Politics & Governance / Political Philosophy & Theory / Power & Governance Theory

The Kingdom and the Glory -In Kingdom and Glory, George Agamben, through a rigorous image of

The Kingdom and the Glory: For a Theological Genealogy of Economy and Government

Giorgio Agamben

Sacred Economy: The Theological Genealogy of Domination and Glory Kingdom and Glory: The Theological Genealogy of Economy and Government Kingdom and Glory (Giorgio Agamben, Lorenzo Chiesa (translator) et al.) 神圣经济：统治与荣耀的神学谱系 In Kingdom and Glory, George Agamben, through a rigorous image of theological genealogy, reveals the dual structure of Western power structures between the "Kingdom" (as the essence of sovereignty) and the "Government" (as the executive governance). He argues that modern democratic politics does not originate from secular legal rationality, but rather inherits the ancient Christian logic of the Trinity's "economy" (oikonomia), namely, the existence of a unified and complex mechanism between God's divine essence and his concrete management of the world. The core idea of the text points out that the operation of power depends not only on the rule of law, but also on the dimension of "glory"—ritual and praise. This kind of praise, jubilation, and production of "ideology" in modern politics, which transcends mere "glory," closely aligns the empty nature of the ruler with the practice of governance, transforming the ritual of "praise," which ultimately belongs to the theological realm, into a pillar of public opinion in modern politics. Ultimately, Agamben's power center is in fact an "empty throne," inherently possessing a sacred "inaction" (ineffectiveness) or Sabbath-like stagnation. This state of emptiness is not the state of power, but its deepest nourishment, allowing the modern state to maintain a perpetually rotating dynamic between legal sovereignty and administrative management by combining "glory" with the governing machinery.