THE “HUBRIS SYNDROME”

How good Christian leaders go bad

The Hubris Syndrome: Andrew Yang’s Analysis

 A presidential candidate in 2020, Andrew Yang, in an article written for Politico Magazine, described the intoxication with worldly power that he experienced while running for president. The amount of attention put on him was jarring, and it started to change his view of himself. He described it as the “hubris syndrome,” a well-researched psychological disorder that happens to those in “possession of power held over years and with minimal constraint on the leader.”

Yang, describing medical research, states that neural processes shape the brains of people in specific ways when they occupy seats of power. Such leaders grow in contempt for others and lose the capacity for empathy. Power is “a sort of tumor,” he says, citing historian Henry Adams, and it grows and takes over your life. This is what was happening to Yang in the process of running for president of the United States. Ironically, he argues that this is the opposite of the kind of leaders we need in government. I would suggest that the same is true for the church, only worse, because the claim to exercise worldly power on behalf of God in the church happens endemically and emboldens the “hubris syndrome” all the more.[1]

Why Good Leaders Start Out Well and End Badly

We all know of leaders who start out well, with the best of intentions, who follow after Jesus with all their heart. They are gracious, loving, and kind, wishing to serve God. But along the way they acquire worldly power through position, fame, money, a platform. In a moment of seizing control of power, as representatives of God, they justify unilateral decisions in the name of God’s work. The decisions are enforced via some sort of coercion, bullying, pulling rank. When something good comes from it, it feeds the ego. This power then promotes the thought that “I did this” and feeds the ego even more, so that the leaders take even more control. They now think, “I can accomplish good for Jesus through my power.” Slowly they become the ultimate decider of the good, with no true accountability or mutuality, breaking through the guardrails that are in place to hold their power in check.

At this point, the exercise of such power puts a person in the position of God, and they thus commit the ultimate sin, the one that poisons the soul (the very first sin in history, identified in Gen. 3:22). It is as if something changes in the constitution of the leader. A switch goes off. He or she seems possessed. This corrupting dynamic slowly takes over the person’s life and sets the person on a path of horrific evil and disgusting abuse. It all explains how so many good servants of Christ end up going rogue, destroying people in their wake and eventually getting destroyed themselves.

The church is susceptible to this dynamic because the church seeks to be an instrument of God’s power. But once the church blurs worldly power into being God’s power (which operates totally different), the hubris syndrome is sure to follow.

The Only Way To Break Its Hold

The only ways to break the hold of the “hubris syndrome” on someone’s life (or an organization’s life) are either to a.) allow the destruction to take its course and pick up the pieces afterward, or b.) humbly patiently refuse to participate in the worldly power of this leader, and in love and presence speak truth, reveal the duplicities in one on one conversations, and social spaces, allow the Holy Spirit to work.

In my forthcoming book, ‘Reckoning With Power,’ I offer this Godly power/worldly power diagnosis first to help people understand how good leaders can turn bad. The diagnosis is so important. We must deal with the power question, specifically how worldly power is not God’s power and the way God desires to work in the church. We must diagnose how it indeed can enter the church, and becomes (falsely) aligned with God, it can become ruthless and destructive. We must deal with the power issue or else we repeat, repeat, repeat.

In ‘Reckoning With Power’ I also offer practices that disrupt worldly power gone rogue in Jesus name. These practices will not please many people. They are not easy solutions. They will require patience, love, truthfulness. They will not be principles you can enforce. They will enable people to quickly get out of the way of worldly power gone rogue and its ensuing destruction. But we cannot use worldly power to counteract worldly power (it will just hold it at bay). The way of worldly power against worldly power will almost surely lead to more abuse and destruction.

Amidst the many manifestations of “hubris syndrome” across the landscape of our churches, amidst the damage and destruction left in its wake, let us pray for renewed outbreak of God’s power, made possible in Jesus Christ, extended into our lives through the Holy Spirit, throughout the churches.

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This is a partial excerpt from my forthcoming book ‘Reckoning with Power.’ You can pre-order it here, coming Jan 30.

I also post excerpts from ‘Reckoning with Power’ on this substack. Along with my regular writing. So subscribe if you’re interested!

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[1] Andrew Yang, “When I Ran for President, It Messed with My Head,” Politico Magazine, October 3, 2021, h!ps://www.politico.com/news/maga zine/2021/10/03/andrew-yang-book-excerpt-campaigning-514967.