How does Hobbe's depiction of political and economic values in "Christian Politics" relate to Christian idealism in current and classical connotations?
Thesis Statement
There is a coherent trend in how society is layered, and how laws and different forms of standard norms and values are situated. The relation to Christian politics and the socioeconomic development of society runs adjacent. Thomas Hobbes compiles a frank and clear explanation of how this comes to fruition.
Drawing a clear and concise comparison to historic values, then finding relations in our current way of living helps us determine what changes have been made and why. It will also provide an explanation for some of the elements that have existed in the past. Looking back, you will find in some ways that history repeats itself. What are the outside mitigating factors behind this, and how does it affect how society is layered today? Is religion geared directly towards the gestation of profitable gains, or is it a form of social support, and spiritual outlook? Because there are so many different finite and infinite values associated with economics, and the way that society is laid out as a whole, taking into account the religious texts in their general qualitative values such as the Old, and New Testament is a point of interest. The various religious leaders, such as Moses, and Judah and the other successors in the Old Testament have been in general agreement for similar dialogue. (Zeng, Cheng, Song, 2017)
The key terms and information that is used in this essay have been extracted from scholarly articles that are either in direct relation to the book, or in relation to religion and society itself. When considering its relation to the commonwealth, society and the commonwealth are one in the same because of the financial and economic attachments to both systems. This document will prove how religion has been the major controlling factor to how the current and ancient commonwealth has been built, and one of the major excuses used for carrying out various practices.
Introduction
"When I speak of putting our understanding under the command of words, I’m not talking about making our intellectual faculty subservient to the opinions of any other man, but about obediently submitting one’s will to an authority to which obedience is owed. ·Let’s be clear about what the scope of our will is·. We can’t voluntarily alter what we sense, what we remember, whether and how we understand things, how we reason, or what we believe."
(Thomas Hobbes, "Leviathan" pg.167, (1615), published by, “Early Modern Texts”)
An excerpt from the Leviathan book series, Leviathan 3 this explains how the literature describes the relation to religion, and the trends humans build and layer their economies upon. The bible, the Christian written word provides many different lessons for us to take to heart and understand. When thinking about the mystery of the unknown facts of life, turning to religion has been one of the crucial elements of our development. It is not only for Christian's, but for humanity in general. When also considering the fact that the majority of religious values are placed into text dialogue, understanding the power of words, how they affect you, and why something else needs to be taken very seriously. Religious values/religious ideas have a very strong attachment to how humans feel, and how they conduct themselves on a daily basis. Interacting with others can be difficult, because there are so many different types of people. Finding a clear way and organizing fashion to share the same information is one of the major reasons behind religion. Positivity, enlightenment and personal discovery are all related to how we perceive God, and the world around us. Interacting and involving those same ideas with the rest of the way we lay our society is and has always been a natural resolve of that same idea.
Impact of Religion on Society
It is very interesting how religious texts are understood and examined by those who are the successors to their rhetoric. As the words come from celestial beings from on high, those who are responsible for transcribing the sacred values are held in the highest regard. Religious texts and values will dictate how humans are brought up, and how they see the world. The spirit of god, or the holy spirit so to speak, is not considered a supernatural source, but a said profit that can provide intellectual information that you cannot access on your own. This form of thinking has been implemented to the way that the legal system, and economic fortitude has been gestated. The way that laws are created, explain to society how God still has a physical hold on earth, even though he is not physically seen. The court systems, and even the laws themselves are all related to religious values. Murder, theft and all of the other forms of physical or social emotional damage to others are all deemed illegal in the eyes of god, and are also illegal in the eyes of man.
“So you can see that the histories and the prophecies of the Old Testament and the gospels and epistles of the New Testament have had one and the same aim, to convert men to obedience to God—(1) in Moses and the priests, (2) in the man Christ, and (3) in the apostles and the successors to apostolica power. At different times these three represented the person of God: •Moses and his successors, the high priests and kings of Judah, in the Old Testament; •Christ himself at the time when he lived on earth; and •the Apostles and their successors from the day of Pentecost (when the Holy Ghost descended on them) to the present day.”
