Lectionary Calendar
Sunday, December 22nd, 2024
the Fourth Week of Advent
Attention!
For 10¢ a day you can enjoy StudyLight.org ads
free while helping to build churches and support pastors in Uganda.
Click here to learn more!

Bible Dictionaries
Divine Right of Kings

1910 New Catholic Dictionary

Search for…
or
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W Y Z
Prev Entry
Divine Promise
Next Entry
Divinity
Resource Toolbox

Tbe claim of civilrulers to an authority, absolute and inalienable, in temporal and even in spiritual matters, without any responsibility for their use of such power to those whom they govern. It reached its highest pretensions under Henry VIII and James I, and appeared in later times under the Hohenzollern emperors and the czars. Such claim was approved by Luther and Melanchthon, but never by the Catholic Church. Theologians like Aquinas, Bellarmine, and Suarez have refuted it. Authority has its origin from God. It resides directly in the people who transfer or entrust it, not as its source, but as its channel, to those who exercise it for the good of the people and with responsibility to them.

Bibliography Information
Entry for 'Divine Right of Kings'. 1910 New Catholic Dictionary. https://www.studylight.org/​dictionaries/​eng/​ncd/​d/divine-right-of-kings.html. 1910.
 
adsfree-icon
Ads FreeProfile