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Chapter 31
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
Next, Hobbes will discuss the Christian common-wealth, which is a common-wealth that depends on the “Supernaturall Revelations of the Will of God.” Believing in the supernatural power of God does not mean to abandon one’s senses or rational experience, as those, too, are gifts from God. In a Christian common-wealth, when something cannot be understood by reason and natural science, it is thought to be due to the mystery of God. When God speaks to a subject, it is done immediately or through another person. God speaking immediately can only be understood by those God has actually spoken to. God has spoken through others in the form of Holy Scripture as told by the Apostles and Prophets.
According to Hobbes, the revelations of the will of God are always supernatural, unless something is revealed to someone through their natural reason. God himself is supernatural; thus, his revelations are as well. According to Hobbes, God has only spoken to Adam and Moses using direct words. Otherwise, God always speaks through another person, like Moses or an Angel, because human beings are not able to hear and understand the voice of God.
Themes
For one to say God spoke to them in a dream is only to say that they dreamed God spoke—it does not mean God has actually spoken. Similarly, one who claims to have a vision of God may just mistake their dreams for a vision. God has the ability to speak through dreams, visions, and voice, but no one is obliged to believe others who say God has spoken to them, since people often lie.
Hobbes implies that God can speak to people in dreams and visions. Since God is omnipotent, he can do whatever he wants; however, Hobbes implies that he doesn’t believe that God often—or ever—speaks to subjects through dreams or visions.
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For those who have never heard the voice of God, either through visions, dreams, or voice, can turn to Holy Scripture to know what they are supposed to obey. However, it is common for one prophet to deceive another, so Hobbes offers two marks that together indicate a “true Prophet.” One mark is the performing of a miracle, and the other is the teaching of only the established religion and no other. Both of these marks must be present together for a prophet to be considered true. For example, if a prophet performs a miracle and then entices subjects to follow a strange god, they are not a true prophet.
In saying that a “true Prophet” must perform a miracle and teach the established religion, Hobbes effectively implies that there has never been a “true Prophet” that is not already indicated in the Bible. In this vein, Hobbes calls into question all the modern Christian figures who are said to have performed miracles by the Catholic Church.
Themes
