Bishop

The term bishop refers to a member of the Christian clergy who has been elevated to a position of special authority or oversight. The term originates in the Catholic and Orthodox Churches, being derived from the Koine Greek word episkopos, or "overseer." Typically a bishop is a clergy member who acts not as a priest of a single congregation, but overseeing many such congregations in a region. Usually, they are also the clergy who are granted the authority to ordain new clergy members. Protestant denominations vary widely in the terminology they use for their clergy. While some use the term bishop, they do not understand this term to have the same meaning that the older Catholic and Orthodox denominations do, because they lack the doctrine of apostolic succession.

Background

While much of what is taken for granted in Christianity took centuries to come into focus, the office of the bishop was actually one of the first things to develop. Even before the Council of Nicaea—the first ecumenical council, held in 325 to settle some basic issues of Christian doctrine—and long before the biblical canon was established, all of the major Christian communities were led by bishops. It was because of this that the bishop of Rome, eventually held to be the successor of Saint Peter, gradually ascended to become the leader of the Western (Catholic) Church: the holy father, or pope (from the Greek word páppas, meaning "father").

The relationship between the bishopric of Rome and Saint Peter is important because of the idea of apostolic succession. The power and authority of bishops were originally understood to have been inherited from the apostles—Jesus's followers who were appointed by him in the Great Commission to spread his teachings throughout the world, as well (by early Christian convention) as certain special Christian leaders in the first generation of Christianity after Jesus's death. Paul, for instance, who did not become a Christian until after the Crucifixion, is considered an apostle. The sees (ecclesiastical jurisdictions) founded by apostles are called apostolic sees, but the Apostolic See is, in Catholic usage, the See of Rome, founded by Saint Peter. As Peter was the foremost of the apostles, so then is Rome the foremost of the apostolic sees, and by extension its bishop the foremost of bishops. Other apostolic sees include Istanbul (formerly Constantinople), founded by Andrew; Alexandria, founded by Mark; Jerusalem, founded by Peter and James; and Ephesus, founded by John, among others.

Before long, there were far more sees than apostolic sees, but the concept of apostolic succession proposes not only that the ministry and authority of the original apostles has been passed on continuously, but that this holds true for bishops of newer episcopal sees as well. For theologians for whom apostolic succession is especially critical as the source of episcopal authority, this necessitates that new bishops be appointed (via laying on of hands) by extant bishops, who thus confer the authority upon them. The biblical precedent for this is Paul's appointment of Timothy and Titus.

Overview

In the early Christian world, many bishops were itinerant—wandering. This was, in fact, a critically important role. Numerous features of modern Christianity were shaped by struggles in the first millennium, when Christianity's rapid growth proved a constant challenge. The more Christianity spread, the harder it was to maintain consistent uniform doctrine. When questions were raised about how to interpret scriptures, two communities in different cities or countries might come up with different answers—neither seems unreasonable at first, but multiply this effect over time and what results is not a uniform religion but a confederacy of vastly different churches sharing a common origin.

The ecumenical councils were designed in part to prevent a proliferation of doctrines, but were costly, difficult, and time-consuming—and while they might be held only a few times a century at the most, an itinerant bishop could "make the rounds" of his jurisdiction several times a year. Doing so, he could get to know the major figures in each church in his jurisdiction, listen to their conversations, and act as a mediator when these questions came up. Of course, not all bishops answered all questions the same way, any more than all priests did, but deferring to bishops' authority reduced the number of voices in the conversation.

There is evidence in the writing of the early church fathers of individual churches that resisted the authority of the bishops, and this is likely in part because of the way bishops could be used to keep church teachings doctrinaire. The Catholic Church especially defined numerous heresies in its first centuries, and would have had no opportunity to do so if not for the fact that Christians kept proposing ideas that became popular despite bishops’ objections. Church authorities felt compelled to condemn these novel ideas before they became popular enough to challenge the orthodox interpretation.

In some parts of the Christian world, the status of bishop conferred political power at some points in history. This was true for some of the Holy Roman Empire's history, for example, and until the French Revolution (1789-1799), French bishops (along with abbots representing the largest monasteries) made up the First Estate, part of the legislature. In other countries, there are political offices traditionally held by bishops, but political power is not granted to all bishops. In modern Great Britain, for example, the most senior bishops of the Church of England are called the Lords Spiritual and granted seats in the House of Lords of Parliament. However, this has garnered criticism in the twenty-first century.

In Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy, and Anglicanism, only bishops can ordain priests, deacons, or other bishops, according to the doctrine of apostolic succession. Typically, a minimum of three bishops are present for the sacrament of ordination, though this is not doctrinally required. While Methodists also require that bishops ordain new bishops, the new bishops are elected (for life) by the ordained elders of a regional conference. Many Lutheran churches also use the term bishop, but some, including the largest North American Lutheran denominations, empower members of the congregation to elect bishops to serve finite terms of office. Neither of these Protestant groups believes in the doctrine of apostolic succession.

Bibliography

Avis, Paul. Becoming a Bishop: A Theological Handbook of Episcopal Ministry. T&T Clark, 2015.

"Bishops and Dioceses." United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, 1 May 2024, usccb.org/about/bishops-and-dioceses. Accessed 21 Nov. 2024.

Byrnes, Timothy A. Catholic Bishops in American Politics. Princeton UP, 2014.

Cressy, David. Charles I and the People of England. Oxford UP, 2015.

Darcy, Eamon. The Irish Rebellion of 1641 and the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. Royal Historical Society, 2015.

Fissel, Mark Charles. The Bishops' Wars. Cambridge UP, 1994.

Miller, Monica Migliorino. The Authority of Women in the Catholic Church. Emmaus Road, 2015.

O'Donnell, John Hugh. The Catholic Hierarchy of the United States, 1790-1922. Leopold Classic Library, 2015.

Pasieka, Agnieszka. Hierarchy and Pluralism: Living Religious Difference in Catholic Poland. Palgrave Macmillan, 2015.

United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Compendium: Catechism of the Catholic Church. USCCB, 2006.

Van Hove, Alphonse. "Bishop." New Advent, newadvent.org/cathen/02581b.htm. Accessed 21 Nov. 2024.