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Thomas Hobbes and political theology of sovereign power

Hobbes, Thomas political theology sovereign sovereignty God

Calvinist is Hobbes the adherent of goomarism, i.e. nonorthodox Calvinist negation of human free will. Similarly, his vision of sovereignty is that human political power is not independent from his vision of an omnipotent God. It’s classical example of political theology formulated by Carl Schmitt in the twentieth century. The main theological-political analogy in his work is thetheory that human power is only a reflex of the power of the Creator. For this Calvinist thepower of God is irresistible, unlimited by the laws of nature. The theological-political reflex ofthe irresistible power of God is the irresistible power of the sovereign who cannot be limited by constitution, fundamental rights, or laws. For Hobbes, every human power is merely a reflex of divine irresistible power. In this vision the English philosopher acknowledges the rights of the sovereign to establish national confession and decide about Church, dogmas, rites and liturgy, his monopolisation of political and administrational decisions, negation of constitutional regimes, forbidding the right of resistance, and penalisation of the crime of atheism, i.e. negation ofthe irresistible power of God, and consequently, the same power of king, because the sovereign is Imago Dei

ISSN 0239-6661 ISSN 0137-1126

10.19195/2300-7249.42.4.13

PAd P 101182 II

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