The responsibility of Christians in the modern democratic state and the increased maturity of the laity so vitally necessary to the Church today force us to re-think the essence of authority and the corresponding question of obedience. The conferences that I was permitted to hold concerning the 'Relation of Christians to Ecclesiastical and Civil Officials' at the general meeting of Catholic women at Fulda, at the annual meeting of the men's society of the Diocese of Rottenburg and at the Catholic Education Society of Berlin met with such a lively response that, in view of their encouragement, I wish to make these thoughts available in an easily understandable and expanded form.