The Authority of the Priest
From No Other Foundation by Fr. Lawrence R. Farley, and Ancient Faith Ministries
May 1, 2026
About this episode
This episode discusses the role and authority of priests in the Protestant Evangelical context, contrasting it with traditional views of pastoral authority.
In the Protestant Evangelical world the priest (sorry: “the pastor”) is not a figure of authority within the local church community but is primarily a preacher, an administrator. He can be available for counselling, if necessary. In large mega-churches he functions as a CEO. But he is not a figure of authority within the church; anyone can disagree with his sermon, his Biblical exegesis, and his doctrine in the same way as they would disagree with any Christian. The Evangelical version of the Reformation doctrine of “the priesthood of all believers” effectively functions to deprive the pastor of most of his traditional presbyteral authority.
People in this episode
Host: Fr. Lawrence R. Farley
Topics covered
- authority of the priest
- Protestant Evangelicalism
- pastoral roles
- church authority
- priesthood of all believers
Keywords
- priest
- pastor
- authority
- Evangelical
- church
- counselling
- Reformation
- presbyteral authority
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Ancient Faith Ministries, Evangelical, mega-churches
More episodes of No Other Foundation
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- An Embroidered Text? · May 20, 2026
- In Praise of Geegaws · April 22, 2026
- The Road to Kiriath-jearim · April 17, 2026
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