The Kingship of ChristAnswered

How do individualistic, anti-monarchical Protestants reconcile that heaven is a kingdom under Christ the King?

TL;DR

Robert Sungenis answers that Protestantism's protesting spirit breeds individualism and a preference for democracy, yet most Protestants still call Christ King, and evangelicals even expect Him to rule bodily from Jerusalem for a thousand years. He holds that Catholics see Christ as a spiritual King whose authority, as Unam Sanctam teaches, judges rulers without governing their countries.

A viewer asks how Protestants, who are individualistic, democratic and anti-monarchical, reconcile that view with heaven being a kingdom with principalities under Christ the King.

Answer

Protestants are, by origin, protesters; they began by protesting real abuses like the sale of indulgences, but the protesting spirit stayed, so they tend to protest everything, which breeds individualism and a preference for democracy over monarchy and freedom from tradition. As for Christ the King, most Protestants do not deny it; the evangelicals actually expect Christ to return and rule bodily from a throne in Jerusalem for a thousand years. Catholics, by contrast, hold that Christ is a spiritual King whose temporal power, as Boniface VIII taught in Unam Sanctum, means he evaluates the temporal authorities and can excommunicate a Catholic ruler, but does not run their countries. So it is the Protestants, in their future millennium, who expect a literal earthly kingship, not the Catholics.

Answered by Dr. Robert Sungenis

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