random question... is the christian concept of kingdom of heaven on earth roughly the same as the islamic concept of the global islamic state ruled by a true caliph?
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hmm.... the concept of a "holy roman empire" fits in there somewhere... "roman" scopes it to be european in a way "caliphate" does not, but both have connotations of theological manifest destiny, not just religious sanction
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Depends on the Xian you ask - but I don’t think so. Jesus’ teaching were anti-imperialist. A moderate to progressive interpretation is “kingdom of heaven on earth” is a reality where the values of the faith govern our lives experience on earth vs. authoritarian rule.
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3 separate concepts:
Augustine’s City of God. Heavenly order as unreachable platonic ideal we can’t reach on earth.
Revelation’s New Jerusalem. Mystical endpoint to history. Like heaven in that you can’t build it.
Christian Nationalism’s “kingdom of heaven” = theocracy
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No, the Kingdom of Heaven/God is not a political construct but the domain over which God rules. The title Holy Roman Empire attempted to establish legitimacy of a bloodline to rule over the territories of the Western Roman Empire. It isn’t really a statement of intent
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The prophecy of the "last emperor" (from the "Apocalypse of Pseudo-Methodius") reflected a similar idea to that of the "true caliph." It has no real basis in core Christian doctrine but was widely embraced for a time.
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I read kingdom of heaven as more subjective. I think the church, ruled by the pope, seems like the closest. The joining of church and state (as in holy Roman empire) seems even closer in practice to caliphates, though some read it as a corruption of Christianity.
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"Dominionism" is good search term -- Perhaps best understood as an umbrella term. Granular definitions are few yet dominionism encompasses an array of ideas which have yet to be fully compartmentalized. Its a good node to start brainstorming from tho.









