The Allegiance of Thomas Hobbes

by Jeffrey R. Collins

The Allegiance of Thomas Hobbes offers a revisionist interpretation of Thomas Hobbes's evolving response to the English Revolution. It rejects the prevailing understanding of Hobbes as a consistent, if idiosyncratic, royalist, and vindicates the contemporaneous view that the publication of Leviathan marked Hobbes's accommodation with England's revolutionary regime. In sustaining these conclusions, Professor Collins foregrounds the religious features of Hobbes's writings, and maintains a contextual focus on the broader religious dynamics of the English Revolution itself. Hobbes and the Revolution are both placed within the tumultuous historical process that saw the emerging English state coercively secure jurisdictional control over national religion and the corporate church. Seen in the light of this history, Thomas Hobbes emerges as a theorist who moved with, rather than against, the revolutionary currents of his age. The strongest claim of the book is that Hobbes was
motivated by his deep detestation of clerical power to break with the Stuart cause and to justify the religious policies of England's post-regicidal masters, including Oliver Cromwell.

Methodologically, Professor Collins supplements intellectual or linguistic contextual analysis with original research into Hobbes's biography, the prosopography of his associates, the reception of Hobbes's published works, and the nature of the English Revolution as a religious conflict. This multi-dimensional contextual approach produces, among other a new understanding of the political implications of Leviathan ; an original interpretation of Hobbes's civil war history, Behemoth ; a clearer picture of Hobbes's career during the neglected period of the 1650s; and a revisionist interpretation of Hobbes's reaction to the emergence of English republicanism. By presenting Thomas Hobbes as a political actor within a precisely defined political context, Professor Collins has recovered the significance of Hobbes's writings as artefacts of the English Revolution.

Genres: Philosophy, History

325 pages, Hardcover

First published August 12, 2005

Reviews

[Katie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Kind of a snooze fest. . .The idea is an interesting one, but unfortunately I don't know enough about religious dissenters in the 17th century to really be able to assess his argument. He has an interesting theory on Hobbes's support for the Revolution which completely revises earlier scholarship. Is he right? Hard to say. Definitely one for scholars of political and religious thought as well as the history of ideas.

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting premise, seems plausible to me but I'm a novice on the topic. Extreme overuse over "Machiavellian" as an adjective. Would be interesting to know how other scholars in his field responded to this book.