Theocracy

This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. It needs additional references or sources for verification. Tagged since May 2007. It may require general cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. Tagged since June 2010.

This article is part of the Politics series
Forms of government
List of government types
Anarchy Aristocracy Communist state Confederation Corporatism Consociationalism Demarchy Democracy Direct Representative Consensus Despotism Dictatorship Autocracy Military/Military junta Right-wing Authoritarianism Totalitarianism Ethnic democracy Ethnocracy Exilarchy Fascism Federation Feudalism Gerontocracy Kleptocracy Kratocracy Kritocracy/Kritarchy Logocracy Magocracy Meritocracy Geniocracy Minarchism/Night Watchman Monarchy Absolute Constitutional/Limited Diarchy/Co-Kingship Noocracy Ochlocracy/Mobocracy Oligarchy Panarchism Parliamentary Plutocracy Presidential Puppet state Republic Crowned Capitalist Constitutional Federal Parliamentary Dependent head of state Federal Socialist state Sociocracy Technocracy Cyberocracy Netocracy Thalassocracy Theocracy Islamic state Theodemocracy Timocracy Tribal Chiefdom Tyranny Union
Politics portal
v • d • e

Theocracy is a form of government in which a god or deity is recognized as the state's supreme civil ruler,^[1] or in a higher sense, a form of government in which a state is governed by immediate divine guidance or by officials who are regarded as divinely guided.^[2] In Common Greek, "theocracy" means a rule [kra′tos] by God [the.os′]. For believers, theocracy is a form of government in which divine power governs an earthly human state, either in a personal incarnation or, more often, via religious institutional representatives (i.e., a church), replacing or dominating civil government.^[3] Theocratic governments enact theonomic laws.

Theocracy should be distinguished from other secular forms of government that have a state religion, or are merely influenced by theological or moral concepts, and monarchies held "By the Grace of God".

A theocracy may be monist in form, where the administrative hierarchy of the government is identical with the administrative hierarchy of the religion, or it may have two 'arms,' but with the state administrative hierarchy subordinate to the religious hierarchy.

Contents 1 History of the concept 2 Current states with theocratic aspects 2.1 Islamic states 2.2 Iran 2.3 Holy See (Vatican City) 2.4 The State of Israel 2.5 States with official state religion 2.5.1 Roman Catholic 2.5.2 Eastern Orthodox 2.5.3 Lutheran 2.5.4 Anglican 2.5.5 Reformed 3 Historic states with theocratic aspects 3.1 Antiquity 3.2 Christianity 3.3 Mormonism 3.4 Other 3.5 Islam 3.6 Buddhism 4 Fictional Theocracies 5 See also 6 References 7 Further reading 8 External links

[edit] History of the concept

The word theocracy originates from the Greek θεοκρατία, meaning "the rule of God". This in turn derives from the Greek words θεός (theós, from an Indo-European root occurring in religious concepts), meaning "god", and κράτειν (krátein), meaning "to rule." Thus the meaning of the word in Greek was "rule by god(s)" or human incarnation(s) of god(s).

It was first coined by Josephus Flavius in the first century A.D. to describe the characteristic government for Jews. Josephus argued that while the Greeks recognized three types of government: monarchy, aristocracy, and anarchy, the Jews were unique in that they had a system of government that did not fit into those categories. Josephus understood theocracy as a fourth form of government in which only God and his law is sovereign. Josephus' definition was widely accepted until the Enlightenment era, when the term started to collect more universalistic^{[clarification needed]} and negative connotations, especially in Hegel's hands.

The first recorded English use was in 1622, with the meaning "sacerdotal government under divine inspiration" (as in Biblical Israel before the rise of kings); the meaning "priestly or religious body wielding political and civil power" is recorded from 1825.

The word has been mostly used to label certain politically unpopular societies as less rational or developed. The concept is used in sociology and other social sciences, but the term is often used inaccurately, especially in popular rhetoric.

