84. - Hebrew State

Summary

An important part of the TTP deals with jus circa sacra, the question of the relationship between church and state, and more precisely, the question of knowing who is authorized to take decisions such as the appointment of preachers, the excommunication of members of the community, the censorship of books. Chapter 19 of the Treatise deals, as its title indicates, with the “right concerning sacred matters,” and declares that the establishment of that right “belongs completely to the supreme powers [summa potestas].” This thesis of the penultimate chapter of the Treatise is essential, both upstream and downstream. Upstream, it is largely based on notions and arguments developed in the previous chapters: the distinction between interior and exterior religion, the subordination of the jus (right) to the sovereign, the need for the individual to abandon the right of nature. Downstream, it in turn plays a role in determining the central issue of the Treatise: the freedom to philosophize.