ABSTRACT
In Anglicanism, sovereign power involves a construal of vocation that flourishes as epistemic hubris. In Anglicanism, the bishop is granted specific unilateral powers, which apply under proscribed conditions that encompass the conciliar nature of the tradition. In an ecclesial context, bishops have "epistemic sovereignty". By focusing on the diocese, this chapter developed a more nuanced understanding of sovereign power, partly through the concept of epistemic hubris, which was supplemented by an exploration of the spell of monarchy. It argues that the problem of sovereign power needs to be examined from the perspective of the dynamic between leaders and followers. The sacralization of obedience then is a product of pastoral power where "The relationship of submission of one individual to another individual, correlating an individual who directs and an individual who is directed, is not only a condition of Christian obedience, it is its very principle".
