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
There is another king of power named in Holy Scripture that is neither civil nor divine. Holy Scripture refers to the “Power of Darkness,” such as “the Rulers of the Darknesse of the world,” “the Kingdome of Satan,” and “the Principality of Beelzebub over Dæmons.” This Darkness, like Hell, is allegorical, and Hobbes defines it as: “a Confederacy of Deceivers, that to obtain dominion over men in this present world, endeavor by dark, and erroneous Doctrines, to extinguish in the them the Light, both of Nature, and the Gospell; as so to dis-prepare them for the Kingdome of God to come.”
The “Power of Darkness” is another metaphor, much like the metaphor of Hell and the Devil. The “Power of Darkness,” according to Hobbes, is anything, or anyone, who threatens to put out the true light of God. This “darkness” can exist in people who actively work against God’s will, or it can involve the misinterpretation of scripture, which Hobbes contends is widespread across Christendom.
Themes
The modern church, Hobbes says, is not yet out of darkness, and he claims there are four major causes. First, darkness is caused by “putting out the light of Scripture,” which is the ignorance of Holy Scripture. Secondly, darkness is caused by the “Dæmonolgy of the Heathen Poets,” who write of demons, and ghosts, and fairies. The third cause of darkness is mixing Holy Scripture with the philosophies of the ancient Greeks, particularly Aristotle. Fourth, darkness is caused by mixing false traditions with dubious history. In this chapter, Hobbes will first talk of the abuse of Holy Scripture.
Again, Hobbes argues that most Christians misinterpret Holy Scripture, which throws Christianity into darkness. Throughout Leviathan, Hobbes offers alternative interpretations of scripture that he believes will help to lift Christianity out of this darkness. He also hopes to lift Christianity out of darkness by correcting the biased philosophies of Aristotle and revealing the true course of biblical history. Furthermore, Hobbes categorically disagrees with “Heathen Poets” who perpetuate false ideas about demons and the Devil.
Themes
Literary Devices
The “greatest, and main abuse” of Holy Scripture is the belief that the Kingdome of God is the Church, which Hobbes has already demonstrated is false. The Kingdome of God began with the Jews and God’s covenant with his “Peculiar People.” There has not been another common-wealth on Earth with God as the sovereign power since the Jews were freed from their captivity in Egypt. The Kingdome of God will not appear until the Second Coming, and the only covenant Christians belong to now is with their sovereign power.
Hobbes implies here that widespread misinterpretation of scripture and the belief that the present-day Christian Church is God’s Kingdome is the number one abuse of Holy Scripture that has thrown Christianity into darkness. Hobbes makes this point several times, but it is nevertheless important—a Christian’s obligation to God begins after the Second Coming. Prior to the Second Coming, a Christian is obligated to their sovereign power.
Themes
The erroneous belief that the Church is God’s Kingdome leads to a belief there is a single person or persons through whom Christ speaks from Heaven and gives laws to all of Christendom. This person is commonly known as the Pope, and the institution of the Pope is the cause of yet another erroneous belief—that a Christian monarch must be crowned by a bishop for their power to be official. Yet another erroneous belief is that all pastors, deacons, and ministers are each “Clergy,” and that their maintenance must be kept through tithes and offerings. This leads the people of a common-wealth to pay double taxes—one to the common-wealth and one to the Clergy.
Hobbes argues earlier that only a minister has the ecclesiastical power to preach and teach God’s Word, which implies only ministers, not lessor officers like pastors or deacons, should rely on the tithes and offerings of a congregation. Expecting a congregation to maintain all officers is excessive, Hobbes implies, and is a strain on the common-wealth. Hobbes’s primary argument, however, is that the Pope should not have power over a sovereign in any capacity. To allow the Pope such power is to diminish the common-wealth and further thrust Christianity into darkness.
Themes
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From the mistaken belief that the Church is God’s Kingdome comes the distinction between civil laws and canonical laws. Civil law is the work of a sovereign, whereas canon is law passed by the Pope in the very same common-wealth. Yet another abuse of Holy Scripture is mistaking consecration for conjuration. In Holy Scripture, the word “Consecrate” is to “Offer, Give, or Dedicate,” which is not the same as conjuring some spirit through seemingly holy practices. For example, consider transubstantiation—“This is my Body” and “This is my Blood.” Wine and bread are supposedly turned to blood and flesh by way of a charm performed by a minister, but transubstantiation was not establish until the reign of Innocent III (1198-1216 CE).
Canonical laws as they are passed by the Pope can never be instituted in a common-wealth where the Pope is not also the sovereign power. Only the sovereign has the power to make a law, even if that law comes from Holy Scripture. Thus, canonical law can have no real authority in a common-wealth that does not already belong to the Pope. Hobbes again implies that the Christian practice of transubstantiation is nonsense and does not come from God. In Hobbes’s view, Holy Communion can only be bread and wine dedicated or offered in the name of Christ, it can never be magically transformed into Christ’s blood and body by a minister.
Themes
There are many texts that contain these errors and mistaken beliefs, Hobbes explains, such as the works of Cardinal Bellarmine. Included in this list of erroneous texts are the works of Theodore Beza, although it is less clear whom Beza considers the supreme ecclesiastical power. Beza maintains that the Kingdome of God began with Christ’s Resurrection, and he uses Mark 9:1 to argue his point: “Verily I say unto you, that there be some of them that stand here, which shall not tast of death, till they have seene the Kingdome of God come with power.” But, Hobbes says, all this scripture proves is that the Kingdome of God is not of the present world.
