ABSTRACT
In the post-Westphalian world, it is difficult to grasp the medieval self-understanding and reach of the Roman Catholic Church. To this day, the Roman Catholic Church claims to be the universal Church, Christ's presence on earth through apostolic succession until He returns again in Glory. The Presbyterians wished to set faith on a firmer foundation than what the Roman Catholic Church had provided. Hobbes agreed with them that the Roman Catholic Church was no more than a mortal institution, that it was a 'conspiracy of men'. But he thought the Presbyterians had replaced one error with another: the Roman Catholic Church did indeed promulgate false-universalism; the Presbyterians, however, were guilty of radical-particularism. The account of Hobbes that are provided is a theological one, intended to illuminate the religious errors Hobbes thought Roman Catholics and Presbyterians had made, which he thought had been largely responsible for the English Civil War.
