Making a King

The Political Theology of Joan of Arc
Erscheinungsjahr 2026
ISBN: 978-0-231-22281-5
Verlag: Columbia University Press

Buch, Englisch, 312 Seiten, Print PDF, Format (B × H): 140 mm x 216 mm

There is an enduring fascination with Joan of Arc, yet she is almost always seen alone, as a victim or martyr. A strikingly different person is heard in her letters and the testimony of her companions. To the king of England, she wrote, “I am a commander of war, and in whatever place I come upon your men in France, I will make them leave. And if they do not wish to obey, I will have them all killed.” She wrote to the people of the towns she defended, giving them news and seeking their support. Her companions spoke of her intelligence, bravery, and military competence. Hers was a collective mission to rescue the people from the depredations of war.

Focusing on her life rather than her death, Winnifred Fallers Sullivan offers an interpretation of Joan of Arc as a political thinker and actor who sought, during her meteoric presence in fifteenth-century France, to legitimate a king, channel God’s word, convene a coronation, and speak for the people in an alternative legal order. She assembled sacred kingship, mystical experience, and the press of political and economic chaos into a vernacular political theology that still speaks to our moment. Making a King illuminates Joan’s extraordinary life and vision—her conception of sovereignty from below, her form of female masculinity, and her power as kingmaker—and shows why she can help us find a deeper understanding of religion and politics today.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Sullivan, Winnifred Fallers

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Europäische Geschichte
• Geisteswissenschaften Religionswissenschaft Religionswissenschaft Allgemein Religionsgeschichte
• Geisteswissenschaften Religionswissenschaft Religionswissenschaft Allgemein Religion & Politik, Religionsfreiheit
• Geisteswissenschaften Christentum, Christliche Theologie Systematische Theologie

Über Autor(innen)

Winnifred Fallers Sullivan is Provost Professor Emeritus at Indiana University Bloomington, where she was the founding director of the Center for Religion and the Human. Her books include The Impossibility of Religious Freedom (2005) and Church State Corporation: Construing Religion in US Law (2020).