Governing Perfection

＂In the beginning, God administrated.＂ For as Donald Prudlo observes, ＂There can be no achievement without administration.＂ In this book he seeks to restore the idea that while administration is necessary even in the institutional Church, holiness is not only possible for those charged with governance, but is a fulfillment and type of Christus Rector omnium, or ＂Christ, Ruler of all.

Scrutinizing the relevant thought of Aristotle, Machiavelli, Thomas Aquinas, and Nietzsche, among others, Prudlo pursues the notion of order in governance and confronts both the bloat of bureaucracy and the ＂intoxicating nature of power.＂ How can men and women who strive to live out humility and holiness likewise establish and participate in the structures that wield the powers of governance? ＂For the followers of Christ does not such a combination seem doomed from the outset?＂ Prudlo advances a thorough investigation of saints of the Christian tradition, whose responses to the problems inherent in authority and administration are living examples of the reality of grace building upon nature.

Of particular interest is Prudlo’s historical presentation of the concept of Romanitas, a style of governance inherited from ancient Rome. Four early popes are given close attention for their respective administrations: Damasus I, Leo I, Gelasius I, and Gregory I. Emphasis is also given to the specific administrative genius that emerges from the monastic orders, including the ’Pachomian solution’ and the Benedictine Rule. Prudlo gives the reader a portrait of Leo IX’s reinvigoration of the ancient practice of ’synodality, ’ and the centrality of the papacy to internal ecclesial reform. In the context of an inquiry into monastic and papal administrations, readers encounter the beginnings of the Roman Curia as well, and are confronted with the difficulty of inserting new forms of apostolic itinerant preaching into the institutional life of the Church.

This study is an important contribution to the history of the papacy, ecclesiology and its relevance to legal ordering, and administration within governance as affected by multiple legal and cultural traditions. It is a masterful presentation that provides both the framework and reflection needed to inspire true perfection the in administrative forum. The relevance and force of Prudlo’s Governing Perfection makes it a choice follow-up to his recent translation of Bartholomew of the Martyr’s classic, Stimulus Pastorum: A Charge to Pastors (2022).

Donald S. Prudlo is Warren Professor of Catholic Studies at the University of Tulsa and the author of a number of books including Thomas Aquinas: A Historical, Theological, and Environmental Portrait, Certain Sainthood, and The Martyred Inquisitor. His translation of Bartholomew of the Martyr’s Stimulus Pastorum: A Charge to Pastors was published by St. Augustine’s Press in 2022.