There’s a sense in which the last five hundred years of the West can be considered a long series of crises of authority. ‘Tradition’ gave way to ‘Scripture’ gave way to a struggle between ‘Reason’ and ‘Experience’. And today we may be in the biggest crisis of all, with the rise of growing group of people so distrustful of authority that they are governed only by their gut feelings and immediate desires.
At the start of 2024, I explored the question of authority in Christianity by looking at the different options suggested throughout history, their proponents and opponents, their strengths and their weaknesses.
Matthew Root 