Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Leviathan, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Nature, War, and Civil Society
Power, Common-wealths, and Monarchies
Religion
Fear
Reason, Fact, and Philosophy
Summary
Analysis
As the basis for all reason is the accepted and known definitions of words, words common to Holy Scripture must also be defined if they are to be understood, which Hobbes will try to do now. He begins with the words “body” and “spirit,” which in scripture are known as “Substances, Corporeall, and Incorporeall.”
Hobbes applies the same model to his religious argument as his political argument, so he is positioning his religious argument as infallible as well. The distinction between a “body” and a “spirit” is an important one for Hobbes because a body is made up of a tangible substance, whereas a spirit is composed of something akin to air.
Themes
“Body” is generally accepted to indicate that which takes up space and is not imagined. A body is something that exists and is real, and it is made up of a substance that is subject to change and can be hot, cold, a certain color, or a certain smell. As “substance” and “body” indicate roughly the same thing, to say a substance or body is “incorporeall” is to destroy both words and render them nonsense. In common language, aerial substances, such as “Spirits,” are not the same as bodies; although, a spirit is present inside a body and gives it life.
The phrase “incorporeall body” is a contradiction in terms because the word “body” denotes substance and matter, whereas the word “incorporeall” denotes that which has no substance. To Hobbes, such a phrase is “incomprehensible speech” and has no real meaning.
Themes
Literary Devices
In common language, a “Spirit” is often a ghost, or “invisible Body,” and it can also indicate the wisdom or madness of a person. Spirit can also indicate the “Spirit of God,” but Hobbes argues that such a spirit is beyond human understanding. The “Spirit of God” is God himself, and since God himself is inconceivable to human beings, so is his spirit. In Holy Scripture, God is sometimes described as the wind or like breath, as in the Book of Genesis: “The Spirit of God moved upon the face of the Waters.” God’s spirt produces motion, which is not possible of an incorporeal substance.
God’s spirit is beyond human understanding because God himself is beyond human understanding. Hobbes repeatedly claims that God is infinite and humans are only able to understand that which has a definite beginning and end. Thus, God can never be fully understood. While Hobbes does not claim to completely understand God, Hobbes does imply that God cannot exist as an “incorporeall substance.”
Themes
God’s spirit is also described in Holy Scripture as living inside others, as Joseph says in the Book of Genesis: “Can we find such a man as this, in whom is the Spirit of God?” And the spirit of God is also said in scripture to affect passions, as it does to Saul in the Book of Judges. “The Spirit of God came upon Saul, and his Anger […] was kindled greatly.”
Since Hobbes does not believe God exists as an incorporeal substance, he does not believe that God can enter into the body of another. To Hobbes, the scripture he cites here is metaphor only and does not represent the true physical qualities of God.
Themes
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God’s spirit is also said to give life in scripture. “God made man of the dust of the Earth, and breathed into his nosrills the breath of life, and man was made a living soul.” Or, God’s spirit can give authority. “I will take of the Spirit, which is upon thee, and will put it upon them, and they shall bear the burthen of the people with thee.” When Christ’s disciples saw him walking on water, they assumed he was a spirit or ghost, but Christ had a body that took up space. A ghost, or spirit, is “no where,” which is to say it is “nothing.”
Just as Christ was not a ghost when he was witnessed walking on water, Hobbes implies that God is not a ghost either. Hobbes again cites Genesis 2:7 (which he does earlier as well) and implies that it is impossible to breathe life into another as it is described here, just as it is impossible to give authority to another by dividing God’s spirit, which is the same as his body. For Hobbes, a body must be made of matter, anything less is nonsense, or “nothing.”
Themes
An angel is generally a “Messenger,” and most often is a “Messenger of God,” who usually manifests in a dream or a vision. While it is not stated in scripture, it is generally thought that angels are spirits (either good or evil), and God raises them supernaturally to indicate his will. However, angels are mentioned in the Old Testament, and they can only be understood as something raised by God to signify his presence. This is seen in the Book of Genesis, when Jacob says: “The Angel of the Lord appeared to mee in my sleep,” and the Angel said: “I am the God of Bethel.”
Hobbes argues earlier that those who encounter God or angels through dreams have simply dreamt about God or angels and have not necessarily encountered them. Hobbes’s mention of the Old Testament (in which he finds the most authority of any biblical text) suggests that he does believe God has the power to appear as an angel in dreams; however, this does not mean that God has actually done it.
Themes
In the Book of Exodus, the angel appears as a “pillar of cloud” and a “pillar of fire.” The angel is no less a sign of God if it appears as a cloud or a person. Thus, it is an angel’s use, not its shape, which is important. There are many angels in the Old Testament, and nowhere is it stated that an angel is permanent or incorporeal. To those who truly understand the words “Substance” and “Incorporeall” know that such words are contradictions and cannot exist within each other.
Hobbes’s admission that the angels in the Old Testament are neither permanent nor incorporeal is an important one. Hobbes does not argue that angels do not exist (they must exist if they are mentioned in the Old Testament); he simply implies it is impossible for something to exist as intangible matter.
Themes
The word “INSPRIRATION” requires some explanation as well, since it says in the Book of Genesis that “God inspired into man the breath of life,” but this is surely meant as a metaphor and not that the lungs are actually filled with the breath of God. According to scripture, the “inspiration” of God is God’s power working in a way human beings are incapable of understanding, not actual air or breath.
Hobbes again returns to the idea of faith and the Holy Spirit being inspired into someone by God, which Hobbes claims is a physical impossibility. For Hobbes, Holy Scripture is not meant to be taken literally. Instead, Holy Scripture is only metaphor and should be read as such.
Themes
Literary Devices
