2. Kings Before Kingship: The Politics of the Enchanted Universe

Chapters in this book

1. Frontmatter i
2. Contents vii
3. Preface and Acknowledgments xi
4. 1. Sacred Kingship in World History: Between Immanence and Transcendence 1
5. 2. Kings Before Kingship: The Politics of the Enchanted Universe 31
6. 3. Immanence in the Andes (1000–1700 ce): Divine Kingship, Stranger-Kingship, and Diarchy 53
7. 4 Gods and Kings in Ancient Mesopotamia 72
8. 5 Pharaonic Kingship and Its Biblical Deconstruction 94
9. 6 King, Divinity, and Law in Ancient Greece 111
10. 7. Humanizing the Divine and Divinizing the Human in Early China: Comparative Reflections on Ritual, Sacrifice, and Sovereignty 137
11. 8 Caliphal Sovereignty or the Immanence of Transcendence 162
12. 9. Neoplatonic Kingship in the Islamic World: Akbar’s Millennial History 192
13. 10. Hobbes the Egyptian: The Return to Pharaoh, or the Ancient Roots of Secular Politics 223
14. 11. Ancient Apostasy, Modern Drama: Henrik Ibsen’s Emperor and Galilean 249
15. 12. The Last Hindu King: How Nepal Desanctified Its Monarchy 271
16. 13. A Caliphate Beyond Politics: The Sovereignty of ISIS 299
17. 14. Sacred Kingship: A Synthesis 323
18. Bibliography 351
19. Index 381