# Peter — Leviathan character guide

> Peter in Leviathan by Thomas Hobbes.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** St. Peter, Simon Peter, Simon

**First appearance:** 0003-part-i-of-man

## Snapshot

The apostle whose promise of new heavens grounds Hobbes's claim that eternal life begins at resurrection, not at birth, and that the Church is an assembly, not a kingdom.

## Who they are

Hobbes cites Peter to insist the kingdom of God is a civil commonwealth where God reigns by a vicar, and that immortality comes by promise rather than by nature. Peter's name also anchors the book's long excavation of the word "church" — a congregation summoned by authority, not a standing government over princes. The stakes are political: if Peter's church is an assembly, no bishop inherits a throne from him.

## Relationships

### [Jesus Christ](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/leviathan_se/characters/jesus_christ)

_professional_

Jesus Christ and Peter share a master-disciple relationship, with Peter as the chief apostle and foundation of the Church.

### [Pope Zachary](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/leviathan_se/characters/pope_zachary)

_professional_

Peter and Pope Zachary are linked as first bishop of Rome and a later pope, with Zachary inheriting Peter's apostolic authority.

### [Jesus Christ](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/leviathan_se/characters/jesus_christ)

_professional_

Jesus Christ and Peter share a master-disciple relationship, with Peter as the chief apostle and foundation of the Church.

### [Jesus Christ](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/leviathan_se/characters/jesus_christ)

_professional_

Jesus Christ and Peter share a master-disciple relationship, with Peter as the chief apostle and foundation of the Church.

## In the story

### [Part III: Of a Christian Commonwealth](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/leviathan_se/chapters/part-iii-of-a-christian-commonwealth)

Mentioned in the context of apostolic authority and the foundation of the church.

### [Of Power Ecclesiastical](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/leviathan_se/chapters/xlii-of-power-ecclesiastical)

Mentioned as the apostle who, along with others, will judge the world at Christ's second coming, not the Pope.

### [XLIII: Of What Is Necessary for a Man’s Reception Into the Kingdom of Heaven](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/leviathan_se/chapters/xliii-of-what-is-necessary-for-a-man-s-reception-into-the-kingdom-of-heaven)

Mentioned as being withstood by St. Paul, illustrating that even apostles can err in superstructure.

### [Of Demonology, and Other Relics of the Religion of the Gentiles](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/leviathan_se/chapters/xlv-of-demonology-and-other-relics-of-the-religion-of-the-gentiles)

Mentioned in the context that the Pope's authority is not a privilege of St. Peter but of the city of Rome.

### [Of the Benefit That Proceedeth from Such Darkness, and to Whom It Accrueth](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/leviathan_se/chapters/xlvii-of-the-benefit-that-proceedeth-from-such-darkness-and-to-whom-it-accrueth)

Referenced in the context of the Pope's claim to authority via the right of St. Peter, and in the analogy of Peter's net breaking from too many fish.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/leviathan_se/characters/peter
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/leviathan_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/leviathan_se/characters