Political Theology and the Metamorphoses of The King’s Two BodiesThe King’s Two Bodies: A Study in Mediaeval Political Theology, by Ernst H. Kantorowicz

As is well known, Ernst H. Kantorowicz’s groundbreaking 1957 study The King’s Two Bodies: A Study in Mediaeval Political Theology explored the “dual nature” of the king’s body in medieval and early modern religious and political thought, tracing the evolution of an idea that would ultimately underwrite the “myth of the State,” namely, that the king possessed a mortal, transitory body, but also a supranatural one that never died. Readers greeted The King’s Two Bodies as an exceptional contribution to medieval studies immediately upon its publication. As Whalen relates, however, a growing awareness of where the book fits into the trajectory of Kantorowicz’s life and early career in 1920s and 1930s Germany has reshaped scholarly analyses of his famous work. Increasing numbers of scholars now interpret Kantorowicz’s study of medieval political theology as a response and oblique challenge to contemporary theories about the theological origins of modern sovereignty, including the work of Carl Schmitt. As Whalen also suggests, in recent years, the so-called return of religion to the public sphere and ongoing debates about the validity of the “secularization” narrative, positing the transference of religious concepts to secular politics in the modern age, has inspired further rounds of critical interest in The King’s Two Bodies. Now over sixty years old, Kantorowicz’s book seems as important and vital as ever, experiencing transformations in its reception that few could have imagined when it first appeared in print.