Unpacking the gift - Peter Fisher

Authority is so often "the issue behind the issues". Whether in the family, the state or the church, the question of who has authority, how they should exercise it and for what purposes is usually lurking in the background of any major debate. More than that, we live in a society which is both deeply suspicious of "the authorities" and yet anxious to discover where true authority lies. "Unpacking the Gift" is a wide-ranging collection of essays produced in response to "The Gift of Authority", the third and most recent Agreed Statement on Authority made by the Anglican - Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC), that addresses the question of authority in the church. The book sheds fresh light on questions of authority and the search for Christian unity in today's world. It should make stimulating and rewarding reading for anyone concerned with how authority should be handled and how Christians and churches can find a path to the unity for which Christ prayed. "Unpacking the Gift" is the first significant response to the statement on authority and should assist both Anglicans and Catholics in evaluating the "Gift of Authority".