Revisiting God’s Authority

The decisionist picture of God may not be a coherent picture—a great deal hinges on how we understand God's omnipotence—but this does not stop it from being an influential picture in politics and in theology and especially in political theology. In this article, Margalit revisits and expands on his 2005 essay on God’s authority, discussing the authority of God, the authority of the messenger and the authority of the scriptures. He argues that the authority of God is justified through three "pictures": the fascist picture based on sheer decisionism; the feudal picture based on gratefulness; and the protectionist picture based on protection.