Hobbes Confronts Scripture
Thomas Hobbes was foremost among the seventeenth century political philosophers who led the Western world across the fault line separating classical from modern
political philosophy. In doing so, he, like his other col leagues, had to confront not only classical political philosophy but the Bible. From the first of his writings to the last he
consistently confronted Scripture. Reading Hobbes reveals both the ambiguity and the ambivalence of his confrontation with the Bible. Hobbes wished to assault orthodox or conventional Christian belief but at the same time is drawn to the Hebrew Scriptures, not only because it is necessary for him to confront it for the sake of his argument or because of the Bible’s own elemental and compelling power. His struggle foreshadows and is even paradigmatic of that of modern man. This article traces his confrontation with Scripture in Leviathan.
The Jewish Agency: Historic Role and Current Crisis
A Critique of Hobbes’s Critique of Biblical and Natural Religion in Leviathan
While Thomas Hobbes is generally recognized as a preeminent political philosopher, he is, to say the least, much less regarded as a theologian or religious thinker.1 Yet it suffices to inspect the frontispieces and tables of contents of Hobbes’s greatest works, De Cive and Leviathan, to see that Hobbes proclaimed theology to be a central part of political philosophy. What is more, Hobbes esteemed himself as having provided the first successful, rational resolution of the most fundamental issues in religion as well as in politics and morals.
The Right to Belief in Jewish Philosophy
This essay looks at two texts in Jewish philosophy ? one medieval and the other modern ? and summarizes the logical connections between schematic beliefs about the universe in terms of the physical sciences, ethics in terms of the human sciences, and the dynamically determined nature of Jewish faith. More fully discussed is the logical status of dogma in Judaism with respect to the right of the individual within the community to sincere belief. It is argued that, contrary to what is commonly believed by modern Jews, doxis has as central a role in defining Judaism as does praxis.
