THE RELIGIOUS AND POLITICAL CONTEXT OF THOMAS HOBBES' THOUGHT

Abstract

The article deals with the relationship between religion and politics in the context of Thomas Hobbes' elaboration of political theory, mainly in his works The Citizen (1642), Leviathan (1651), Behemoth or the Long Parliament (1680), in his Historical Account of Heresy and the Forms of Its Punishment (1680), as well as in works on the History of Political Thought, Church History and the History of Theology. The main purpose of the text is to demonstrate how the ecclesiastical institution controlled religion, politics, law and mentalities for several centuries, exercising undue dominance over society. In this way, it is as inevitable as it is partial to say that the Church has been de-characterizing itself as the Salt of the Earth and the Light of the World, and has become what Hobbes called the Kingdom of Darkness in the last part of his Leviathan. Influenced by the thinking of Luther and Calvin, the scholar Thomas Hobbes contributed to the definitive separation of Church and State, and although he is known as an advocate of authoritarianism, he stated that when the sovereign cannot guarantee civil peace, he should not be obeyed, because the State was designed for our peace and defense.