are good and worthy, and which are misleading or perhaps even of sinister intent and influence.

In the Catholic Church, then, the 'authority' is first the Pope, and then the hierarchical structure of the Church. I am not particularly well versed in the authority structures of protestant religions, but I think the Church of Latter Day Saints places great emphasis on the writings and teachings of Brigham Young, and many protestant organizations rely on a system of Elders to govern and lead the churches.

To neatly draw boundaries of 'good' and 'bad' authority seems pretty trivial, but I suppose 'good' authorities are those that encourage careful and deliberate evaluation of revelations, that shepherd good intellectual practices and behaviors, and that encourage constant evaluation of the reflections for context and applicability. I think 'bad' authorities are those that are reactionary, driven by fear or a desire to control the ideas and reflections of others, even when those controls are with the best of intent. The difference becomes blurry when an authority figure must evaluate the reflection of a particular bit of theology and finds it contradictory to long-standing accepted dogma: if the authority allows all reflections to pass through, then there is no measurement of 'truth' or 'right'. If the authority rejects all non-conforming reflections, there is a risk that a truth or 'rightness' will be passed over.

I think this dilemma underscores the importance of empowering all people with critical thinking abilities as children, and nurturing that development of skills throughout our lives. Ideally, we would not need an authority if we trusted the ability of any human to experience revelations of God, from Christ, and reflect on them through the Holy Spirit.  Ideally, the authority is each person to themselves.

Of course, this is very idealistic- perhaps the Church should consider a democratic interpretation of authority.