In the most common usage of the term theocracy, some civil rulers are leaders of the dominant religion (e.g., the Byzantine emperor as patron of the head of the official Church); the government claims to rule on behalf of God or a higher power, as specified by the local religion, and divine approval of government institutions and laws. These characteristics apply also to a caesaropapist regime. The Byzantine Empire however was not theocratic since the patriarch answered to the emperor, not vice versa; similarly in Tudor England the crown forced the church to break away from Rome so the royal (and, especially later, parliamentary) power could assume full control of the now Anglican hierarchy and confiscate most church property and income.

Taken literally or strictly, theocracy means rule by God or gods and refers primarily to an internal "rule of the heart", especially in its biblical application. The common, generic use of the term, as defined above in terms of rule by a church or analogous religious leadership, would be more accurately described as an ecclesiocracy.^[4]

In a pure theocracy, the civil leader is believed to have a direct personal connection with God. For example, a prophet like Moses led the Israelites, and the prophet Muhammad ruled the early Muslims. Law proclaimed by the ruler is also considered a divine revelation, and hence the law of God. An ecclesiocracy, on the other hand, is a situation where the religious leaders assume a leading role in the state, but do not claim that they are instruments of divine revelation. For example, the prince-bishops of the European Middle Ages, where the bishop was also the temporal ruler. The papacy in the Papal States occupied a middle ground between theocracy and ecclesiocracy, since the pope did not claim he is a prophet who receives revelation from God, but merely the (in rare cases infallible) interpreter of already-received revelation. Religiously endorsed monarchies fall between these two poles, according to the relative strengths of the religious and political organs.

The example which Flavious gave for theocracy, the rule of the Temple of Jerusalem's High Priest, would under the present definition be an Ecclesiocracy, since these (often worldly) priests did not claim to have any revelation or direct connection with God.^{[citation needed]}

Secular governments can also coexist with a state religion or delegate some aspects of civil law to religious communities. For example, in Israel civil marriage is governed by Jewish religious institutions for Jews, by Muslim religious institutions for Muslims, and by Christian religious institutions for Christians. India similarly delegates control of marriage and some other civil matters to the religious communities, in large part as a way of accommodating its Muslim minority. Egypt was run in both a monarchic and theocratic fashion in which the pharaoh was the head priest.

[edit] Current states with theocratic aspects

[edit] Islamic states

An Islamic state is a state that has adopted Islam, specifically Sharia, as its foundations for political institutions, or laws, exclusively, and has implemented the islamic ruling system khilafah (Arabic خلافة). As such, all Islamic states are theocracies. This includes the states of Mauritania, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, and Yemen.

[edit] Iran

Iran's government is described as a "theocratic republic".^[5] Iran's head of state, or Supreme Leader, is an Islamic cleric appointed for life by an elected body called Assembly of Experts.^[5] The Council of Guardians, considered part of the executive branch of government, is responsible for determining if legislation is in line with Islamic law and customs (the Sharia), and can bar candidates from elections, and greenlight or ban investigations into the election process.^[5]

[edit] Holy See (Vatican City)

Following the unification of Italy, The Holy See (commonly known as the Vatican or Vatican City) became the last surviving territory of the former Papal States.^[6] In 1929, the Holy See was formally recognized as an independent state through treaties with the Italian government.^[6] The head of state of the Vatican is the pope, elected by the College of Cardinals, an assembly of senior Catholic clerics.^[6] A pope is elected for life, and voting is limited to cardinals under 80 years of age.^[6] A secretary of state, directly responsible for international relations, is appointed by the pope.^[6] The Vatican legal system is rooted in Canon Law, and subject to the dictates of the pope and changes to Canon Law made by conferences of senior clergy.^[6]

[edit] The State of Israel

Israel is not a theocracy, but rather operates under a parliamentary system as a democratic republic with universal suffrage.^[7] Regardless, Israel is frequently accused of being a theocratic state.^[8]

Over 3,500 years ago, according to the Torah and the Bible, the region was promised by God to the descendants of Abraham through his son Isaac and to the Israelites, descendants of Jacob, Abraham's grandson. This Holy or sacred Land is part of an eternal Biblical Covenant between God and the Jewish people..." Since Israel was founded by the Zionist movement as a Jewish state, and Judaism as a religion is often conflated Judaism as a nationality,^[8] Israel can have the semblance of guiding theocratic principles in its government. Mitchell Bard writes:^[8]

“

By blurring the distinction between nationality and religion, Israelis find themselves frequently accused of living in a theocratic state and in many ways it would seem Israel fits the mold of a sacred state.

