Objectively speaking, how good or bad was Calvin's theocracy in Geneva?
The word theocracy means church and state are identical eg a crusader state, so Calvin’s Geneva was not a theocracy (especially considering the idea Calvin had absolute political power at any point is mythological eg the consistory tried and failed to have Servetus’ sentence commuted from burning to beheading)
>>18408353>eg a crusader stateNot really.A theocracy is where a bishop or cleric is head of the government and rules through a religious canon. The Vatican city is a theocracy, so is Iran by some considerations.The king of Jerusalem, one example, was not a bishop.Distinction between the secular and religious spheres, between temporal power and spiritual authority, was understood at that time.The crusader states were religious, but that doesn't make them theocratic.The bishop could not rightly command the king of Jerusalem to declare war, even if the king was his religious subject.
>>18408349Bad enough that surrounding catholics and protestants teamed up to destroy it
>>18408419Crusader states were theocratic because they were ruled by monastic orders like the Teutonic Knights.
>>18408446Oh, you mean the northern crusades.Yeah, that probably qualifies. Kind of forgot about them.But that's something which separates them from those established during the First Crusade, Godfrey of Boullion was not a religious leader but still established a crusader kingdom.In that sense, they were more akin to the various bishops who exercised temporal as well as spiritual power. Odo might be an example of this, it's hard to say that his role as Earl of Kent was a religious one though so it's safe to say that even though he was a bishop that Kent was not under a theocracy. Other areas, where rents were due to an abbot or bishop as part of their strictly ecclesial territory in lands belonging to the church through it's subsidiaries, might be considered theocratic. It gets complicated.Those areas of Europe could be considered theocratic too, even if at various times these bishops would swear fealty to a king.
Some of you Unitarians are okay, don't come to Geneva tomorrow
>>18408441And Calvin won
>>18408441That seems very bad.
>>18408498I kind of like the Sozzinis more, desu.
