Divine Right

A concept that originated from the practices of the Eastern monarchies and Hellenistic philosophy. In its earlier embodiments, found in Egypt, Syria, and Mesopotamia, the king was considered a direct kin of God. It has been argued that this concept later developed in Western ideology to deal with the political problems posed after the Reformation, though it was fully accepted that the king was a direct kin of God rather than God's lieutenant on earth. In Western political theory, divine right vested sovereignty on the king, whose power and authority came from God alone, not his subjects. However, others argue that from an ideological point of view, divine right condemned disobedience and did not exclude the king from obeying his own laws. It instead created a hierarchy that required the king to obey the norms and laws of God.

Early divine right theorists included John Aylmer, Thomas Bilson, and John Bridges. For more information, see Burgess (1992).