The Invisible Source of Authority

God in a Secular Age

David Walsh

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English

University of Notre Dame Press
31 July 2025

Ethics & moral philosophy; Social & political philosophy; Philosophy of religion; Political science & theory

Series: The Beginning and the Beyond of Politics

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 Because the secular is always that which has withdrawn from serving God, Walsh suggests that this presupposition proves that God remains indispensable to the self-understanding of secular society.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.

By: David Walsh
Imprint: University of Notre Dame Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 229mm, Width: 152mm, Spine: 10mm
ISBN: 9780268209575
ISBN 10: 026820957X
Series: The Beginning and the Beyond of Politics
Pages: 188
Publication Date: 31 July 2025
Audience: College/higher education , Further / Higher Education
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Preface 1. How Can We Forget What We Must Remember? 2. The Spiritual Escapes Us 3. Symbols Hide What They Say 4. Atheism Is Impossible in Practice 5. God Beyond Being 6. The Invisible Source of Authority

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.

Reviews for The Invisible Source of Authority: God in a Secular Age

""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