King's Two Bodies

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1. andrewjlMar 2024
   Western Europe was not too different at the start of the medieval period but then evolved in a different direction. The King's Two Bodies by Ernst Kantorowicz is a good read on this.
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2. essephJul 2026
   > I just wanted to clarify the drive-by theology indicating Christians are somehow "siding" with the "elite" is a very poor understanding of the scripture and ignores basically all of history.

   This is a factually incorrect statement. There have been many times where Christianity and the State have aligned for mutual benefit. Ignoring that would be ignoring history!

   Just a few examples:

   - The Constantinian Shift (4th Century AD): When Emperor Constantine legalized Christianity (313 AD) and Emperor Theodosius I made it the official Roman state religion (380 AD), the Church transformed from a persecuted minority into an institutional ally of imperial power (Source: Eusebius, "Life of Constantine"; Peter Brown, "Through the Eye of a Needle").

   - The Divine Right of Kings & Feudalism: Throughout the Middle Ages and Early Modern period, Christian theology was used to legitimize monarchical power and feudal class structures. Rulers were viewed as ordained directly by God, making rebellion against political elites a sin (Source: Ernst Kantorowicz, "The King's Two Bodies").

   - Martin Luther & The German Peasants' War (1524–1525): When German peasants revolted against feudal oppression using Protestant ideas, Martin Luther explicitly sided with the aristocracy, writing Against the Murderous, Thieving Hordes of Peasants, urging nobles to suppress the uprising forcefully.

   - Pro-Slavery Theology in the Antebellum South: Major American denominations split over slavery in the 1840s (e.g., the founding of the Southern Baptist Convention in 1845), with prominent theologians using Biblical texts to justify chattel slavery and protect the economic interests of the plantation elite (Source: Mark Noll, "The Civil War as a Theological Crisis").

   - Currently in the US, the Federal Government and Christianity have strong alignment, to the point where pastors in churches advocate for politicians openly now. https://abcnews.com/Politics/meet-pastors-support-donald-tru...

   Edit: Why TF was this flagged??

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3. throw0101bMay 2023
   > […] but rather the institution that is The Crown.

   Perhaps of some interest:

   > The King's Two Bodies (subtitled, A Study in Mediaeval Political Theology) is a 1957 historical book by Ernst Kantorowicz. It concerns medieval political theology and the distinctions separating the "body natural" (a monarch's corporeal being) and the "body politic".[1]

   * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_King%27s_Two_Bodies

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4. paganelAug 2017
   > the Yale Endowment is immortal

   This reminds me of a book I've just read, Ernst Kantorowicz's "The King's Two Bodies", where he describes how the concept of "fiscus" (what later would be called the "royal purse", or the "royal domain") became "immortal" somewhere around the 1200s in Britain. This also reminded me that I wanted to check if anyone had made a connection or had written a book/study about the possible relation between today's big corporations (think Google, Apple) and what people in the Middle Ages had called in Latin as "corporatio" (or "corporate body", in the English translation).

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