• DOI:10.1525/REP.2011.115.1.1
• Corpus ID: 145174670

Prophetic Statebuilding: Machiavelli and the Passion of the Duke

@article{McCormick2011PropheticSM,
  title={Prophetic Statebuilding: Machiavelli and the Passion of the Duke},
  author={John P. McCormick},
  journal={Representations},
  year={2011},
  volume={115},
  pages={1-19}
}

• John P. McCormick
• Published 1 August 2011
• Philosophy
• Representations

This essay traces Biblical resonances within Machiavelli9s account of Cesare Borgia, or “Duke Valentino,” in The Prince. It challenges the idea that Machiavelli9s goal is to detheologize politics (in fact, my reading suggests that the founding of all principalities must be consecrated in religious terms); it dispels the notion that the “armed prophet” is armed exclusively with a sword rather than with a book; and it raises questions concerning the ambiguous meaning of “success” in a practical “how-to” manual on political success. I demonstrate that Machiavelli9s intentions are not necessarily so antireligious, or even so anti-Christian, as interpreters conventionally present the Florentine9s views on religion. Most fundamentally, perhaps, my interpretation prompts readers to reimagine what, on Machiavelli9s view, a genuinely political founder of a Christian polity might look like.