Like the
divine right of kings, it is an increasingly archaic mandate, imposed on an organic system capable of self-governance.
Islam effectively moved from a medieval system of religion and politics to what amounts to a latter-day version of the
Divine Right of kings.
Indeed, James's success in imposing his theoretical position on the relation between common law and equity has been his most lasting influence on Anglo-American society, and has survived, mutatis mutandis, long after the demise of the
divine right of kings.
As I understand it, the Protestant Reformation and John Knox's Kirk held for the first time that there was no
divine right of kings and that it was the people's right to choose their church leaders.
Until we make the distinction between what Episcopal Bishop John Spong calls "Christendom" and true Catholicism, the perversions of absolute monarchy, like the
divine right of kings to deflower virgins, will continue.
Well - he'll just ignore it and rule through the
divine right of kings (or princes).
In the sixteenth century, various segments of the Church's own sons and daughters rose "in protest" against her: some against her belief that good works and not "faith alone" are required for salvation (Lutheranism); others against her belief in a God that seeks to save all men rather than one who destines some to eternal damnation (Calvinism); and others still against her rejection of the Absolute
Divine Right of Kings, according to which a monarch is subject to no earthly authority and answers only to God (Anglicanism).
A growth in a theory of the
divine right of kings led to arguments that there might be a right to rebellion against a tyrannical king.
Prime ministers and cabinets arrogantly believe they possess the
divine right of kings.
Charles I believed in the
Divine Right of Kings and tried to rule without Parliament which was dominated by the Puritans.
The regalia was re-created for Charles the Second, who went a bit more lightly on the
divine right of kings bit, remembering, no doubt, what had befallen his father.
Nobody claims Queen Elizabeth II was born beneath a rainbow, for example, but she does hold her exalted position thanks to the doctrine of the
Divine Right of Kings.
