But sovereignty can be a genuine puzzle for faithful people as well. History itself seems to call the sovereignty of God into question and to require us to rethink it. The definition of sovereignty is important if people are going to be able to receive it. We distinguish among the sovereignty of the tyrant, the rule of a constitutional monarch, the authority of an elected president, and the like. Political sovereignty may include respect for the governed or it may not.
Sovereignty has various meanings in theology also.
It may mean total control or some less coercive influence. In Western theology since Augustine, the definition of sovereignty that has been preferred is one at the power end of the spectrum. Our theologians have taught that God predestines everything that happens in detail. Although employing a free-will defense in relation to the problem of evil, Augustine held a view of sovereignty in considerable tension with it. Calvin held to a similar concept of sovereignty as an all-determining power.