Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
The two kingdoms doctrine is a Protestant Christian theological concept that divides God's rule into two realms: the spiritual kingdom, where God governs through the gospel and the Church, and the earthly kingdom, where God governs through law and civil authority.
The decline of imperial power initially allowed the pope to assert greater independence. However, beginning in 962, the Holy Roman Emperor assumed control over papal elections and the appointment of bishops, reinforcing imperial authority over the Church. [1] In response to this, the Gregorian Reform commenced in the mid-11th century.
In Catholicism, the doctrine (or theory) of the two swords is an exegesis of Luke 22:38 elaborated in the Middle Ages.It can be understood as a particular justification for the Gelasian doctrine of "the sacred authority of the priesthood and the royal power".
Famuli vestrae pietatis is a letter written in 494 by Pope Gelasius I to Byzantine Emperor Anastasius I Dicorus which expressed the Gelasian doctrine. [1] According to commentary in the Enchiridion symbolorum, the letter is "the most celebrated document of the ancient Church concerning the two powers on earth."
The Sun and Moon allegory is used to depict a medieval political theory of hierocracy which submits the secular power to the spiritual power, stating that the Bishop of Rome is like the Sun, the only source of his own light, while the Emperor is like the Moon, which merely reflects lights and has no value without the Sun.
In the Middle Ages, the idea that God had granted certain earthly powers to the monarch, just as he had given spiritual authority and power to the church, especially to the Pope, was already a well-known concept long before later writers coined the term "divine right of kings" and employed it as a theory in political science.
According to historian Gabriel Paquette, regalism differs from Jansenism, but that they share some commonalities, including opposition to papal power, and a secular, utilitarian spirit. The papacy sought to maintain its power in what was termed ultramontanism , which emphasized the Pope’s power regarding the Church in all its spheres of activity.
For its part, just as the non-denominational status of the State implies the civil Authority's abstention from interference in the life of the Church and of the various religions, in the spiritual realm it enables all society's members to work together at the service of all and of the national community.