Divine Right to Rule and the Bible

*(Jody Gray) Examples of how a person or a group of people claims authority aka the Right to Rule through use of The Bible and "claims" to Biblical Lineage (see, Related Blog Posts). The refusal of the Pope to grant Henry VIII an annulment of his marriage, led to Henry's break from the Church, which led to a separate Church of England and Henry being declared the "Supreme Head" and to the publication of the Great Bible (commissioned by Henry in 1535). (the 2nd Bible of the Church of England, the Bishops' Bible was completed in 1568). James VI took it a step farther, writing (1597-98) "Defense of the Right of Kings" asserting that a monarch is subject to no earthly authority, deriving his right to rule directly from the will of God. His King James Bible was begun in 1604 and completed in 1611.

 *https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Divine_right_of_kings Divine right of kings. The divine right of kings, divine right, or God's mandate is a political and religious doctrine of royal and political legitimacy. It asserts that a monarch's subject to no earthly authority, deriving the right to rule directly from the will of God. The king is thus not subject to the will of his people, the aristocracy, or any other estate of the realm. It implies that only God can judge an unjust king and that any attempt to depose, dethrone or restrict his powers runs contrary to the will of God and may constitute a sacrilegious act. It is often expressed in the phrase "by the Grace of God", attached to the titles of a reigning monarch.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/By_the_Grace_of_God By the Grace of God, is an introductory part of the full styles of a monarch historically considered to be ruling by divine right. In the United Kingdom, for example, the phrase was added to the royal style in 1521 and has continued to be used to this day. According to the "Royal Proclamation reciting the altered Style and Titles of the Crown" of May 29, 1953, the latest such change of royal title, Elizabeth II's present full title is Elizabeth II, by the Grace of God of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and of Our other Realms and Territories Queen, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith.

History and rationale. Originally, it has a literal meaning: the divine will was invoked -notably by Christian monarchs -as legitimation (the only one above every earthly power) for the absolutist authority the monarch wielded. This is also known as the divine right of kings, that is, the endorsement of God for the monarch's reign.
  While the Christian Roman emperors during the late Dominate, especially in the East (as continued in Byzantium after the fall of Rome), came remarkably close to acting out the role of God's voice on earth, centralizing all power in their hands, e.g. reducing the Patriarch of Constantinople to their" (State) Minister of the Cult" and proclaiming their "universal" authority (in the Oriental tradition, as in Persia, but also in the original Muslim Caliphate), for most dynasties it would rather prove to be a never-ending battle up the hills of political resistance, both from rival power poles within their state (nobility, clergy, even within a dynasty) and from foreign powers claiming independence or even hegemony, usually constraining them in constitutional limitations (not necessarily written statues, more often a matter of customary law and established privileges).
  By custom, the phrase "by the Grace of God" is restricted to sovereign rulers; in the feudal logic, a vassal could not use it, because he held his fief not by the grace of God almighty, but by grant of a superior nobel, (in)directly from the crown...

 *(Jody Gray) Previously, I had researched "the Right to Rule" of Kings; below, is a section of the resulting Blog Post that relates to James VI of Scotland.

*Blog Post: Divine Right of Kings. http://historicalandmisc.blogspot.com/2017/06/divine-right-of-kings.html *The Scots textbooks of the divine right of kings were written in 1597–98 by James VI of Scotland before his accession to the English throne. His Basilikon Doron, a manual on the powers of a king...  The state of monarchy is the supremest thing upon earth, for kings are not only God's lieutenants upon earth and sit upon God's throne, but even by God himself they are called gods... Kings are also compared to fathers of families; for a king is truly parens patriae [parent of the country], the politic father of his people. -his reference to "God's lieutenants" is apparently a reference to the controversial text in Romans 13, where Paul refers to "God's ministers". (4) For he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil. (5) Wherefore ye must needs be subject, not only for wrath, but also for conscience sake. (6) For this cause pay ye tribute also: for they are God's ministers, attending continually upon this very thing. (7) Render therefore to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honour to whom honour.
James also had printed his Defense of the Right of Kings in the face of English theories of inalienable popular and clerical rights. The divine right of kings, or divine-right theory of kingship, is a political and religious doctrine of royal and political legitimacy. It asserts that a monarch is subject to no earthly authority, deriving his right to rule directly from the will of God. The king is thus not subject to the will of his people, the aristocracy, or any other estate of the realm, including (in the view of some, especially in Protestant countries) the church. A weaker or more moderate form of this political theory does hold, however, that the king is subject to the church and the pope, although completely irreproachable in other ways; but according to this doctrine in its strong form, only God can judge an unjust king. The doctrine implies that any attempt to depose the king or to restrict his powers runs contrary to the will of God and may constitute a sacrilegious act.

