Hierarchy and Authority (Part 1)

Some commentators on Benedict’s Rule think Americans will be troubled by Benedict’s vision of hierarchy. They are probably right. Benedict develops a ranking system based on the date of each monk’s entrance into the monastery — a sort of seniority system not based on merit — and expects every monk to occupy his place in that rank (63).

Monks who cannot stay in their place should be admonished several times. And then, if they refuse to amend their ways, they should be excommunicated. Why? Every member of the community is responsible for contributing to the stability of order in the monastery. Benedict sees a well-defined hierarchy as essential to this stability (21:5; 23-29; 65:18). Staying in your place, in this way of thinking, is about creating and maintaining a place where everyone belongs. But this phrase — staying in your place — raises American hackles.

Americans have an ambiguous relationship with hierarchy. On the one hand, we killed a lot of people to get out from under King George. And Lincoln, our most exalted master, gave us a mantra to help us think about what we’d done: “of the people, by the people, and for the people.” We are taught to be wary of phrases like, “head of the household.” And most of us have plenty to say about CEO salaries.

But on the other hand, we can’t quite kick our addiction to the shopping that makes it so lucrative to be a CEO. We still measure time like subjects of a monarch or an emperor: the Clinton years, the Bush years, etc. And this is to say nothing of our love of ranking contestants in athletic, cooking, and singing competitions. In these scenarios, we are comfortable with the word, “master,” and love to watch contestants dominate others. We have a soft spot for the underdog, but many Americans also loathe participation trophies.

We seem to want to escape the confines of hierarchy while still enjoying the sorting and streamlining work hierarchy does for us. And probably in our darker moments, we only want to escape those hierarchies we’re not on top of. So, Americans can understand Benedict’s hierarchical thinking despite our ambiguous feelings about it. Some commentators say Benedict’s hierarchy doesn’t square with our democratic ideals. That’s probably true. But neither have we ever squared with our democratic ideals. From the beginning, our ideals have been polluted by self-interest and the radical irony of a slaveholding nation that preaches liberty and equality.

So, Benedict’s thoughts on authority and how to delegate it throughout a hierarchy are intelligible to Americans. His thoughts challenge us to think carefully about the common goods of order, stability, and harmony. But perhaps more importantly, his thoughts challenge us to think carefully about what we have done and what we are willing to do to achieve these common goods.

In the next post, we will look more closely at what Benedict has to say about authority and hierarchy.