(Thomas Hobbes, "Leviathan" pg.174, (1615), published by, “Early Modern Texts”)
The first point I would like to mention is the fact that how religious elements are directly related to how laws are created is prevalent and not only current but society based in ancient times. God was the first person to govern the land, and it turns out that he will ultimately be the last. The second point is that of its influential values in association to how economics are shared, spent and delegated throughout other humans. It also allows, or disallows people from participating in acts that are deemed to be unconscionable or against the god itself. Ideas are all woven into marketing initiatives, social media campaigns, and overall legality. Secondly, the use of god, and the positive things that can transpire based on religious values will always hold presidents over any form of understanding. This is one of the reasons why laws are built around religion to begin with. Economic standing, the way money is spent and shared, and how it is deemed to begin with have to be related to some form of outside or celestial spiritualism.
“As for subordinate prophets of perpetual calling [i.e. full time tenured second-rank prophets], I find nothing in the Bible proving that God spoke to them supernaturally. His ‘speaking’ to them seems to have been done in the way in which God naturally inclines men to piety, to belief, to righteousness, and to other virtues.”
(Thomas Hobbes, "Leviathan" pg.180, (1615), published by, “Early Modern Texts”) The obedience of submitting one's will to a higher power. This is the basis of religion as a whole, when thinking about how Hobbes' relates this to social economic connotations, and putting the understanding of the commands of words into perspective, sometimes the fertility of what transpires does not transcend past what actual derivative of the woods actually are. It is necessary for us to hear, see and understand the world around us to create a clear understanding. But the command of Words May misconstrue, and excuse some of this rhetoric, and force us into a path that is not necessarily natural. God, and religious idealism plays a crucial role in how one perceives these elements. The saying is that when God is speaking to you, he is not speaking directly, but through mediation, or that of another man or entity. This allows elements such as finances, and living standards to play a role in how society is layered. Finally, the trust and reliance on God is how we have built our way of life. Without this, there would be no initial standpoint.
There is a clear and general standard format of living. There are the various levels of society, and there are those who control or seem to have a different understanding of how to control the different levels and layers that we all fit into. Current religious political practices are in the same relation to those that are in antiquity. Using God as a shield or as another control measure will always be the prevalent factor in how we live our daily lives. The first element I would like to mention are the rules behind how finances are spent. Using religious governing lives will create a control method that has little to do worth anything except divine idealism. Secondly, there are going to be punishments Associated with straying away from religious values, and in many cases this is also looked at very negatively. Implementing the same idea towards how well is allocated a very direct cause and effect protocol.
Before society developed methods of explaining why we are not supposed to come or to carry ourselves in specific fashions, the word of God was the word of the land. Where the information has actually come from, is up to opinion. But the facts are simple. The standard form of societal layering common social economic methodology is not the same, but follows very similar standards throughout nations and religions alike. The original dialogue associated with laws and religion were based on the word of god. The word of God transcended from those who had a direct connection to either that of God himself, or some of his subservient Angels or other Celestial presences. Their communication, and actual connection cannot be recorded, but some of how they are choosing to carry out their activities can be. The connection to god, and religion has brought forth the most influential measures in government and society.
