1. The King's Two Bodies by Ernst H. Kantorowicz
Mysticism, when transposed from the warm twilight of myth and fiction to the cold searchlight of fact and reason, has usually little left to recommend itself. Its language, unless resounding within its own magic or mystic circle, will often appear poor and even slightly foolish, and its most baffling metaphors and highflown images, when deprived of their iridescent wings, may easily resemble the pathetic and pitiful sight of Baudelaire's Albatross. Political mysticism in particular is exposed to the danger of losing its spell or becoming quite meaningless when taken out of its native surroundings, its time and its space. (Kantorowicz, 1957: 3)
2. Meaning in History: The Theological Implications of the Philosophy of History by Karl Lowith
There are in history not only "flowers of evil" but also evils which are the fruit of too much good will and of a mistaken Christianity that confounds the fundamental distinction between redemptive events and profane happenings, between Helisgeschen and Weltgeschichte. (Lowith, 1949: 203)
Kantorowicz' eponymous theory of the body politic is, in my view, pretty much a gesture of cynicism (mingled with an ardent elaboration of why it's beyond nonsense overall) pointed at the medieval kings who proclaimed themselves to be derived from a divine lineage, and therefore makes a claim that they're entitled to work as a God's agent and wielding His prerogatives.
Well... it's quite farcical to think about it now that monarchism nowadays plays a symbolic function as if it's meant to connote the national and social unity, or perhaps even a glorious past to some degree... which is, if you ask Lowith, just a Christian being delusional in her own belief in a misguided way. I just don't really know what else I have to say lol
