The Nature of the Commonwealth

2021 ◽  
pp. 42-62
Author(s):  
Sarah Mortimer
Keyword(s):  
Natural Law ◽  
Political Power ◽  
The State ◽  
Niccolo Machiavelli ◽  
Thomas More ◽  
Niccolò Machiavelli ◽  
Political Communities ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The Church ◽  
Alternative Ideas

An important catalyst for the upsurge of interest in analysing earthly political communities came in 1510, when the French king Louis XII called a Council of the Church to Pisa. Like previous Councils, it encouraged debate about the location, representation, and exercise of power, but the Council at Pisa was especially notable because its defenders—including Jacques Almain and John Mair—leaned heavily on the concept of natural law in making their case against the Pope. By appealing to natural law they made clear that they saw their writings as relevant not only to the internal workings of the Church, but to all communities, temporal as well as ecclesiastical. Soon new arguments began to circulate in Europe in which the basis of political power was grounded in natural law rather than in any direct grant of power from God. These arguments helped to explain why political power was diffused among a number of independent communities rather than united in the Empire, and they could also be used to show how and why the Church was different from the state or temporal community. This chapter also considers alternative ideas about the relationship between Christianity and politics, including those developed by Thomas More, Niccolò Machiavelli, and Francesco Guicciardini.

scholarly journals Przewrót Machiavellego

2019 ◽  
Vol 41 (3) ◽  
pp. 37-44
Author(s):  
Piotr Kimla
Keyword(s):  
Human Activity ◽  
Political Power ◽  
Niccolo Machiavelli ◽  
Niccolò Machiavelli ◽  
New Directions ◽  
Way Of Thinking ◽  
New Perspective ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Political Matter

MACHIAVELLI’S SUBVERSION The article features a short recapitulation of intellectual achievements in the sphere of politics of Niccolò Machiavelli. On many points he broke with the established way of thinking about politics and steered it in new directions. His revolution was expressed, among other things, in the positioning of politics as a central human activity, in the development of a new methodology for penetrating political matter, in the development of a new perspective on the tasks of political power and on relations between states, in the re-drawing of the relationship between morality and politics, and in an innovative view of the nature of man.

‘This Romish business’ - Ritual Innovation and Parish Life in Later Nineteenth-Century Lincolnshire

1999 ◽  
Vol 35 ◽  
pp. 384-395
Author(s):  
R. W. Ambler
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Church Of England ◽  
The State ◽  
Local Context ◽  
Holy Communion ◽  
Parish Church ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The Church ◽  
Mixing Water

In February 1889 Edward King, Bishop of Lincoln, appeared before the court of the Archbishop of Canterbury charged with illegal practices in worship. The immediate occasion for these proceedings was the manner in which he celebrated Holy Communion at the Lincoln parish church of St Peter at Gowts on Sunday 4 December 1887. He was cited on six specific charges: the use of lighted candles on the altar; mixing water with the communion wine; adopting an eastward-facing position with his back to the congregation during the consecration; permitting the Agnus Dei to be sung after the consecration; making the sign of the cross at the absolution and benediction, and taking part in ablution by pouring water and wine into the chalice and paten after communion. Two Sundays later King had repeated some of these acts during a service at Lincoln Cathedral. As well as its intrinsic importance in defining the legality of the acts with which he was charged, the Bishop’s trial raised issues of considerable importance relating to the nature and exercise of authority within the Church of England and its relationship with the state. The acts for which King was tried had a further significance since the ways in which these and other innovations in worship were perceived, as well as the spirit in which they were ventured, also reflected the fundamental shifts which were taking place in the role of the Church of England at parish level in the second half of the nineteenth century. Their study in a local context such as Lincolnshire, part of King’s diocese, provides the opportunity to examine the relationship between changes in worship and developments in parish life in the period.

scholarly journals The Left and the Church in Greece: The ambiguity of political and religious domain relationships

2017 ◽  
Vol 20 ◽  
pp. 103-134
Author(s):  
Niki Papageorgiou
Keyword(s):  
The State ◽  
Left Wing ◽  
Government Power ◽  
Full Independence ◽  
Leftist Party ◽  
New Policies ◽  
One Year ◽  
The One ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The Church