Religious values are supposed to dictate how we live our daily lives. This is instructed by God. Living through his design and sticking to a thought out plan, humans and mankind should be able to transcend towards the more positive ideas that come to light after death. It should also provide a clear and concise way for humans to live their lives in direct relation to God and positivity. Being happy, fruitful and overall successful in life seem to all be related to religious values. These are also the main aspects associated with how they began to just state to begin with. Because of the popularity, and success rate of forcing the celestial idealism on society, the lies, social matters and other forms of existential adjudication have been not only allowed, but propagated. Because God believes, that simply means that the rest of society needs to follow suit, and if they're not doing so, then they can and will be off society. Regardless, this is going to be an international, and standard fact that has been brought out through classical values. The laws and values of men have remained similar, or the same throughout history. Today, some of the same major acting components said in all religions are still practiced by man. Thou shalt not kill, thou shall not steal, and committing other forms or acts that hurt or detriment others are the norm and the majority of religious values, but what to eat, how to spend money, and where it goes is also a crucial factor. Those who did not follow these formats in the past, were ostracized, and in some ways, that is still practiced today. (Barnett, 2006)
Before scientific discovery and explanation allowed humans to understand what was actually transpiring during times of distress, the usage of religious values and spiritual connotations came into question. Without these, there would be no way to explain some of the simple ways of preventing illness, being kind to others, not understanding the simple weather or changes to the environment that transpire on a regular basis. It was an understood fact that everyone had to save the intellectual values of others, so using forms of Storytelling was the best way of sharing crucial data. It was also a way of educating, developing you and your mind to not have the same advantages as others.
(Barnett, 2006)
Hobbes' Expansion
When relating my own personal experience to what I have read in the readings, I have come to a clear understanding of how religion is used to control others. In many cases, there are only positive, and beneficial aspects to having a sense of conscious supportive being. But this also comes with the understanding of the fact that other people will take advantage of these ideas and use them to generate a specific form of sustainability.
Conclusion
After looking at laws and religious values from an arbitrary point, you will notice that there are major similarities in how they are related to legal mandates. Even if some of the changes are superficial, the major component will always remain the same throughout the area, and or worldwide. The laws against taking another one's life have always been some of the highest crimes society has had to deal with. This is the same for theft, adultery, and finding other ways to use technology to combine some of these crimes by other means. An answer to the question I asked myself, I took time to study, and understand what the text itself was trying to say, and compared it to how the writing styles differentiate to today's standard. Compiling the data, and then relating them to the book, has allowed me to form a clear and concise understanding of what the author was trying to depict to the audience and reader. The author has created a dialogue that can be used in classical and current societal trends. Though some of the outside influences may have changed, the fact that God is the mitigating factor still and seems to always be prevalent.
"Religious faith can promote SWB mainly via an intrinsic meaning-making path although religious practice can promote SWB via both an intrinsic meaning-making path and an extrinsic capital-accumulating path. If the dual-path effect hypothesis stands, then the role of religious practice in influencing SWB should be partly substituted by good economic status, but the role of religious faith should not." Religion has been used as a source of comfort, and because of this has been one of the leading reasons why humans rely on it for stability (Organ, 2021).
(Zeng, Cheng, Song, "Could Wealth Make Religiosity Less Needed for Subjective Well-Being? A Dual-Path Effect Hypothesis of Religious Faith Versus Practice" published by: "frontier" (2020) There are many different readings related to the Leviathan analogy. Based on what the author was trying to explain to his audience, there are many different ways that the message can be understood, and lots of different contributing elements that have created it.
References
Thomas Hobbes, "Leviathan " Full Edition, (2018) Published by: OK Publishing
https://books.google.ca/books?id=JaqSDwAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=hobbes+leviathan+free+pdf&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&source=gb_mobile_search&ovdme=1&sa=X&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false
Thomes Hobbes, "Leviathan Part 3. A Christian Commonwealth" (2017), published by: Jonathan Barnett
https://www.earlymoderntexts.com/assets/pdfs/hobbes1651part3.pdf
J Econ Behav Organ, "In crisis, we pray: Religiosity and the COVID-19 pandemic" 2021 Dec; 192: 541–583. Published "online" (2021) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8557987/
Rachel M. McCleary, Robert J. Barro, "Religion and Economy", (2006), published by: Jonathan Barnett
https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/jep.20.2.49
Zeng, Cheng, Song, "Could Wealth Make Religiosity Less Needed for Subjective Well-Being? A Dual-Path Effect Hypothesis of Religious Faith Versus Practice" published by: "frontier" (2020)
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.01636/full
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