Formulation of the Claim
The French Revolution represented a shift in the source of legitimacy from revelation to the people.
Explanation
The text presents the French Revolution as a rupture with the theological age and the beginning of the modern secular age. Within this historical framework, legitimate authority no longer rests on revelation; it shifts to the people as the source of political power.
Its Place in the Book’s Argument
This formulation belongs to a broader construction that links modern political transformation to a transformation in the very bases of legitimacy, from a religious reference point to a human-civic one. It serves to highlight the moment when rule came to rest on the general will rather than on theological foundations.
What the Atom Does Not Say
The atom does not detail the historical course of this transition, nor does it explain its mechanisms or complexities within the French Revolution itself; it merely highlights its general consequence at the level of legitimacy.
Brief Evidence Passage
The text presents the French Revolution as a rupture with the theological age and the beginning of the modern secular age. In this transformation, the source of legitimacy shifts from revelation to the people. Thus, the popular will becomes the source of political power.
Nearby Links
secularization · legitimacy · religion and politics