Calvin & Hobbes

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Pynchon specifically identifies Calvinism, and in particular
the Puritanism of Slothrop's New England forebears, as the
precursor of this modern religion of death--an
identification echoed by Voegelin's analysis of Puritanism
as a form of gnosticism. Citing Thomas Hobbes, a
contemporary of the militant Puritans of seventeenth century
England, Voegelin points out that "he [Hobbes] diagnosed the
efforts of the puritan sectarians to  set up the Kingdom of
God as an expression of the libido dominandi of the
revolutionary who wants to bend men to his will. The
'spirit' that he saw inspiring these armed prophets of the
new world was not the spirit of God, but human lust for
power.