Commentary

• Spinoza, Liberalism, and the Question of Jewish Identity

  - Smith, Steven B. Spinoza, Liberalism, and the Question of Jewish Identity. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1997.
  From the Publisher: “Baruch de Spinoza (1632-1677)—often recognized as the first modern Jewish thinker—was also a founder of modern liberal political philosophy. This book is the first to connect systematically these two aspects of Spinoza’s… More

• “The Absurdity of Spinozism: Spinoza and His First Dutch Critics”

  - Van Bunge, Wiep. “The Absurdity of Spinozism: Spinoza and His First Dutch Critics.” Intellectual News 2, no. 1 (1997): 18–26. doi:10.1080/15615324.1997.10429233.
  Abstract: “Over the last thirty years, few early-modem philosophers have been studied as closely as the seventeenth-century Dutchman Baruch, or Benedict de, Spinoza (1631–1677). At the close of the 1960s, a number of important studies appeared which… More

• The God of Spinoza: A Philosophical Study

  - Mason, Richard. The God of Spinoza: A Philosophical Study. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999.
  From the publisher: “This book brings together Spinoza’s fundamental philosophical thinking with his conclusions about God and religion. Spinoza was born a Jew but chose to live outside any religious community. He was deeply engaged both in… More

• Toleration in Enlightenment Europe

  - Grell, Ole Peter, and Roy Porter. Toleration in Enlightenment Europe. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000.
  From the Publisher: “The Enlightenment is often seen as the great age of religious and intellectual toleration, and this volume is the first systematic pan-European survey of the theory, practice, and very real limits to toleration in eighteenth century… More

• Spinoza: A Life

  - Nadler, Steven. Spinoza: A Life. reprint. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001.
  From the Publisher: “Baruch Spinoza (1632-1677) was one of the most important philosophers of all time; he was also arguably the most radical and controversial. This was the first complete biography of Spinoza in any language and is based on detailed… More

• Radical Enlightenment: Philosophy and the Making of Modernity 1650-1750

  - Israel, Jonathan I. Radical Enlightenment: Philosophy and the Making of Modernity 1650-1750. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002.
  From the Publisher: “In the wake of the Scientific Revolution, the late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries saw the complete demolition of traditional structures of authority, scientific thought, and belief by the new philosophy and the philosophers,… More

• Spinoza and the Rise of Historical Criticism of the Bible

  - Frampton, Travis L. Spinoza and the Rise of Historical Criticism of the Bible. New York: Continuum, 2006.
  From the Publisher: “Studies tracing the rise of historical criticism of the Bible often consider Benedict de Spinoza (1632-1677) the progenitor of this approach, presenting him as a quintessentially modern, rationalaist thinker who developed a… More

• The Courtier and the Heretic: Leibniz, Spinoza, and the Fate of God in the Modern World

  - Stewart, Matthew. The Courtier and the Heretic: Leibniz, Spinoza, and the Fate of God in the Modern World. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2007.
  From the Publisher: “Philosophy in the late seventeenth century was a dangerous business. No careerist could afford to know the reclusive, controversial philosopher Baruch de Spinoza. Yet the wildly ambitious genius Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, who… More

• Staring Into the Void: Spinoza, the Master of Nihilism

  - Skulsky, Harold. Staring Into the Void: Spinoza, the Master of Nihilism. Newark: University of Delaware Press, 2009.
  From the Publisher: “Drawing extensively on the whole range of Spinoza’s philosophical writing, Staring into the Void devotes twelve chapters to showing in detail how the architecture of reality as Spinoza saw it rises in stages from a theory of… More

• “Why Spinoza Is Intolerant of Atheists” by Michael Rosenthal

  - Rosenthal, Michael A. “Why Spinoza Is Intolerant of Atheists: God and the Limits of Early Modern Liberalism.” The Review of Metaphysics 65, no. 4 (June 2012): 813–834.
  Michael A. Rosenthal’s article, “Why Spinoza Is Intolerant of Atheists: God and the Limits of Early Modern Liberalism,” explores Spinoza’s complex stance on toleration, particularly his view of atheism. While Spinoza is often regarded as a central… More