Jean Bodin, interprete storico e politico della profezia di Daniele

Abstract

In the second and the seventh chapters of the book of Daniel, there is a prophecy on the fate of politics: it is the prophecy of the four monarchies. According to Christian tradition, it outlines the history of the world from Daniel’s time to the end. The Reformation historians of the sixteenth century embedded the theme of translation of empire in this fourfold scheme because they read the Holy Roman Empire as a natural continuation of the fourth monarchy, the Roman Empire. Jean Bodin as a historian refused this “imperial” interpretation of the four monarchies of Daniel. His refutation turns into a view of the State’s history that focuses on the concept of progress free from a theological framework.

Keywords

• bodin
• prophecy
• state
• philosophy of history
• the four monarchies
• traslatio imperii