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. |
From inside the book
Results 6-10 of 46
Page 9
... thought by claiming that the late poet Lessing had been a closet Spi- nozist , a charge sufficient to compromise the entire move- ment for which Lessing had been a leading spokesman.3 Jacobi even went after Immanuel Kant and his ...
... thought by claiming that the late poet Lessing had been a closet Spi- nozist , a charge sufficient to compromise the entire move- ment for which Lessing had been a leading spokesman.3 Jacobi even went after Immanuel Kant and his ...
Page 15
... been cast . It was the language in which Spinoza remained the most comfortable throughout his life , no doubt the language in which he thought out his incompara- ble philosophy . The language in which the most universal 15.
... been cast . It was the language in which Spinoza remained the most comfortable throughout his life , no doubt the language in which he thought out his incompara- ble philosophy . The language in which the most universal 15.
Page 24
... thought , given the high percentage of my student life that was taken up by them . I felt the doubt as a sensation in my chest , gnawing away like some sharp - toothed rodent . I had an urgency in me to become knowledgeable . I had ...
... thought , given the high percentage of my student life that was taken up by them . I felt the doubt as a sensation in my chest , gnawing away like some sharp - toothed rodent . I had an urgency in me to become knowledgeable . I had ...
Page 27
... thought that God was identical with nature , then of course he didn't think the Torah was revealed by God . The denial of divine authorship seemed barely worth mentioning , once one had made the astounding claim that God and nature were ...
... thought that God was identical with nature , then of course he didn't think the Torah was revealed by God . The denial of divine authorship seemed barely worth mentioning , once one had made the astounding claim that God and nature were ...
Page 29
... thought to ask her if she herself had read the works of the heretic . Of course , I didn't pose the question that rose to my lips , since it could have been heard as disrespectful of her , a veiled challenge , and derekh eretz ...
... thought to ask her if she herself had read the works of the heretic . Of course , I didn't pose the question that rose to my lips , since it could have been heard as disrespectful of her , a veiled challenge , and derekh eretz ...
Contents
3 | |
17 | |
The Project of Escape | 67 |
Identity Crisis | 124 |
Epilogue | 258 |
Chronology | 265 |
Notes | 273 |
Acknowledgments | 285 |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
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