Sacred Kingship in World History by A. Azfar Moin (.ePUB)
File Size: 6 MB
Sacred Kingship in World History: Between Immanence and Transcendence edited by A. Azfar Moin, Alan Strathern
Requirements: .ePUB reader, 6 MB
Overview: Sacred kingship has been the core political form, in small-scale societies and in vast empires, for much of world history. This collaborative and interdisciplinary book recasts the relationship between religion and politics by exploring this institution in long-term and global comparative perspective.
Editors A. Azfar Moin and Alan Strathern present a theoretical framework for understanding sacred kingship, which leading scholars reflect on and respond to in a series of essays. They distinguish between two separate but complementary religious tendencies, immanentism and transcendentalism, which mold kings into divinized or righteous rulers, respectively. Whereas immanence demands priestly and cosmic rites from kings to sustain the flourishing of life, transcendence turns the focus to salvation and subordinates rulers to higher ethical objectives. Secular modernity does not end the struggle between immanence and transcendence―flourishing and righteousness―but only displaces it from kings onto nations and individuals.
Genre: Non-Fiction > History
Free Download links: