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This article discusses the concept of charisma in the Middle Ages, tracing its origins back to St. Paul in the first century. Charisma was originally seen as a special gift from God that enabled believers to perform extraordinary feats for the benefit of the community. However, the meaning of charisma has evolved over time, with Max Weber redefining it as captivating attractiveness or charm that enables one to engage in leadership roles. This special issue of Religions analyzes the concept of charisma in the Middle Ages, examining its theories, practices, and representations in various disciplines such as history, art history, and political philosophy. The articles in this collection aim to provide a nuanced understanding of charisma in the medieval context, free from anachronistic definitions. [Extracted from the article]

Among the symbols used for representing power in the Middle Ages were the relics of saints and martyrs. When it came to political power, relics were one of the most cherished symbolic instruments to achieve legitimation of political power. However, no texts from the Middle Ages can be found that reflect the practice of associating relics with power. Rather, we have to assume or derive that reflection indirectly through narratives and stories around the relics present in the culture and religion of the time. This article reflects on the symbolic use of relics from a theological–political perspective: What kind of power acts through relics? What meaning of power is embodied in their political use of them? The thesis that the article will defend is that reflection on the politics of relics leads to a resignification of the idea of power in the Middle Ages, which is closely connected to the idea of charisma originating in the writings of the Apostle Paul. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In his book Le portrait du roi, Louis Marin seems to continue Ernst Kantorowicz's work on the Middle Ages, extending it to Early Modernity. Marin's book adds another body to the historical and juridical political bodies of Kantorowicz's King described in The Two King's Bodies, namely the portrait of the King. According to Marin, this body drives the interchange between the historical and juridical bodies; hence, the absolutist king has three bodies in one: the historical, the semiotic-sacramental, and the juridical. Following Kantorowicz and Marin's argumentative line, this paper addresses the ways in which absent or dead bodies can act politically, in particular, the shift in political legitimation that goes hand in hand with the transition from a politics of relics to a politics of images. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]