Betraying Spinoza: The Renegade Jew Who Gave Us ModernityPart of the Jewish Encounter series In 1656, Amsterdam’s Jewish community excommunicated Baruch Spinoza, and, at the age of twenty–three, he became the most famous heretic in Judaism. He was already germinating a secularist challenge to religion that would be as radical as it was original. He went on to produce one of the most ambitious systems in the history of Western philosophy, so ahead of its time that scientists today, from string theorists to neurobiologists, count themselves among Spinoza’s progeny. In Betraying Spinoza, Rebecca Goldstein sets out to rediscover the flesh-and-blood man often hidden beneath the veneer of rigorous rationality, and to crack the mystery of the breach between the philosopher and his Jewish past. Goldstein argues that the trauma of the Inquisition’ s persecution of its forced Jewish converts plays itself out in Spinoza’s philosophy. The excommunicated Spinoza, no less than his excommunicators, was responding to Europe’ s first experiment with racial anti-Semitism. Here is a Spinoza both hauntingly emblematic and deeply human, both heretic and hero—a surprisingly contemporary figure ripe for our own uncertain age. |
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Page 9
... nature of reality was inspired by one of the strands that the seventeenth century's men of science were weaving into what we now refer to as the scientific method , that magnificently subtle , supple , and successful blend of ...
... nature of reality was inspired by one of the strands that the seventeenth century's men of science were weaving into what we now refer to as the scientific method , that magnificently subtle , supple , and successful blend of ...
Page 11
... nature to proceed unimpeded by religious dogma could not speak more pertinently to some of the raging controversies of our day , including the recurring public debate in America over Darwin's theory of evolution . The sides are drawn up ...
... nature to proceed unimpeded by religious dogma could not speak more pertinently to some of the raging controversies of our day , including the recurring public debate in America over Darwin's theory of evolution . The sides are drawn up ...
Page 13
... nature of his offenses . Only vague and general " evil ways ” and “ abomina- ble heresies " are referred to . Were his deviations practical , doctrinal , or attitudinal ? The fact that he was so young , with the philosophical results ...
... nature of his offenses . Only vague and general " evil ways ” and “ abomina- ble heresies " are referred to . Were his deviations practical , doctrinal , or attitudinal ? The fact that he was so young , with the philosophical results ...
Page 27
... nature . Mrs. Schoenfeld used the English word " God , " which was not a word we normally used . Instead we said Ha ... nature , then of course he didn't think the Torah was revealed by God . The denial of divine authorship seemed barely ...
... nature . Mrs. Schoenfeld used the English word " God , " which was not a word we normally used . Instead we said Ha ... nature , then of course he didn't think the Torah was revealed by God . The denial of divine authorship seemed barely ...
Page 28
... nature had hidden mystical qualities , that it was imbued with nefesh , with spirit , the very spirit of God ? Did he think that nature was a great deal more than what we normally think of it as being ? Or was Spinoza saying that nature ...
... nature had hidden mystical qualities , that it was imbued with nefesh , with spirit , the very spirit of God ? Did he think that nature was a great deal more than what we normally think of it as being ? Or was Spinoza saying that nature ...
Contents
3 | |
17 | |
The Project of Escape | 67 |
Identity Crisis | 124 |
Epilogue | 258 |
Chronology | 265 |
Notes | 273 |
Acknowledgments | 285 |
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Aboab argue Baruch Spinoza believe with perfect Benedictus Benedictus Spinoza born Catholic century chief rabbi Christian Church claim conceived continued conversos course death Descartes Deus sive natura divine Dutch Ein Sof emotions essence eternal Ethics excommunication existence experience explain fact father final causes finite friends girls Ha-Shem halakha Hebrew heretic holy Ibid ideas infinite system Inquisition Israel Jan de Witt Jewish Jewish community Jewish identity Jews of Amsterdam Judaism kabbalah kabbalistic kherem knowledge laws Leibniz lives Lurianic Maimonides Marranos means Messiah metaphysics mind Moses Moslem mystical Nachmanides nature noza one's oneself perfect faith personal identity philosopher pleasure Portugal Portuguese proofs publish question Rabbi Morteira rational reality reason religion religious Rijnsburg Sabbatai Zevi salvation Schoenfeld scholar sense Sephardic soul Spain Spanish suffering synagogue Talmud teacher thing thinker thought tion Torah true truth understand Uriel da Costa Voorburg words write yeshiva young