The theocracy Is a form of government in which faith or religion plays a fundamental role and it is pursued that the laws and mandates established by an official god or religion are the supreme and maximum, being that god the maximum authority along with the ecclesiastical authorities that Represent it.
Prior to the advent of Christianity, the separation between state and religion was confused in almost all world civilizations. The word comes from"theokracia"from Greek and is broken down into words like"god"-"theos"and"kratos""obey or be ruled by god".
An example of theocracy: anubis, Egyptian god as designator of his representative on earth.
The consequences for breaching divine laws delivered through the religious involved from the amputation of the tongue or ear to the execution.
The earliest theocracy can be established in western Asia towards the 1st century BC. C. However, the first one that used that term was Flavio Josefo (37 d.C. - 100 AD), Jewish historian. His intention was to explain it to Gentile readers, comparing it with other forms of government such as the oligarchy and republic, in an attempt to make those who were privileged to read the Jewish political and organizational system of his day.
Currently, theocracy has existed in Iran since 1979 and was established by the regime of Ayatollah Ruholla Khomeini (1900 - 1989). It is considered in this way because the state and religious power is not clearly divided, but it is in the same figure carried out by a fundamentalist leader who organizes the whole society under the law of sharia.
It is also considered to have occurred in Afghanistan and several Muslim countries such as Algeria, Pakistan, Sudan and Turkey.
Development of Theocracy
Antiquity and Medieval
The origins of theocracy are very archaic and go back to the magic of primitive and tribal communities.
In the earliest Egyptian period (3000 BC - 300 BC) one can see the clearest example of theocracy, since the pharaoh was not the representative of god on earth, but was considered as a god or semi- God himself.
It was a polytheistic epoch, nevertheless what the Pharaoh established was word of God and therefore was considered law. The clearest example was Ramses 'The Great', recognized as a living god.
When Pharaoh was crowned, the main belief was that the soul of Horus (god of the sky, son of Ra sun god) entered the body of the same and guided it. Because of this, the burial and mummification ritual was so important.
Pharaoh was above the whole pyramid of the status quo of ancient Egypt, for being God's representative. Secondly, the priests and the nobles came. The priests were responsible for pleasing the gods and so they were so important to the Egyptians and to Pharaoh.
Then, on the status scale, came artisans, merchants and other talented workers. Below them farmers and peasants. Finally, the lower part of the social scale belonged to the slaves. Similar events occurred in most early civilizations like the Maya and Aztecs.
Another historical example is that of Moses, who was expressed by order of God (represented by a bush that set fire and was not consumed) to free the people of Israel. The Ten Commandments were also revealed by a divine representation.
During the Middle Ages, the emperor was usually worshiped as a deity until Constantine I was transformed to Christianity. The theocracy was adopted by the Roman Catholic Apostolic Church, since the idea of the divine right that the kings had to govern was combined with the government to form the Cesaropapismo.
He started it himself in the year 800, with the coronation by the Pope of Charlemagne. He established the Carolingian empire, which lasted for forty-three years. The main idea of Cesaropapism was to maintain the divine origin of the kings and their divine right giving them absolute power.
Later the idea was maintained that the king was the head that was seen of the church and competed the power with the pope, that happened to only fulfill the role of the liturgical service.
In the IV Century the pontificate collapses, since the power of the feudal lords begins to dominate, helped by the rather reprehensible behavior of some Popes. This does not imply that most of the churches were still under the authority of the Holy See while Christianity spread throughout Europe.
From the twelfth century the constant confrontations between the papacy and the emperors were in sharp increase. An example of this was the rebellion that led to the taking of the Papal Palace when Boniface VIII (Pope from 1294 to 1303) ordered the excommunication of King Philip IV 'the Beautiful' (1268 - 1314). With this begins the Papado de Plane and the Monarchies that preceded Philip IV insisted on their superiority over papal authority.
By 1378 there were two popes that governed the Catholic Church located in Rome, Italy and Avignon, France. The union is tried several times, but it fails. At the Council of Basel (1438-1445) the union of the Church is attempted again, which is achieved despite opposition, ending the crisis of the Catholic Church. It is considered the maximum meeting of the church being selected to a single Pope, Martín V (1368 - 1431).
Islam
In Islam, theocracy was established by the Prophet Muhammad (570 - 632), in which the Prophet exercised as spiritual and government leader. Subsequent to his death, the political religious system called"Caliphate"is established and the division that remains until today between Sunnis and Shiites takes place.
The Shiites considered that the succession after Muhammad's death should follow the family line (in the person of Ali), while Sunnis believed that power should fall into the hands of the figure of the caliph.
Then the first caliphate of the Islamic dynasty was established in 661 with Abu - Béker, who faced a great crisis. This was because many Arab tribes moved away from the movement when they considered that they had fulfilled the loyalty towards Muhammad and that this one should not be maintained after his death.
Nevertheless, Abu-Béker achieved the unification of Arabia thanks to its wisdom and skills of strategist. In the year 634 dies by a strong fever leaving like successor to Umar.
Several caliphates were created, beginning by four towards 632 that were accepted by both Sunnis and Shiites, all Orthodox. Later they were born the caliphate Omeya, the Califato Abbasí, the Caliphate Fatimí, Califato Omeya of Cordova and the Caliphate Ottoman. By 1926, Turkey removes the caliphate from its constitution as a form of government.
In 2014 the Caliph of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant in Al Raga (ISIS) was established, being the only modern caliphate carried forward by Abu Bakr al - Baghdadi.
Christianity
After the Protestant Reformation during the sixteenth century, there were several attempts to establish theocracy.
The doctrine of Luther, which although it differentiates between two regimes: the temporal and the spiritual, ends by establishing circumstances for a close link between Church and State. To this end, he wanted to place in the hands of civil authority the government of the Church insofar as it exercises authority over so-called external affairs of the Church, such as the administration of ecclesiastical goods.
Calvin (1509-1564), which was closer to the Catholic tradition, proposed the linking of state powers to the Church. According to Calvin, a moral and correct Christian community results from conjugating the obedience, cooperation and order emanated from the divine law of God.
When by the 1630s the Puritans migrated to New England, they established as the best government theocracy, since they only knew Christ like reigning unique on the population.
The purpose of the Puritans is not to invest in priests or ministers with political power, but if they have"visible saints"that is, settlers who teach and indoctrinate according to the word of the Lord.
During the seventeenth century along with the period of enlightenment, the primacy of the rational and secular vision would be assigned along with the natural and inherent right of humans, clearly dividing the powers and establishing the supremacy of State power over the clerical, in That the power of the church is not only subject to, but delimited the spheres and limits of action.
References
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