 *King James Bible, was the third translation into English approved by the English Church authorities, commissioned in 1604 by King James VI of Scotland and I of England. James gave the translators instructions intended to ensure that the new version would conform to the ecclesiology and reflect the episcopal structure of the Church of England and its belief in an ordained clergy.

*https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_James_Version King James Version (KJV) aka King James Bible (KJB) or the Authorized Version (AV), is an English translation of the Christian Bible for the Church of England, begun in 1604 and completed in 1611... It was first printed by the King's Printer Robert Barker and was the third translation into English approved by the English Church authorities. The first had been the Great Bible, commissioned in the reign of King Henry VIII (1535), and the second had been the Bishops' Bible of 1568. In January 1604, James VI and I convened the Hampton Court Conference, where the new English version was conceived in response to the problems of the earlier translations perceived by Puritans, a faction of the Church of England. The translation is noted for its "majesty of style", and has been described as one of the most important books in English culture and a driving force in the shaping of the English-speaking world.
  James gave the translators instructions intended to ensure that the new version would conform to the ecclesiology and reflect the episcopal structure of the Church of England and its belief in an ordained clergy. The translation was done by 47 scholars, all of whom were members of the Church of England... In the Book of Common Prayer (1662), the text of the Authorized Version replaced the text of the Great Bible for Epistle and Gospel readings... and as such was authorised by Act of Parliament.
  By the first half of the 18th century, the Authorized Version had become effectively unchallenged as the English translation used in Anglican and English Protestant churches... Over the course of the 18th century, the Authorized Version supplanted the Latin Vulgate (see, below) as the standard version of scripture for English-speaking scholars. With the development of stereotype printing at the beginning of the 19th century, this version of the Bible became the most widely printed book in history...

http://www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/PlainTextHistories.asp?historyid=ac66 *History of Bible Translations.

In 382 the pope, Damasus, commissions Jerome to provide a definitive Latin version... (he) produces the Vulgate. This eventually becomes established as the Bible of the whole western church until the Reformation.
A restricted Bible: 8th-14 century AD. The text of Jerome's Vulgate is understood only by the learned, most of whom are priests. They prefer to corner the source of Christian truth, keeping for themselves the privilege of interpreting it for the people.
  The first authorized translation in England is that of Miles Coverdale, whose Bible of 1535 is dedicated to Henry VIII. Soon Henry commissions another version... This is the Great Bible...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vulgate Vulgate, is a late 4th-century Latin translation of the Bible that became the Catholic Church's officially promulgated (publicly promoted) Latin version of the Bible during the 16th century... The Clementine edition of the Vulgate of 1592 became the standard Bible text of the Roman Rite of the Roman Catholic Church and remained so until 1979 when the Nova Vulgata was promulgated.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_Reformation English Reformation.

Based on Henry VIII's desire for an annulment of his marriage (first requested of Pope Clement VII in 1527), the English Reformation was at the outset more of a political affair than a theological dispute. The reality of political differences between Rome and England allowed growing theological disputes to come to the fore. Until the break with Rome, it was the Pope and general councils of the Church that decided doctrine. Church law was governed by canon law with final jurisdiction in Rome... The break with Rome was effected by a series of acts of Parliament passed between 1532 and 1534, among them the 1534 Act of Supremacy, which declared that Henry was the "Supreme Head on earth of the Church of England."

Related, Blog Posts.

*Blog Post: Biblical Lineage. http://historicalandmisc.blogspot.com/2018/03/biblical-lineage.html *
*Blog Post: Bible, Origins. http://historicalandmisc.blogspot.com/2017/06/bible-origins.html *
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