The Death of the Sacred King: An Alternative Historical Perspective on the Role of the Sacred in Collective Imaginaries

The study of “Collective Imaginaries” connected to the birth of modern social myths pervades the literature of the Canadian sociologist, Gerard Bouchard. However, this research entails a specific notion of culture which introduces a multidisciplinary dimension, where several branches of the humanities can collaborate. More specifically, the field of study of the history of religions, anthropology, and the history of ideas can interconnect themselves in showing how the genesis and possible interpretations of myth reveal storytelling linked to the essence of “power”. An episode of this story in particular, which represents the prehistory of this kratophonic tale, is the manifestation of the Sacred in premodern social contexts. The paper aims, through a case study borrowed from the work of the Scottish anthropologist, James George Frazer (1854-1941), to show the crucial role of the Sacred, both in a premodern social context and in the birth of modern social myths, and thereby draw upon a critical review of the theories put forth by the historians of religion Bruce Lincoln and Mircea Eliade to provide a critical perspective on Bouchard’s conceptualization of culture and collective imaginaries.