The God of Spinoza: A Philosophical Study

This book is the fullest study in English for many years on the role of God in Spinoza’s philosophy. Spinoza has been called both a ‘God-intoxicated man’ and an atheist, both a pioneer of secular Judaism and a bitter critic of religion. He was born a Jew but chose to live outside any religious community. He was deeply engaged both in traditional Hebrew learning and in contemporary physical science. He identified God with nature or substance: a theme which runs through his work, enabling him to naturalise religion but - equally important - to divinise nature. He emerges not as a rationalist precursor of the Enlightenment but as a thinker of the highest importance in his own right, both in philosophy and in religion.

• Full treatment of Spinoza’s philosophical and religious positions • Fundamental reappraisal of Spinoza’s standing as a philosopher • Discusses recent English and French literature on the subject

Part I. The God of the Philosophers: 1. How God exists; 2. How God acts; 3. God and doubt; Part II. The God of Abraham, of Isaac and of Jacob: 4. Final causes; 5. Hope and fear; 6. The meaning of revelation; 7. History; Part III. The God of Spinoza: 8. Choosing a religion; 9. The figure of Christ; 10. Understanding eternity; 11. Why Spinoza?