Up with Authority

A very topical contribution to the question of whether authority is needed and what it is good for. Authority is something we experience every day, but is it necessary? Most people think it is not, that we have authority only when there is some defect in us that authority is needed to fill in. While it is true that authority can be used to remedy human inadequacies, it has a higher and nobler function: to enable us to do more complex activities, to understand more of the world we live in and to transmit that understanding, to flourish in political communities, and ultimately to enjoy God. This book shows the human importance of authority.

Victor Lee Austin

The Reverand Victor Lee Austin, Ph.D., is Theologian-in-residence at Saint Thomas Church Fifth Avenue in New York City. He is the author of scholarly articles in political theology, ecclesiology, and social ethics, as well as a book of theological meditations on everyday life, A Priest's Journal.