Edmund Morgan Quotes
It was not necessary and might even have been disadvantageous for a government to claim a direct personal commission and communion of the kind God had given some rulers in the Old Testament. A working government might need the support of the Church but not of God Himself in a voice from on high.
Morgan, Edmund S. Inventing the People: The Rise of Popular Sovereignty in England and America. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1988.
This concept is not terribly different from the concept of the theocracy of the Islamic government of Iran in the 21st century. There is a civil government but it serves and is “under the direction of the spiritual power.”
the Jews of Ancient Israel
In 1996 the Tennessee Senate passed a resolution to post the Ten Commandments in homes, schools and businesses. Cohen was then a Senator of the Tennessee State Legislature.
Most European monarchies and strong, powerful states were theocratic empires and had as their foundation a ruling family and a national church. In Japan, the churches were politically weak, and so the designers of the Japanese empire created the concept of a divine emperor where spiritual and temporal power could be the embodiment of the state which in their view had to have both dimensions. See Ito’s statement on the subject: {604492}
Although James’ mother, Mary Queen of Scots had been a Catholic, James was a fervent Protestant. However, he found the separation of the State from authority over the church and the Presbyterian approach not to his liking. Also, the early tradition of the Presbyterian preachers scolding the monarch, especially his mother, was uncomfortable for James.
Edmund Sears Morgan was an American historian, an eminent authority on early American history. He was Emeritus Professor of History at Yale University, where he taught from 1955 to 1986. He specialized in American colonial history, with some attention to English history. Thomas S. Kidd says he was noted for his incisive writing style, "simply one of the best academic prose stylists America has ever produced." He covered many topics, including Puritanism, political ideas, the American Revolution, slavery, historiography, family life, and numerous notables such as Benjamin Franklin.