The occupation of government power by a leftist party in Greece (in January 2015) has formed a new political landscape and given rise to new political expectations after a long period of administration by the so-called system parties. The left-wing party, SYRIZA, was voted by Greek citizens as a new political force that could bring new policies, as it had the ambition to solve the country’s economic problems, bring social justice and tackle the severe humanitarian crisis caused by the recent long economic crisis. Regarding the religious field, the fixed aim of leftist parties was the separation between the State and the Church, which would lead to the full independence of the State from any religious or ecclesiastical influence, as well as the seizure of church assets by the State, the obligation for the clergy’s payroll to be covered by the Church, and similar demands regarding many other issues that shape the relationship between the State and the Church in Greece. This paper investigates especially the relationship between SYRIZA and the Church of Greece during the one-year period of the left-wing government, through the official discourse and political practices of the governing leftist party. For this purpose, the left-wing government’s political practices and stance towards the “religious issue,” as they are expressed by the party’s official press medium, the Avgi newspaper, are analyzed.

scholarly journals Official Reporting of Religious Organizations as a Source of Empirical Data on the Activities of the Church: Some Questions of Theory and Practice of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Sweden

2020 ◽  
pp. 135-145
Author(s):  
O. A. Balabeikina ◽  
N. M. Mezhevich ◽  
A. A. Iankovskaia
Keyword(s):  
Academic Research ◽  
Partial Solution ◽  
The State ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Public Attention ◽  
Reference Case ◽  
Global Trends ◽  
The World ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The Church

The relevance of any material offered to the scientific and expert community depends on many factors. Objectively, the presence of this or that issue in the center of public attention has a positive effect on the actualization of this or that article. However, there is an obvious danger. Academic approaches that accidentally find themselves in resonance with global trends can fall victim to political conjuncture. Relevance in this case can fall victim to the political moment. Moreover, this or that topic, being in the center of public discussion, negatively affects the academic understanding of the problem. All this fully relates to the question of the relationship between the state and the church in modern Europe and Russia.A few words about global trends. Their essence boils down to the growing confrontation between supporters of new ideological approaches and traditionalists, among whom are many adherents.The relationship between religion and the state testifies to the fact that states and societies have not yet learned to draw an effective line between their interests and those of adherents. This fact presupposes careful state and public participation in the affairs of the church. However, acknowledging this circumstance is not enough. The state must clearly know what, where and how is happening in the church sphere of the life of society in cases where church affairs can affect public and state security.It is also known that almost all the leading churches, to a greater or lesser extent, provide official reporting to the state. However, working with this reporting, its scientific analysis is not always representative.Objective. The presented article is aimed at a partial solution of the problem of increasing the effectiveness of academic research of the church` activities. Moreover, it is made based on official church statistics.The author’s position is the following. States and societies have no right to let go of this vital sphere of life. The functions of the state, in this case, are at least controlling. The ineffective execution of its functions by the state can be revealed in many countries of the world. The situation in France is nothing more than a reference case of a problem that, to one degree or another, exists in most of the countries of the world, which are distinguished by ethnic and confessional heterogeneity.

The Influence of the Process of Changing National Identity on the Aggravation of Relations Between the Church and the State in Montenegro

2020 ◽  
pp. 264-268
Author(s):  
Николай Сапсай
Keyword(s):  
National Identity ◽  
The State ◽  
Complete Picture ◽  
Orthodox Church ◽  
State Of Affairs ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The Church

В данном обзоре будет представлен труд, в котором анализируется развитие тенденции черногорских властей к сепаратизму совместно с формированием своей идентичности и церкви. В книге особенно прослеживается радикализация позиции черногорских властей по отношению к сербской идентичности и культуре, в том числе и канонической Сербской Православной Церкви. Также читатeли получат более полную картину о событиях, которые способствовали усложнению взаимоотношений между Церковью и государством в Черногории. Книга будет полезна всем тем, кто интересуется новейшей историей и положением дел в Черногории. This review will present a book that analyzes the development of the Montenegrin authorities’ tendency towards separatism together with the formation of their own identity and church. The book especially traces the radicalization of the position of the Montenegrin authorities in relation to Serbian identity and culture, including the canonical Serbian Orthodox Church. Also, the readers will receive a more complete picture of the events that contributed to the complication of the relationship between the Church and the state in Montenegro. The book will be useful to all those who are interested in the latest history and the state of affairs in Montenegro.

