Fortune Telling Collection - Free divination - How did the Shang Dynasty strengthen the kingship with theocracy?

How did the Shang Dynasty strengthen the kingship with theocracy?

In the early days of human society, the level of productive forces was backward, and people's ignorance of nature promoted their reverence for ghosts and gods. Therefore, in the Shang Dynasty, almost everyone believed in heaven, earth, ghosts and gods and legends and myths handed down from ancient times, so people relied heavily on divination, sacrifice, prayer and other ways of communicating with gods, and these activities required huge manpower, material resources and financial resources. Therefore, only the rulers have the ability and means to organize these activities (such as writing divination, that is, a large number of officials dedicated to divination and prayer later, such as Oracle Bone Inscriptions, divination and prayer, and casting cauldrons to make sacrificial vessels, etc.). ). In this process, the theory of divine right of kingship was promoted, and kingship was endowed with the color of divine right. To some extent, the combination of theocracy and kingship can effectively transfer people's reverence and obedience to ghosts and gods to kingship.