”

Indeed, Israeli writer Gideon Levy writes in a Haaretz op-ed, "Between Stockholm and Tehran, Israel of 2009, with its many religious attributes, is closer to Tehran," closing with "Let's admit that we live in a country with many religious and halakhic attributes. Let's remove the concocted secularist guise with which we have wrapped ourselves."^[9] Others point out that Israeli citizens have diverse religions, even as the country only grants instant citizenship to Jews.

Still, such attributes, while appearing somewhat theocratic do not qualify the country as a theocracy. Emanuel Gutman refutes the charge:^[8]

“

The organs of government and state power neither derive their legal authority from religion or church nor their legitimation from any divine source. It cannot be claimed with any semblance of realism that state and church are coequal partners in the governance of the state. Indeed, all legal powers of the religious institutions and organs are ultimately devolved upon them by the state.

”

[edit] States with official state religion

Though having a state religion is not sufficient to be a theocracy, it is a theocratic aspect. Many countries have a state religion without government directly deriving its powers from a divine authority. The following states, for example, recognize some form of Christianity as their state or official religion (by denomination):

[edit] Roman Catholic

Jurisdictions which recognize Roman Catholicism as their state or official religion:

• Costa Rica^[10]
• Liechtenstein^[11]
• Malta^[12]
• Monaco^[13]
• Some cantons of Switzerland (state religion):
  • Appenzell Innerrhoden (declared "religion of the people of Appenzell Innerrhoden")
  • Aargau
  • Basel-Country
  • Berne
  • Glarus
  • Graubünden
  • Nidwalden
  • Schwyz
  • Thurgau
  • Uri

A number of countries, including Andorra, Argentina,^[14] Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Italy,^[15] Indonesia, Haiti, Honduras, Paraguay,^[16] Peru,^[17] Poland,^[18] Portugal, Slovakia, and Spain,^[19] give a special recognition to Catholicism in their constitution despite not making it the state religion.

[edit] Eastern Orthodox

Jurisdictions which recognize one of the Eastern Orthodox Churches as their state religion:

• Cyprus (Cypriot Orthodox Church)^[20]
• Greece (Church of Greece)^[21]
• Finland: Finnish Orthodox Church has a special relationship with the Finnish state.^[22] The internal structure of the church is described in the Orthodox Church Act. The church has a power to tax its members and corporations if a majority of shareholders are members. The church does not consider itself a state church, as the state does not have the authority to affect its internal workings or theology.

[edit] Lutheran

Jurisdictions which recognize a Lutheran church as their state religion:

• Denmark (Church of Denmark)^[23]
• Iceland (Church of Iceland)^[24]
• Norway (Church of Norway)^[25]
• Finland: Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland has a special relationship with the Finnish state, its internal structure being described in a special law, the Church Act.^[22] The Church Act can be amended only by a decision of the Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church and subsequent ratification by the parliament. The Church Act is protected by the Finnish constitution, and the state can not change the Church Act without changing the constitution. The church has a power to tax its members and all corporations unless a majority of shareholders are members of the Finnish Orthodox Church. The state collects these taxes for the church, for a fee. On the other hand, the church is required to give a burial place for everyone in its graveyards.^[26] The Finnish president also decides the themes for the intercession days. The church does not consider itself a state church, as the Finnish state does not have the power to influence its internal workings or its theology, although it has a veto in those changes of the internal structure which require changing the Church Act. Neither does the Finnish state accord any precedence to Lutherans or the Lutheran faith in its own acts.

[edit] Anglican

Jurisdictions that recognise an Anglican church as their state religion:

• England (Church of England)

[edit] Reformed

Jurisdictions which recognize a Reformed church as their state religion:

• Tuvalu (Church of Tuvalu)

[edit] Historic states with theocratic aspects

The largest and best known theocracies in history were the Umayyad and early Abassid Caliphate, and the Papal States. And as with any other state or empire, pragmatism was part of the politics of these de jure theocracies.