Prologue

2019 ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
Michael A. Gomez
Keyword(s):  
West Africa ◽  
Political Power ◽  
The State ◽  
The Third ◽  
History Of ◽  
City State ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The City

This prologue provides an overview of the history of early and medieval West Africa. During this period, the rise of Islam, the relationship of women to political power, the growth and influence of the domestically enslaved, and the invention and evolution of empire were all unfolding. In contrast to notions of an early Africa timeless and unchanging in its social and cultural categories and conventions, here was a western Savannah and Sahel that from the third/ninth through the tenth/sixteenth centuries witnessed political innovation as well as the evolution of such mutually constitutive categories as race, slavery, ethnicity, caste, and gendered notions of power. By the period's end, these categories assume significations not unlike their more contemporary connotations. All of these transformations were engaged with the apparatus of the state and its progression from the city-state to the empire. The transition consistently featured minimalist notions of governance replicated by successive dynasties, providing a continuity of structure as a mechanism of legitimization. Replication had its limits, however, and would ultimately prove inadequate in addressing unforeseen challenges.

Proposals for Social Pedagogy and the Best Political Practices From the Crown of Aragon

2021 ◽  
pp. 57-71
Author(s):  
Rosabel Roig-Vila ◽  
Gladys Merma-Molina ◽  
Diego Gavilán-Martín
Keyword(s):  
Saint Thomas Aquinas ◽  
Thomas Aquinas ◽  
Niccolo Machiavelli ◽  
Analytical Line ◽  
Thomas More ◽  
Crown Of Aragon ◽  
Niccolò Machiavelli ◽  
Social Pedagogy ◽  
Ramon Llull

The authors analyze the figure of the Franciscan Francesc Eiximenis, and especially his Regiment de la cosa pública, from a reflection on medieval pedagogy and politics. Likewise, they establish meeting points between the thought, the words and the pedagogy of Eiximenis and those of other authors. So, the chapter draws a chronological-analytical line between him and other relevant figures of the 13th through the 16th centuries, such as Saint Thomas Aquinas, Beatus Ramon Llull, Niccolò Machiavelli, (Saint) Thomas More, Saint Vincent Ferrer, and Joan Lluis Vives.

The Anabaptists and the Civil Authorities of Strasbourg, 1525–1555

1955 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 99-118 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Kreider
Keyword(s):  
Church And State ◽  
The State ◽  
16Th Century ◽  
Western Civilization ◽  
Religious Dissent ◽  
The World ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The Church

Since the dawn of the Christian era the relationship between church and state has been one of the pivotal issues of western civilization. Men have offered a variety of answers to this problem. The much- persecuted Anabaptists of the 16th century presented one set of answers, radical for their age, which called for a decisive separation of the church from the state and complete freedom for the church to pursue its vocation in the world. The Anabaptists were a distressing annoyance to the civil authorities. This movement posed for the 16th century the acute problem: how should religious dissent be handled?

Keeping the Faith in Revolutionary Mexico: Clerical and Lay Resistance to Religious Persecution, East Michoacán, 1926-1929

2002 ◽  
Vol 59 (1) ◽  
pp. 9-32 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew Butler
Keyword(s):  
Full Range ◽  
Popular Religion ◽  
Religious Life ◽  
Religious Practice ◽  
The State ◽  
Passive Resistance ◽  
Religious Persecution ◽  
Catholic Clergy ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The Church

This article analyses the character of local religious practice in the archdiocese of Michoacán during Mexico'scristerorebellion, and explores the relationship between ‘official’ and ‘popular’ religion under persecution. In particular, it shows how the Catholic clergy and laity reconstructed the religious life at parish level in an attempt to mitigate the effects of the revolutionary state's campaigns against the Church. For a variety of reasons, the significance of such passive resistance to the state, and the complexity of the interaction between the ecclesiastical elite and the Catholic laity, tend to be downplayed in many existing accounts. Perhaps unsurprisingly, many historians see cristero violence as the most important response to religious persecution, and therefore study it to the exclusion of alternative, less visible, modes of resistance. As for the Church, the hierarchy's wranglings with the regime similarly tend to overshadow the labours of priests and their parishioners under persecution. But the full range of popular experiences has also been deliberately compressed for ideological reasons. Many Catholic writers, for instance, seek to exalt the Church by describing a persecution of mythical ferocity. While Calles is likened to Herod, Nero, or Diocletian, the clergy and laity comprise a uniform Church of martyrs designate in revolt against a godless state. To achieve this instructive vision, however, a few exemplary martyrs—such as Father Pro and Anacleto González Flores—are allowed to stand for the whole mass of priests and believers, in the same way that Edmund Campion is revered as the protomartyr of the Elizabethan persecution in England. As a result, a stereotypical but politically serviceable image of a monolithic Church is perpetuated, an image which was recently institutionalised by the canonisation of 25 ‘cristero’ martyrs in May 2000.

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