什么是神圣亲缘

一种宗教－政治概念，视统治者为神灵之化身、显灵、调解者或代表。在某些没有文字的社会，成员认为他们的统治者或首领承继着社群本身的神奇力量。统治者可能会出於恶意或善意而行使这个力量，但他通常是负责影响天气和土地的生产力，以确保生存所需的丰收。在其他社会中，特别是古代中国、中东、南美等社会，统治者被认为跟某个神明有关，或本身就是神；在日本、秘鲁（印加﹝Incas﹞）、美索不达米亚（Mesopotamia）以及希腊罗马世界，统治者被看作是某个神的儿子。上述两类例子里，统治者保护社群免於敌人侵扰，照料他的子民并赐给他们温饱。神圣亲缘的第三种形式存在於欧洲，其中统治者是某个神明的调解者或执行代表。在这种形式里，具有神圣性的主要是代表亲缘的机构，而非单一一个统治者。

divine kingship

Religio-political concept that views a ruler as an incarnation, manifestation, mediator, or agent of the sacred. In some nonliterate societies, members view their rulers or chiefs as inheritors of the community's own magical power. The ruler may exercise this power either malevolently or benevolently, but is usually responsible for influencing the weather and the land's fertility to ensure the harvest necessary for survival. In other societies, particularly those of ancient China, the Middle East, and South America, the ruler was identified with a particular god or as a god himself; in Japan, Peru (Incas), Mesopotamia, and the Greco-Roman world, the ruler was regarded as the son of a god. In both these cases, the ruler protected the community from enemies and generally fed and cared for his flock. A third form of divine kingship, one practiced in Europe, is that of the ruler as mediator or executive agent of a god. In this form it is the institution of kingship, more than an individual ruler, that bears the mark of the sacred.