The Invisible Source of Authority - (The Beginning and the Beyond of Politics) by David Walsh

Book Synopsis

The Invisible Source of Authority is a philosophical meditation on the secular age and challenges the notion that the secular can be understood without reference to God.

How does one reject God while denying belief? This is the central paradox of our secular age, where efforts to erase God only affirm his presence. In The Invisible Source of Authority, David Walsh examines this paradox and argues that a secular world actually reveals God more clearly, rather than bringing about what has been called the death of God. Unlike many critics of modernity, Walsh argues that secularism is not inhospitable to authentic religious faith and cannot be understood without reference to God.

Drawing on the writings of early modern thinkers like Montaigne, Descartes, and Grotius, Walsh asserts that God's absence from the secular world is testimony to God's transcendence. Because the secular is always that which has withdrawn from serving God, Walsh suggests that this presupposition proves that God remains indispensable to the self-understanding of secular society. The Invisible Source of Authority seeks to remind us that, despite his seeming absence, the transcendent God remains an essential presence.

Review Quotes

"A remarkable and original contribution to philosophical anthropology, one of the major foundations of political science. Anyone concerned with the significance of the 'secular society' will be informed by Walsh's argument. Perhaps they will even be astonished to discover the implications of the reality to which that term refers." --Barry Cooper, author of Paleolithic Politics

"Walsh is passionate and clear-eyed in equal measure. His intention is to remind the constituencies that either embrace or rail against the secular that the secular not only provides ample opportunity for the experience and affirmation of the beyond, but also a purification of the experience." --Cyril O'Regan, author of The Anatomy of Misremembering

About the Author

David Walsh is professor of politics at the Catholic University of America. He is the author and editor of a number of books, including The Priority of the Person and The Growth of the Liberal Soul.