Questioning Authority

The Theology and Practice of Authority in the Episcopal Church and Anglican Communion

By: Ellen K. Wondra

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Hardcover | 26 September 2018

At a Glance

Hardcover
318 Pages

Edition Type
New edition

Dimensions(cm)
23.4 x 15.7 x 2.3

Hardcover

RRP $132.77

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Questioning Authority analyzes current conflicts concerning authority in the Anglican church and offers a new framework for addressing them. It argues that authority in the church is fundamentally relational rather than juridical. All members of the church have authority to engage in discerning the church's identity, direction, and mission. Most of this authority is exercised in personal interactions and group practices of consultation and direction. Formal authority in the church confers power so responsibilities can be fulfilled. Church relations always include conflict, which may be creative and helpful rather than divisive. Conflict arises because persons and groups follow Christ in ways related to their own cultural context while also being in communion with others. Communion in the church requires embracing diversity, recognizing and respecting others' perspectives, and working together to discover and create common ground. Today's church needs more participatory forms of governance and decision-making that are conciliar and synodal.

Industry Reviews

"In this wide-ranging work, Ellen K. Wondra doesn't so much question authority as reclaim what true authority consists of in the Anglican tradition. Authority derives its power to initiate and confirm action from the common life of individuals bound together by history, obligation, affection and shared hope. Hence, authority is essentially relational. Wondra demonstrates how this moral philosophical claim is reflected in the ancient ecclesial principle of conciliarity: bishops, personally embodying the unity of the church, only exercise leadership in concert with the people of God as a whole. Its Anglican focus notwithstanding, this study is deeply ecumenical, particularly in its steady insistence that when disagreement and difference coexist in community, there true authority is to be found, however messy and fluid it may be." Rt. Rev. Thomas E. Breidenthal, IX Bishop of Southern Ohio

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