Supreme Authority

-- Power in the Church, power and world culture.-- Celibacy, the role of women, accountability and infallibility and where they fit into Church tradition.-- Concrete ways to move ahead within the Church through understanding and transforming power.The Catholic Church is a micro-lens (albeit a large one) for viewing power and the effects of power abuses in the larger world culture. In Supreme Authority, the authors of The Complete Idiot's Guide "RM" to Understanding Catholicism take the four marks of Catholic identity -- It is One; It is Catholic; It is Holy; It is Apostolic -- and move them forward to a new understanding of these pillars of the Church. Issues to be explored include the Pre-Vatican II Church, Vatican II, the relationship of power and sexual abuse, how decisions are made in the Church, celibacy, the all-male clergy, the church's hierarchy and more. The object is not to criticize the Church, but rather to empower the people with ways to understand its current dynamics and provide concrete ways of moving forward within it.

A sitting justice reflects upon the authority of the Supreme CourtÑhow that authority was gained and how measures to restructure the Court could undermine both the Court and the constitutional system of checks and balances that depends on it. A growing chorus of officials and commentators argues that the Supreme Court has become too political. On this view the confirmation process is just an exercise in partisan agenda-setting, and the jurists are no more than Òpoliticians in robesÓÑtheir ostensibly neutral judicial philosophies mere camouflage for conservative or liberal convictions. Stephen Breyer, drawing upon his experience as a Supreme Court justice, sounds a cautionary note. Mindful of the CourtÕs history, he suggests that the judiciaryÕs hard-won authority could be marred by reforms premised on the assumption of ideological bias. Having, as Hamilton observed, Òno influence over either the sword or the purse,Ó the Court earned its authority by making decisions that have, over time, increased the publicÕs trust. If public trust is now in decline, one part of the solution is to promote better understandings of how the judiciary actually works: how judges adhere to their oaths and how they try to avoid considerations of politics and popularity. Breyer warns that political intervention could itself further erode public trust. Without the publicÕs trust, the Court would no longer be able to act as a check on the other branches of government or as a guarantor of the rule of law, risking serious harm to our constitutional system.

Supreme Authority is a book whose author's Commentary on the Gospel of Luke has been called by many Bible scholars the best modern commentary on the third gospel. This present volume deals with the subject on which the beginning and development of Christianity rests, the authority of Jesus and of his apostles. However obvious the relation between these two may seem to the reader, the author points out that in contemporary theology little appreciation is shown of the fact of the Lord's supreme authority in the New Testament and in the Early Church, and that much confusion exists in many modern theories concerning the history of primitive Christianity and of the formation of the New Testament. Second only to this, Mr. Geldenhuys shows, is the importance of understanding the authority of the apostles. To bring out most sharply the authority of Jesus and his apostles, the author allows the two primary sources of his subject, the New Testament and other Early Church documents, to speak for themselves as far as possible, thus presenting a positive exposition of his subject. The theories of Harnack, Enslin, Bousset, Manson, and many others who try to escape full acceptance of the New Testament or Early Christian presentation of the authority of the Lord and of His apostles, come in for discussion and comment.

A study of the nature of authority and the character of the state. It draws on political philosophy, jurisprudence and public choice theory, to explain and evaluate the state's claim to authority over its citizens.

Traces the US Supreme Court’s effect on federal government growth from the founding era forward. This book explores the US Supreme Court’s impact on the constitutional development of the federal government from the founding era forward. The author’s research is based on an original database of several hundred landmark decisions compiled from constitutional law casebooks and treatises published between 1822 and 2010. By rigorously and systematically interpreting these decisions, he determines the extent to which the court advanced and consolidated national governing authority. The result is a portrait of how the high court, regardless of constitutional issue and ideology, persistently expanded the reach and scope of the federal government. Michael A. Dichio is Assistant Professor of Political Science at Fort Lewis College.

Everybody who follows Jesus will encounter a myriad of “authorities” that directly challenge the authority of Christ. These other “authorities” may be parents, teachers, bosses, presidents, institutions, religions, or ideologies. In order to stay firm in devotion to Jesus, we must believe that He has supreme authority over all. Not partial authority, not most authority—all authority. On the basis of his authority, he commissioned his people to go and make disciples among every people group on earth. This is an impossible commission if it were not for the promise that he is with them forever. The doctrine of the supreme authority of Christ not only upholds the work of the church, it is the central message that the church preaches. “Jesus is Lord” is good news! Joey Shaw is the International Field Office Director for the Austin Stone Community Church and a regular contributor at Verge. Joey and his family live outside the United States where they serve unreached peoples for the glory of Christ.

Laski [1893-1950] intended this work to be a sequel to Studies in the Problem of Sovereignty (1917). He argues that sovereignty is best understood as a type of authority, and he supports his case with examples drawn principally from modern French history. After tracing the origins of his subject, Laski considers the significance of Bonald, Lamennais, Royer-Collard and the Syndicalist movement.