Theodore Beza was a French Protestant and theologian who lived in the 1500s. Beza was active during the Protestant Reformation, and, like Hobbes, he did not believe in the ecclesiastical power of the Pope. While Beza’s argument aligns more with Hobbes’s own argument, all Beza really proves is that Christ’s Kingdome is not of this Earth. Beza does not, like Bellarmine and Hobbes, acknowledge who the supreme ecclesiastical power is.
Themes
Literary Devices
Hobbes moves on to consecration in Holy Scripture, another abuse that he claims has nothing to do whatsoever with exorcism. For instance, when Solomon, the first King of Israel, consecrated his temple, he stood before the people of Israel, blessed them, thanked God, and then prayed unto the people that they might accept his temple. Never anywhere is there any mention of excising ghosts or evil spirits.
In Christianity, especially Catholicism, consecration is associated with exorcism, or the conjuring of an evil spirit through holy practices. Hobbes implies that this is a misinterpretation that thrusts Christianity into darkness. True consecration is to offer something or someone in the name of God, not the excision of an evil spirit.
Themes
Next, Hobbes considers the separation of soul and body, after which the soul lives in eternal life. There are different places in Holy Scripture that prove this argument, such a Solomon’s words in Ecclesiastes 12:7, “Then shall the Dust return to Dust, as it was, and the Spirit shall return to God that gave it,” or Ecclesiastes 9:5, “The living know they shall die, but the dead know not any thing.”
Again, Hobbes argues that the spirit can only exist after the body had died and entered into eternal life in God’s Kingdome, which cannot happen until Christ’s second coming. Thus, an earthly body cannot be held to the spiritual power of God or Christ.
Themes
In the New Testament, eternal life is often attributed to the sinners. “Everlasting fire, Everlasting torments, Everlasting punishments,” which Hobbes also dismisses, so he stops to revisit what he has already shown to be true. First, the Kingdome of God, or the Kingdome of Christ (which Christ rules by God’s order), will not begin until Judgement Day, on which day those who are faithful to Christ will rise again in their “spirituall Bodies” and be Christ’s subjects for all eternity. In Eternal life, the saved will not eat, drink, marry, or feel any desire of the flesh, and they will live in everlasting joy.
In Hobbes’s view, only those who repent and believe in Christ are given everlasting life in Christ’s Kingdome. Sinners are held in a different state. One’s spiritual body rises in Christ’s Kingdome only if one is saved. As a spiritual body, all desires of the flesh—hunger, thirst, and lust—all fade and the subject lives an eternal life free from carnal desires. This freedom from the desires of the flesh is the everlasting joy Hobbes speaks of.
Themes
On Judgement Day, the righteous who still live will immediately transform into their “spirituall Bodies” and join the others in Christ’s Kingdome, wherever that may be. However, nowhere in Holy Scripture does it indicate that sinners who do not repent or those who deny Christ are ever turned into a spiritual Body. “Eternal Torments” are spoken of in generalities of fire and death. Therefore, on Judgement Day, it can be assumed that the wicked will be left to “live as they did,” giving into hunger, thirst, and other desires and needs of the flesh, while the believers live in eternal bliss and happiness.
Again, since sinners do not repent and profess their belief in Christ, sinners are not transformed into their spiritual bodies on Judgement Day. Thus, a sinner is not given eternal life with freedom from carnal pleasures, and this is essentially their punishment. Sinners live their life as before, and when their life is over, their soul does not live on in eternity. There is not, Hobbes contends, some literal Hell in which sinners burn for all eternity.
Themes
When St. Paul speaks of the Resurrection in 1 Corinthians, he says the body is “Sown in Corruption, raised in Incorruption; sown in Dishonor, raised in Honour; sown in Weaknesse, raised in Power; sown a Narturall body, raised a Spirituall body.” But, Hobbes says, the same is not said for bodies sent for punishment. Upon this absence scripture is the founding of Purgatory, as it is argued by Cardinal Bellarmine.
Hobbes implies that Bellarmine’s argument is weak and depends on assumption rather than fact. As those who are saved are held in eternal joy in Christ’s Kingdome, Bellarmine assumes that sinners are held in eternal torture, but Hobbes maintains there is no scripture to support this assertion.
Themes
Cardinal Bellarmine alleges other places within the New Testament that also prove the existence of Purgatory. For example, Matthew 12:32. “Whosoever speaketh a word against the Sonne of man, it shall be forgiven him; but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not bee forgiven him neither in this world, nor in the world to come.” This passage goes a long way to proving Hobbes’s claim that the Kingdome of God is not of this world; however, it does not prove the existence of Purgatory or indicate a specific place.
Hobbes ultimately argues that Hell is a metaphor, and its existence cannot be proven in the scripture cited by Cardinal Bellarmine. In fact, Hobbes argues that Bellarmine’s selected scripture proves Hobbes’s theory before it proves his own, and it is further evidence of the misinterpretation of Holy Scripture that thrusts Christianity into darkness.
Themes
Another piece of Holy Scripture thought by Bellarmine and others to prove the existence of Purgatory is I Corinthians, in which it says: “They themselves shall be saved; but as through Fire.” It is assumed that the “Fire” here is Purgatory, however these words are but an allusion to Zechariah 13:9, which speaks of the power of the Messiah, not Purgatory. There is also Matthew 13:9. “I will bring the third art through the Fire, and will Refine them.” But this passage, too, refers to Judgement Day and the power of Christ the Messiah, not Purgatory.
Again, Hobbes maintains that interpretations of Hell and Purgatory in Holy Scripture are merely misinterpretations of Christ’s power on Judgement Day. Thus, Hell and Purgatory (Purgatory being some literal place one goes while awaiting entrance to Heaven) are merely metaphorical and do not exist in this world or the next.
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