The relationship between authority and power is difficult for contemporary thinkers to come to grips with. Post-Machiavelli and Hobbs, we reduce the former to the latter. Retrieving this important relationship is a critical aspect of the historical reality of the Catholic Church. I am grateful to the author, and Mr. Ybarra for their work in popularizing the scholarship of this retrieval. However, scholars often differ on small yet important points. This means that the retrieval is not a unified result. Scholarship alone cannot give a definitive “airtight” solution. As authority works in the contemporary Catholic Church, we must follow the Tradition of the Church (quae tradita sunt per Ecclesiam) and deepen the particular scholarly approaches that strengthen the Church’s Tradition. And shy from those that detract from it. Scholarship alone can never answer these questions definitively.
The relationship between authority and power is difficult for contemporary thinkers to come to grips with. Post-Machiavelli and Hobbs, we reduce the former to the latter. Retrieving this important relationship is a critical aspect of the historical reality of the Catholic Church. I am grateful to the author, and Mr. Ybarra for their work in popularizing the scholarship of this retrieval. However, scholars often differ on small yet important points. This means that the retrieval is not a unified result. Scholarship alone cannot give a definitive “airtight” solution. As authority works in the contemporary Catholic Church, we must follow the Tradition of the Church (quae tradita sunt per Ecclesiam) and deepen the particular scholarly approaches that strengthen the Church’s Tradition. And shy from those that detract from it. Scholarship alone can never answer these questions definitively.
Masterfully argued.
Incredible work, as always. It’s time for Denny’s misleading to end.