Theocratic leaders justify state violence by analogy to corporal discipline of children

Evidence

Drollinger is an enthusiastic advocate of corporal punishment. In a Capitol Ministries Bible study guide titled “God’s Word on Spanking,” one of his study guides aimed at political leaders, Drollinger quotes Proverbs 23:13–14: “Do not hold back discipline from the child, although you strike him with the rod, he will not die. You shall strike him with the rod and rescue his soul.” In his exegesis Drollinger elaborates: “When rebellion is present, to speak without spanking is woefully inadequate.” Drollinger’s views on presidential authority would appear to be taken from a page of the same book. “The institution of the state” is “an avenger of wrath,” he explains in another sermon, and its “God-given responsibility” is “to moralize a fallen world through the use of force.” President Trump, he believes, excels in these biblical criteria for leadership. — Katherine Stewart, The Power Worshippers, 168

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the earlier work on how child-rearing metaphors underwrite political authority structures; also parallels how rulers legitimize punishment through parental models, as in Hobbes’ paternal power. — connects to: Evangelical patriarchs justified brutal child discipline as theological training. — Kristin Kobes Du Mez, Jesus and John Wayne: How White…, 125; Crusading justified violence through divine authority and faith as cause — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 644; Modern theology’s casuistry legitimizes state violence while preserving Christian status — Fredric Jameson, Postmodernism, or, The Cultural Logic…, 835 (+3 more)
• SEED: An essay angle: tracing how ‘strike with the rod’ theology migrates from family discipline to state punishment doctrine in dominionist movements.

Broader Connections

• Evangelical patriarchs justified brutal child discipline as theological training. #exemplifies (0.92) — Kristin Kobes Du Mez, Jesus and John Wayne, 125
• Moral authorities justify effective violence despite logical contradictions #expands (0.85)
• Religious clerics justify forbidden violence through situational imperatives and utilitarian framing #expands (0.82) — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 2236
• Modern theology’s casuistry legitimizes state violence while preserving Christian status #expands (0.80) — Fredric Jameson, Postmodernism, or, The Cultural Logic…, 835
• Crusading justified violence through divine authority and faith as cause #exemplifies (0.75) — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 644
• Institutional discipline correlates inversely with corporal violence. #complicates (0.70) — , The Rod and the Child, 2001