What is Radical Leaders

The chapter proposes a framework to understand women religious leaders. This operates on two axes: The first axis is that of power where the extremes are 1) Weberian idea of power as authority and 2) power as radical source. While power as authority views it individualistically reinforces patriarchy, power as radical source views it systemically and aims to reverse the power relations in the society. The second axis used in this chapter is that of societal change. In the societal change axis, the extremes are prophetic leaders and institutionalist leaders. While institutionalist leaders focus on reform of the religious structures, prophetic leaders act as the conscience keepers against any injustice in religion. These two axes give us four types of religious women leaders: traditional prophetic (TP), traditional institutional (TI), radical prophetic (RP), and radical institutional (RI). Mother Teresa, Matha Amruthandamaye, Marie Dentiere, and Jamida Beevi are few women leaders of religion the authors explore in this chapter to explain this framework.