The articles in this edition of the JRL have developed from presentations at the 2024 ARL Conference. They propose various ways to approach religious leadership today. Our past president, Alicia Granholm introduces the issue with these words:

“The following pages invite you to explore different forms of religious leadership structures, processes, and development within current realities while imagining possibilities for moving forward by exploring theological, leadership, and change theories that can inform our structures anew. “

Kristina Lizardy-Hajbi draws upon postcolonial and decolonial frameworks derived from communally-based realities and philosophical arguments that negate arguments of the self-realized human being to propose an understanding of religious leaders that can only be fully realized within a community. Clara King engages a sociological and systemic lens to explore the durability of clericalism as the pattern of normative expectations that structure the relationships between clergy and laity, as demonstrated by clericalism being repatterned in new models of ministry. Kara Markel draws on Celtic tradition and practices from ecological sciences as a new framework for creating healthy and sustainable communities. Emily A. Dykman examines the historical shift in ecclesiology as expressed in documents from the Second Vatican Council, emphasizing the model of the church as the people of God and the church as communion as a reimagined inclusive and shared model of religious leadership.”