Hobbes’s Critique of Religion and Related Writings
- Contents
- Review Quotes

Introduction: The History of Strauss’s Hobbes Studies in the 1930s—Heinrich Meier
Hobbes’s Critique of Religion: A Contribution to Understanding the Enlightenment (1933–34)
Introduction
§2. Hobbes’s Politics and the Critique of Revelation
§3. The Different Versions of Hobbes’s Critique of Religion
A. The Critique of the Tradition
a. The Principle of Scripture
b. Spirits and Angels
c. The Kingdom of God and Eternal Life
d. Temporal and Spiritual Power
e. The Kingdom of Darkness
f. Characteristics of the Critique of the Tradition
B. The Critique of Scripture
a. The Knowability and the Believability of Revelation
b. The Knowability and the Possibility of Revelation
c. The Knowability and the Possibility of Miracles
d. Hobbes and Descartes
e. The Basis of Hobbes’s Critique of Religion
Addenda: Two Passages Deleted from the Manuscript
Shorter Writings by Strauss on Hobbes
Some Notes on the Political Science of Hobbes (1932)
Foreword to a Planned Book on Hobbes (1931)
Outline: The Political Science of Hobbes;
An Introduction to Natural Right (1931)
Letter from Strauss to Hans-Georg Gadamer and Gerhard Krüger (1935)
Index
“All too often, Hobbes’s engagement with Scripture, revelation, and the possibility of miracles has been shunted to one side by readers focused on that great man’s political science and psychology. This scrupulously edited translation calls for a change of focus and enables it with abundant aid. Thanks to the exemplary rigor, clarity, and fearlessness of Strauss’s analysis, the neglected second half of Leviathan lies open for reconsideration. Many riches await those coming to it with freshly opened eyes.”
“This book sheds provocative light on Strauss’s analysis of the Hobbesian and Cartesian roots of modern rationalism in its response to the challenge of revealed religion.”
“An indispensable resource for both students of early modern thought and for those interested in the thought of Leo Strauss. Strauss’s early essays on Hobbes address with remarkable force and directness key concerns of such well-known later works as Natural Right and History and What Is Political Philosophy? Strauss’s comparison of Hobbes and Descartes alone is well worth the price of admission. His analysis of parts 3 and 4 of Hobbes’s Leviathan is both painstaking in its detail and sweeping in its conclusions. Strauss’s early essays are a remarkable philosophic contribution in their own right and a significant aid to an understanding of Hobbes.”
“This is a very impressive volume. Hobbes’s Critique of Religion and Related Writings will be a most welcome addition to the publications by and on Strauss.”
Philosophy: History and Classic Works
Political Science: Classic Political Thought
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