Sacred Kingship in World History : : Between Immanence and Transcendence / / ed. by A. Azfar Moin, Alan Strathern.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter Columbia University Press Complete eBook-Package 2022
• MitwirkendeR: Assmann, Jan,; Brisch, Nicole,; Devji, Faisal,; Gellner, David N.,; Gommans, Jos,; Gose, Peter,; Huseini, Said Reza,; Jerr, Nicole,; Mitchell, Lynette,; Moin, A. Azfar,; Puett, Michael,; Sahlins, Marshall,; Strathern, Alan,; Yelle, Robert A,; al-Azmeh, Aziz,
• HerausgeberIn: Moin, A. Azfar,; Strathern, Alan,
• Place / Publishing House: New York, NY : : Columbia University Press, , [2022]; ©2022
• Year of Publication: 2022
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource

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. After an essay by Marshall Sahlins that ranges from the Pacific to the Arctic, the book contains chapters on religion and kingship in settings as far-flung as ancient Egypt, classical Greece, medieval Islam, Mughal India, modern European drama, and ISIS. Sacred Kingship in World History sheds new light on how religion has constructed rulership, with implications spanning global history, religious studies, political theory, and anthropology.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Preface and Acknowledgments -- 1. Sacred Kingship in World History: Between Immanence and Transcendence -- 2. Kings Before Kingship: The Politics of the Enchanted Universe -- 3. Immanence in the Andes (1000–1700 ce): Divine Kingship, Stranger-Kingship, and Diarchy -- 4 Gods and Kings in Ancient Mesopotamia -- 5 Pharaonic Kingship and Its Biblical Deconstruction -- 6 King, Divinity, and Law in Ancient Greece -- 7. Humanizing the Divine and Divinizing the Human in Early China: Comparative Reflections on Ritual, Sacrifice, and Sovereignty -- 8 Caliphal Sovereignty or the Immanence of Transcendence -- 9. Neoplatonic Kingship in the Islamic World: Akbar’s Millennial History -- 10. Hobbes the Egyptian: The Return to Pharaoh, or the Ancient Roots of Secular Politics -- 11. Ancient Apostasy, Modern Drama: Henrik Ibsen’s Emperor and Galilean -- 12. The Last Hindu King: How Nepal Desanctified Its Monarchy -- 13. A Caliphate Beyond Politics: The Sovereignty of ISIS -- 14. Sacred Kingship: A Synthesis -- Bibliography -- Index