[edit] Antiquity

This section does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (June 2010)

The king in Pharaonic Egypt was a divine or semi-divine figure who ruled largely through priests. Properly speaking this was originally a caesaropapist order, rather than a theocratic one, since the worldly rulers took charge of religion, rather than vice versa, but once the pharaoh (since Ramses the Great) was recognized as a living (incarnated) god both definitions concurred.

Denying the gods of the ancient Greece and Rome was a crime. Furthermore the emperors of Rome were often deified.

In China (until 1911) and Japan (until 1946) the emperor was also regarded as a god.

[edit] Christianity

Geneva, during the period of John Calvin's greatest influence and the Massachusetts Bay Colony of the "Puritans" had many characteristics of Protestant theocracies.

During the short reign (1494–1498) of Girolamo Savonarola, a Dominican priest, the city of Florence could have been considered a theocracy. During his rule, un-Christian books, statues, poetry, and other items were burned (in the Bonfire of the Vanities), sodomy was made a capital offense, and other Christian practices became law.

[edit] Mormonism

Another ecclesiocracy was the administration of the short-lived State of Deseret, an independent entity briefly organized in the American West by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Its original borders stretched from western Colorado to the southern California coast. When the Mormons arrived in the valley of the Great Salt Lake in 1847, the Great Basin was still a part of Mexico and had no secular government. As a result, Brigham Young administered the region both spiritually and temporally through the highly organized and centralized Melchizedek Priesthood. This original organization was based upon a concept called theodemocracy, a governmental system combining Biblical theocracy with mid-19th-century American political ideals, including heavy reliance upon the U.S. Constitution.

The treaty of Guadalupe Hildalgo resulted in the Mexican Cession by which Deseret was incorporated into the United States. In 1849, the Saints organized a secular government in Utah, although many ecclesiatical leaders maintained their positions of secular power. The Mormons also petitioned Congress to have Deseret admitted into the Union as a state. However, under the Compromise of 1850, Utah Territory was created and Brigham Young was appointed governor. In this situation, Young still stood as head of the LDS Church as well as Utah's secular government.

After the abortive Utah War of 1857-58, the replacement of Young by an outside Federal Territorial Governor, the eventual resolution of controversies regarding plural marriage, and accession by Utah to statehood, the apparent temporal aspects of LDS theodemocracy receded markedly. However, — like many Christians, Jews, and Muslims — Latter-day Saints regard some form of theocracy with God as the head (king) of a chiliastic world government to be the true political ideal. But, until the Second Coming of Christ, the Mormons teach in their 12th Article of Faith: submission to the powers that be. But true to their beliefs in individual liberty and moral accountability, they exhibit a strong preference for democratic-republican, representative government as embodied in the Constitution of the United States. See also Theodemocracy.

[edit] Other

Montenegro offers a singular example of monarchs willingly turning their power to ecclesiastic authority (Montenegrin Orthodox), as the last of the House of Crnojević (styled Grand Voivode, not sovereign princes) did, in order to preserve national unity before the Ottoman onslaught as a separate millet under an autochthonous ethnarch. When Montenegro re-established secular dynastic succession by the proclamation of princedom in 1851, it did so in favor of the last Prince-bishop, who changed his style from Vladika i upravitelj Crne Gore i Brde "Vladika [bishop] and Ruler of Montenegro and Brda" to Po Bozjoj milosti knjaz i gospodar Crne Gore i Brde "By the grace of God Prince and Sovereign of Montenegro and Brda", thus rendering his de facto dynasty (the Petrović-Njegoš family since 1696) a hereditary one.

[edit] Islam

The period when Medina was ruled by the Islamic prophet Muhammad is occasionally classed as a theocracy. By 630, Muhammad had established a theocracy in Makkah. Most Sunni Muslims believe that only the Prophet Muhammad was able to be both a governmental as well as religious leader. Other plausible examples of Islamic theocracy might be Mahdist Sudan and the Taliban state in Afghanistan (1996–2001). Most irregular was the non-permanent rule of the Akhoonds (imams) in the later princely state of Swat, a valley in (first British India's, later Pakistan's) North-West Frontier Province. Theocratic movements arose in the Arab world in the 1970s.

