What is it about?
Research on authority within the Church should not be limited to the authority of the Pope and the Bishops. The saints are exemplars of authentic authority and therefore deserve to be called a ‘Magisterium’. Von Balthasar’s work on the saints can be used to explore the nature, but also the limits, of hierarchical authority, while his theology of the Church, and of the Communio Sanctorum, can help us explore an authority that extends beyond physical boundaries, thus enabling us to accept the possibility of an authority that is not limited by contemporariness, but also survives the test time.
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Why is it important?
The author does a good job at showing that authority is wider than its common restriction to the hierarchy. By linking authority to expertise and to what the Greeks called 'Phronesis', the author builds a strong case for following Von Balthasar in regarding the saints as individuals who attracted admiration for the 'expertise' they demonstrated in dealing with the difficulties of their times, and thus deserve a special status as 'authorities'.
Perspectives
I hope this article sheds light on a central practical problem of our time, namely, authority. I also hope that readers will find my interpretation of Hans Urs von Balthasar reasonable, and the arguments brought forward in favour of the saints as authoritative figures, compelling.
Pauline Dimech
University of Malta
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Auctoritas Sanctorum, The Heythrop Journal, September 2017, Wiley,
DOI: 10.1111/heyj.12764.
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