The Divine Right of Kings

Our 4s history collaboration lecture series continued, with an insightful lecture on ‘The Divine Right of Kings’, presented by Head of Religion and Philosophy Dr Munro.

Dr Munro began her lecture by explaining that, the concept of seeing a ruler as a God has a very long classical history, with examples from the Roman Empire, the Greeks and the Ancient Egyptians.

One particular religious model for the divine right of kings comes from Judaism. This often includes ideas that a monarch should emulate the rulership of Moses and David, and Dr Munro explained the anointing of King Saul by the Prophet Samuel, marking him as someone chosen by God, which was an early example of this precedent in Judaism. It is an early example of the idea that a monarch is divinely called by God for a specific purpose, and with that calling they are transformed by divine power.

The divine right of kings was a notion often used by the Catholic Church throughout their history. An example of this is that the Pope rules over the Catholic Church by divine appointment.

Dr Munro showed an image of St Peter (recognised by the Roman Catholic Church as the first of its unbroken succession of popes); if you weren’t familiar with the particular symbolism in paintings of him, you might mistake him for a King.

When it comes to Christianity in Britain, the concept of the divine right of kings remained relevant during the Protestant Reformation. Throughout this period, belief in divine right allowed Protestant rulers to re-define authority, and still claim it. The frontispiece of The Great Bible (1540) shows King Henry VIII being whispered to by God, and the king passing on God’s words to the English people. The monarch has become the medium by which authority flows from God.

Dr Munro then introduced the students to Divine Command Theory, which our girls study in A Level religion and philosophy classes.  She also introduced the girls to arguments that challenge Divine Command Theory - an important skill when it comes to studying religion and philosophy - with the examples including the Euthyphro Dilemma, the Arbitrariness Problem, and the Pluralism Objection.

After learning about some challenging topics, our students were left with two questions to think about, concerning Divine Command Theory, by Dr Munro:

According to Divine Right, monarchs derived their authority from God. Therefore, if the King or Queen commanded someone to kill, should they do it? Is it right or wrong?

Since the King or Queen has authority from God, they cannot be held accountable for their actions by earthly authorities (e.g. parliament). Do you agree?

This topic is certainly one that our 4s students can use in their history studies moving forward, and we’d like to thank the History Department and Dr Munro for this lecture.

Please do keep a look out for more of our exciting history collaboration lectures, with subjects such as geography and English.