Question

Professor Mark Brighton: Now, about civil authorities, the church is part of God's Kingdom of grace. There is, at the same time, another kingdom called God's Kingdom of Power. That is there is a Church, the large C Church, the realm and the civil realm. Both realms are under the authority of God but they are very different from each other. The Kingdom of Grace is sometimes also referred to as The Kingdom of the Right, or the Right-Hand Kingdom. And the Kingdom of Power is sometimes also referred to as the Kingdom of the left, or the Left-Hand Kingdom. Romans 13 is the standard biblical reference teaching about civil kingdoms, that is the Left-Hand Kingdom, or the Kingdom of Power. There Paul writes, "Let every person be subject "to the governing authorities. "For there is no authority except from God, "and those that exist have been instituted by God. "Therefore whoever resists the authorities "resists what God has appointed "and those who resist will incur judgment. "For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. "Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority

Answer 1

The concept of the Divine Right of Kings granted monarchs unfettered authority by divine will, contrasting with the social contract theory which argued for the sovereignty of the people and representative governance, trends exemplified by Britain's constitutional evolution after the Glorious Revolution.

Step-by-step explanation:

The student's question is rooted in the historical and political understanding of the relationship between religious and secular power, particularly as it pertains to the concept of Divine Right of Kings and the separation between the Church and the State. The Divine Right of Kings posits that a monarch's authority is granted directly by God, making the king answerable only to divine judgement and unaccountable to earthly powers.

On the other hand, social contract theorists like Thomas Hobbes presented different viewpoints on the nature of government and legitimacy, which contributed to changing ideas about the authority of leaders and the rights of citizens. Throughout history, the tug-of-war between ecclesiastical power and monarchial or governmental control often played out in decisions regarding church appointments, as well as in moments of political upheaval, such as the English Civil War. Constitutional states like Britain eventually found a balance by sharing power between a hereditary monarch and representative bodies, as seen after the Glorious Revolution.