has appeared in the Journal of Applied Philosophy, European Journal of Political Theory, Political Research Quarterly, and other venues, including popular outlets like The Washington Post.
Jones applied the “Page 99 Test” to his new book, Apocalypse without God: Apocalyptic Thought, Ideal Politics, and the Limits of Utopian Hope and reported the following:
Page 99 comes in the middle of Chapter 4 on Thomas Hobbes, the influential English political philosopher of the 17th century who wrote Leviathan, which defends the state’s authority and condemns life outside of it as “solitary, poore, nasty, brutish, and short.” This chapter examines how Hobbes responds to rebellious apocalyptic sects, like the Fifth Monarchy Men, and co-opts aspects of their beliefs to bolster the state’s authority. Page 99 quotes a letter by Hobbes to King Charles II from 1662, after the English Civil War and restoration of the monarchy. Leviathan sparked a great deal of controversy, leading some of Hobbes’s opponents to label him an atheist, and the letter tries to assure Charles that his motives for writing the book were noble:Learn more about Apocalypse without God at the Cambridge University Press website, and visit Ben Jones's webpage.It was written in a time when the pretence to Christ’s kingdom was made use of for the most horrid actions that can be imagined; and it was in just indignation of that, that I desired to see the bottom of that doctrine of the kingdom of Christ, which divers ministers then preached for a pretence to their rebellion.It’s a fascinating remark by Hobbes and shows that Leviathan’s many passages on apocalyptic beliefs, like the kingdom of God or Christ, are central to the project. That is often missed in how Leviathan is read and taught today.
Apocalypse without God has three parts, and page 99 serves as a nice representation of Part II. This part offers historical case studies of secular political thinkers who engage with apocalyptic texts and figures. The other two chapters of Part II examine Niccolò Machiavelli’s interest in the apocalyptic figure Girolamo Savonarola and Friedrich Engels’s fascination with the book of Revelation and German revolutionary Thomas Müntzer. These chapters show how apocalyptic thought becomes secular and its persistent appeal in political thought.
Page 99 is a bit different than what you find in Parts I and III. Part I presents a conceptual analysis of secular apocalyptic thought along with methodological recommendations for how to study it (which Part II illustrates). Part III then reflects on what secular apocalyptic thought can teach us about political philosophy and politics today.
Apocalyptic thought has two sides to it: predictions of catastrophe, but also hope for utopia. As Apocalypse without God explains, the persistent appeal of apocalyptic thought partly lies in offering strategies to “reconcile deeply held hopes for a more perfect political future with a world seemingly hostile to it.” You will not find that exact point on page 99, but it’s a building block for developing and illustrating that argument.
Coffee with a Canine: Ben Jones & Sloopy.
--Marshal Zeringue
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