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Relationships between the state and organized religion are commonly explained in secular political terms, whether as politicization or co-optation of religion. Both explanatory paradigms presuppose rigid distinctions between the political and the religious, and between state and society, thereby foreclosing explorations into the polyvalent character of the state and religion as reproduced in and through multiple social domains. Observing the fluctuating relationship between an Islamic community leader and different state actors in contemporary Indonesia, this talk proposes the notion of articulation to think about contingent political-religious nexuses that link state actors and institutions, and religious communities. Central to articulation is the construction of ritual, discursive, and material nodes that enable religious and political meanings and agendas to intersect, and facilitate the simultaneous reproduction of state power and religious authority. Working with religious leaders, however, ensnared state actors in the interpretive conflicts and congregational competitions that make up the social life of religion. The talk is based on my recently published book What is Religious Authority? Cultivating Islamic Communities in Indonesia (Princeton University Press, 2021)