Leviathan · Chapter
XII: Of Religion explained
Hobbes explores the natural seeds of religion in man, distinguishing between human politics (civil religion) and divine politics (the kingdom of God).
What happens
Hobbes explores the natural seeds of religion in man, distinguishing between human politics (civil religion) and divine politics (the kingdom of God). He critiques the polytheistic and idolatrous practices of the Gentiles, who deified natural objects, accidents, and passions, and argues that religion arises from human anxiety about invisible causes. He examines how the failure of miracles, justice, and virtue in religious leaders weakens faith, citing examples from Israel and the Church of Rome, and concludes that true religion derives from acknowledgment of one eternal first mover.
Themes in this chapter
Religion and Civil Authority
Hobbes distinguishes between religion as human politics (civil obedience) and divine politics (kingdom of God), critiquing the use of religion for political control.
Human Nature and Passions
Explores how fear, anxiety, and ignorance of causes lead humans to invent invisible agents and gods, shaping religious belief.
Sovereignty and Absolute Power
Discusses how the failure of justice in leaders (e.g., Samuel's sons) undermines faith and leads to political rebellion, linking religious authority to sovereign power.
Characters to notice
- Abraham
Mentioned as a founder of divine politics, through whom the laws of the kingdom of God were derived.
- Moses
Cited as a prophet whose miracles and leadership established divine politics; example of Israel's revolt during his absence.
- Samuel
Referenced in the context of his sons' unjust judgments leading Israel to demand a king.
- Pope Zachary
Mentioned as deposing King Chilperic of France, illustrating papal overreach.
Key passages
“Seeing there are no signs, nor fruit of 'religion,' but in man only; there is no cause to doubt, but that the seed of 'religion' is also only in man; and consisteth in some peculiar quality, or at least in some eminent degree thereof, not to be found in any other living creatures.”
Religion is uniquely human, rooted in a distinct quality or heightened capacity absent in other animals.
Hobbes establishes the natural basis of religion in human nature.
“This perpetual fear, always accompanying mankind in the ignorance of causes, as it were in the dark, must needs have for object something. And therefore when there is nothing to be seen, there is nothing to accuse, either of their good or evil fortune, but some 'power,' or agent 'invisible,' in which sense perhaps it was, that some of the old poets said, that the gods were at first created by human fear.”
Humanity's constant fear, born from ignorance of causes, leads to belief in invisible powers; the ancient poets rightly said that fear created the gods.
Hobbes explains the origin of polytheism as a product of human anxiety.
“For who is there that does not see to whose benefit it conduceth, to have it believed that a king hath not his authority from Christ, unless a bishop crown him?”
It is obvious who benefits from the claim that a king's authority depends on a bishop's coronation.
Hobbes criticizes the Church of Rome for asserting temporal power over monarchs.