Publication Type: Proceeding
Abstract: Most of the literature on American religious elites considers these managers of the sacred on the right side of any causal model—as independent variables that help to explain some other phenomena. However, it is also possible that several factors might systematically contribute to the public positions elites take on matters of controversy that go beyond an elite’s sincerely held preferences. This project attempts to get inside the black box of elite position taking in order to better understand and assess the variables that might compel elites to stake public positions as a consequence of strategic calculation. A series of hypotheses drawing on the behavioral assumptions of rational choice theory are derived from two models of elite decision making. Maximum likelihood models are then used to assess under what conditions religious elites may be compelled to take public positions that they would not otherwise. Data on elite positions are drawn from original surveys of congregational clergy and institutional bureaucrats in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). The controversial issue of focus is the denomination’s 2004 decision to pursue a “selective divestment” of companies whose dealings in Israel the PC (U.S.A.) believes enable it to pursue undue aggression toward the Palestinians.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Pastor succession figures prominently in most narratives of congregational history, yet the movement of pastors between congregations is not typically considered in studies of pastoral leadership, which focus on understanding localized interactions between pastors and congregations. As a result, despite the centrality of pastoral leadership in congregational life, we do not understand what leadership history patterns are typical for congregations, or how congregational experiences of pastoral leadership arise. Congregational leadership histories are subject to strong systematic influences, including the presence of congregational size hierarchies and denominational rules that determine how pastors move between congregations. This paper takes a first step toward understanding how the local experiences of congregations are shaped by these systematic influences. By first examining the underlying distribution of pastor tenures and vacant spells over the past 20 years, then using Optimal Matching Analysis to compare entire leadership histories directly, I show how congregational leadership histories vary between congregations of differing sizes in two denominations with radically differing rules for mobility: centralized pastor assignment in the Methodist Church (UMC) and congregation-driven pastor assignment in the Presbyterian Church (PCUSA). My findings emphasize the value of examining leadership histories directly, since many of the differences between denominations are either not intuitive or not predictable from the differences in the distribution of tenure and vacant spells.