Leviathan and the Problem of Ecclesiastical Authority
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6350790 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Patricia Springborg (0000-0001-5280-4906, The University of Sydney, corresponding author) |
| Year | 1975 |
| Volume | 3 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 289-303 |
| Publication date | 1975-08-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Political Theory (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0090-5917 • E-ISSN: 1552-7476 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1177/009059177500300305 |
| OpenAlex | W2731081684 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 8 |
HE RELATION OF HOBBES' theological doctrines set out in the third and fourth books of Leviathan to his political argument on the nature of authority is still a somewhat neglected subject.' It is frequently assumed either that Hobbes' religious views were idiosyncratic and of strictly antiquarian interest or that his personal religious beliefs were minimal and the arguments in the third and fourth books were a sop to contemporaries who took such matters seriously. Certain aspects of Hobbes' philosophy do suggest that his Christian beliefs were probably token: his ontology, so far as it is accounted for by the Laws of Natural Reason, leaves very little room for as traditionally understood and undermines attempts at a fundamentalist interpretation of the Scriptures. While taking considerable liberties himself in departing from doctrinal orthodoxy, he nevertheless succeeds in converting all questions of faith into questions of obedience, excluding privileged sources of religious knowledge, and invoking reason to authorize the sovereign as ultimate biblical interpreter. To be skeptical of Hobbes' personal religious beliefs does not, however, imply that one should be skeptical of the relevance of his theological arguments to his political theory, for to accept that he considered a settlement of the question of ecclesiastical authority crucial to his civil
Argument (complex analysis · Epistemology · Faith · Heterodoxy · Interpretation (philosophy · Obedience · Orthodoxy · Political philosophy · Political science · Politics · Relation (database · Skepticism · Sociology · Sovereignty · Subject (documents · Theology · American Constitutional Law and Politics · Law · Philosophy · Political Theology and Sovereignty · Seventeenth-Century Political and Philosophical Thought
| Unique citing works | 8 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,21 |
| Citation span | 1987 - 2016 (30) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 8 |