[edit] Buddhism

Unified religious rule in Tibet began in 1642, when the Fifth Dalai Lama allied with the military power of the Mongol Gushri Khan to consolidate the political power and control centered around his office as head of the Gelug school.^[27] Prior to 1642, particular monasteries and monks had held considerable power throughout Tibet, but had not achieved anything approaching complete control, though power continued to be held in a diffuse, feudal system after the ascension of the Fifth Dalai Lama. Power in Tibet was held by a number of traditional elites, including members of the nobility, the heads of the major Buddhist sects (including their various tulkus), and various large and influential monastic communities.^[28] Tibet during this period existed as a feudal theocracy, with a large class of serfs (consisting largely of non-noble Buddhist laymen) working on estates owned by monastic leaders and members of the secular aristocracy.^[29]

Political power was sometimes used by monastic leaders to suppress rival religious schools through the confiscation of property and direct violence.^[27][29] Social mobility was somewhat possible through the attainment of a monastic education, or recognition as a reincarnated teacher, but such institutions were dominated by the traditional elites and governed by political intrigue.^[28] Non-Buddhists in Tibet were members of an outcast underclass.^[28]

[edit] Fictional Theocracies

Depictions of a fictional society dominated by a theocracy are a recurring theme in science fiction, speculative fiction and fantasy. Such depictions are mostly dystopian, and in some cases humorous or satyrical.

• If This Goes On—/Revolt in 2100 by Robert Heinlein (1940, revised and expanded 1953)
• Gather, Darkness by Fritz Leiber (1943)
• The Lovers by Philip Jose Farmer (1952 novella, expanded to full length 1961, revised 1977) [1]
• A Woman a Day (also "Moth and Rust" and "The Day of Timestop") by Philip Jose Farmer (1953 novella, expanded to full length 1960, same universe as "The Lovers")
• Messiah by Gore Vidal (1954) ISBN 0-14-118039-0
• Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny (1967)
• The Last Starship from Earth by John Boyd (1968)
• The Goblin Tower by L. Sprague de Camp (1968) (episode set in the theocratic city-state of Tarxia)
• The Stork Factor by Zach Hughes (1975)
• Run, Come See Jerusalem! by Richard C. Meredith (1976)
• The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood (1985)
• Candle by John Barnes (2000) . New York: Tor. ISBN 0-8125-8968-8.
• The Sky So Big and Black by John Barnes (2003) . New York: Tor. ISBN 0-7653-4222-7
• The Accidental Time Machine by Joe Haldeman (2007)
• In Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones, Pontifex Mansel is the leader of the Theocracy of Rausten.
• The alien alliance known as the Covenant in the Halo series.
• Atlantis in Age of Mythology is supposed to be governed by a theocrat. The politics are not explored however, and it is not stated how the theocrat kept himself in power when the gods abandoned the civilasation in the expansion pack's campaign.
• The Amarr Empire in EVE Online

[edit] See also

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Theocracy

• Religion
• Faith
• Establishment of religion
• Khalistan
• List of forms of government
• Religious left
• Christian left
• Christian right
• Religious right
• Unification Church and political involvement
• Sacred king
• Separation of Church and State
• Theodemocracy

Christian:

• Christianism
• Christian Exodus
• Christian Reconstructionism
• Divine Right of Kings
• Dominionism
• Falange
• National Catholicism
• Rexism
• Ustaše

Islamic:

• Iranian Revolution
• Islamic Banking
• Islamic republic
• Islamic state
• Islamism
• Political aspects of Islam
• Religious police
• Qutbism
• Taliban

[edit] References

[edit] Further reading

• Ankerl, Guy (2000). Global communication without universal civilization. INU societal research, vol. 1: Coexisting contemporary civilizations: Arabo-Muslim, Bharati, Chinese, and Western. Geneva: INU Press. ISBN 2-88155-004-5. 

[edit] External links

Look up theocracy in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• Biblical Theocracy, etext of a book by Stephen Palmquist (Philopsychy Press, 1993).
• EtymologyOnLine
• Is Judaism a Theocracy? chabad.org
• First Things, August/September 2006, p. 23-30 - Theocracy, Theocracy, Theocracy
• Caliphate: The Future of Islamic Theocracy
• Freedom of Religion in Israel