📘 Lexicon Entry: Servant Power

Understanding of power through self-giving service rather than domination, reframing authority as responsibility rather than privilege.

A theological framework that understands power through self-giving service rather than domination, reframing authority within the cruciform pattern as responsibility rather than privilege. Servant Power emerges from Jesus’s teachings on service and the cross as revelation of divine power, challenging both imperial models of authority and democratic models that reduce power to preference aggregation. This concept directly counters Dominative Christianism by demonstrating divine power that enables rather than dominates, and provides theological foundation for Being With through leadership that empowers rather than controls others.

Theological Alternative

power, authority, service, cruciform pattern, kenotic power, servant leadership, vulnerable strength

Geevarghese-Uffman, Craig. “Servant Power.” *Political Theology Lexicon*. https://www.commonlifepolitics.com/p/lexicon. Accessed [date].

Divine power seen as self-giving love exercised for others

Authority understood as responsibility rather than privilege

Leadership modeled on Christ’s servanthood rather than worldly dominance

Power exercised through vulnerability and self-emptying

Divine power conceived as dominance, control, and triumph over enemies

Authority equated with hierarchy and unaccountable control

Leadership understood primarily through command rather than example

Power exercised through coercion and manipulation

Reframes power as service rather than domination

Establishes authority through vulnerability rather than force

Empowers others rather than concentrating control

Creates accountability within community rather than isolated authority

Cruciform pattern of Christ’s self-emptying

Kenotic understanding of divine power

Trinitarian communion as model for non-hierarchical relationship

Incarnational theology of God’s presence through vulnerability

Jesus washing disciples’ feet as paradigm of servant leadership (John 13:1-17)

Jesus’s teaching that greatness comes through service (Mark 10:43-45)

Christ’s self-emptying to take form of servant (Philippians 2:5-11)

Jesus’s rejection of worldly authority models (Luke 22:25-27)

Leadership models based on empowerment rather than control

Organizational structures that distribute rather than concentrate authority

Ministry approaches that prioritize accompaniment over direction

Political engagement that emphasizes service over acquisition of power

Studies on servant leadership effectiveness in organizational contexts

Theological analysis of power in early Christian communities

Comparative research on alternative authority models in religious communities

Political theological engagement with non-violent resistance movements

Related Primary Concepts: Interindependence through mutual empowerment

Key Alternatives: Being With, Counter-Imperial

Theological Mutations Addressed: Dominative Christianism, Binary Apocalypticism

Contemporary Movements: Alternative leadership models in religious and secular contexts

May 23, 2025

*This entry is part of the Political Theology Lexicon, accessible exclusively to subscribers. View the complete lexicon to explore related concepts and the full theoretical framework.*