Hobbes's Ecclesiology and Counsel

Abstract

Thomas Hobbes employs the counsel/command theory to argue that clergies are to be subordinate to the sovereign. He shows that bishops are counsellors and the word of the Bible is counsel. The theory of counsel functions as the denial of bishops' right to interpret the Bible and their power of excommunication. While Hobbes in De Cive admits some room for ordained bishops to influence the church governance, he in Leviathan totally denies their iure divino authority. He uses this reasoning to criticise not only Catholicism but also Anglican Episcopacy and Presbyterianism, which shows that he is free from any existing sects.