The bishop as mystagogue, prioress, and leader of the choir: exploring the nature of episcopal authority in the Church of Sweden

Abstract

ABSTRACT The authority of the bishop is not easy to define outside the three key concepts of teacher (mystagogue), prior or prioress of the ordained clergy, and democracy in which the bishop is the ‘leader of the choir’. In Uppsala there is a sense of a folk church in which all ministry is collaborative and the bishop’s authority is rooted in a practical ‘powerlessness’. The bishop is a teacher through regular parish visitations and operates alongside an elected General Synod of which she is not herself a member. As a teacher the bishop is a theologian with a future orientated teaching in the body of the Church.