Commentary

• Spinoza and Other Heretics: The Adventures of Immanence

  - Yovel, Yirmiahu. Spinoza and Other Heretics: The Adventures of Immanence. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1992.
  From the Publisher: “This ambitious study presents Baruch Spinoza (1632-1677) as the most outstanding and influential thinker of modernity–and examines the question of whether he was the “first secular Jew.” A number-one bestseller in… More

• Spinoza and Other Heretics: The Marrano of Reason

  - Yovel, Yirmiahu. Spinoza and Other Heretics: The Marrano of Reason. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1992.
  From the Publisher: “The Marrano of Reason The Marrano of Reason finds the origins of the idea of immanence in the culture of Spinoza’s Marrano ancestors, Jews in Spain and Portugal who had been forcibly converted to Christianity. Yovel uses their… More

• “Anthropomorphism and Spinoza’s Innovations”

  - Preus, Samuel J. “Anthropomorphism and Spinoza’s Innovations.” Religion 25, no. 1 (January 1995): 1–8. doi:10.1006/reli.1995.0001.
  Abstract: “The first and most rigorous early modern discussion of anthropomorphism in religion was produced by Benedict Spinoza. The intellectual context for his consideration was the problem posed by biblical anthropomorphism for the philosophical… More

• “Spinoza’s Paradox: Judaism and the Construction of Liberal Identity in the Theologico-Political Treatise.”

  - Smith, Steven B. “Spinoza’s Paradox: Judaism and the Construction of Liberal Identity in the Theologico-Political Treatise.” Journal of Jewish Thought and Philosophy 4, no. 2 (1995): 203–225.

• “The Histories and Successes of the Hebrews”: The Demise of the Biblical Polity in Spinoza’s Theologico-Political Treatise’”

  - Yaffe, Martin D. “The Histories and Successes of the Hebrews": The Demise of the Biblical Polity in Spinoza’s Theologico-Political Treatise’.” Jewish Political Studies Review 7 (1995): 57–75.
  Abstract: “This essay examines Spinoza’s account of political history of the Israelites (in chapter Seventeen of the Theologico-Political Treatise) in light of the standards which, he maintains, govern the writing of histories in general.”

• 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

• Spinoza’s Heresy: Immortality and the Jewish Mind

  - Nadler, Steven. Spinoza’s Heresy: Immortality and the Jewish Mind. New York: Oxford University Press, 2004.
  From the Publisher: “Why was the great philosopher Spinoza expelled from his Portuguese-Jewish community in Amsterdam? Nadler’s investigation of this simple question gives fascinating new perspectives on Spinoza’s thought and the Jewish… More

• Leo Strauss: The Early Writings (1921-1932)

  - Strauss, Leo. Leo Strauss: The Early Writings (1921-1932). SUNY Series in the Jewish Writings of Leo Strauss. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2002.
  From the Publisher: “This translation of eighteen virtually unknown early publications provides access for the first time to the origins of Leo Strauss’s thought in the intellectual life of the German Jewish ‘renaissance’ in the 1920s.… More

• “Spinoza’s Critique of Miracles”

  - Batnitzky, Leora. “Spinoza’s Critique of Miracles.” Cardozo Law Review 25 (2004 2003): 507.
  Excerpt: “It is well known that central to Spinoza’s critique of religious authority is his critique of prophecy. Spinoza’s understanding of prophecy builds on and criticizes Maimonides’ defense of prophecy in his Guide of the… More

• Leo Strauss: An Intellectual Biography

  - Tanguay, Daniel. Leo Strauss: An Intellectual Biography. 1st English ed. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2007.
  From the Publisher: “Since political theorist Leo Strauss’ death in 1973, American interpreters have heatedly debated his intellectual legacy. Daniel Tanguay recovers Strauss from the atmosphere of partisan debate that has dominated American… More

• Maimonides, Spinoza and Us: Toward an Intellectually Vibrant Judaism

  - Angel, Marc D. Maimonides, Spinoza and Us: Toward an Intellectually Vibrant Judaism. Woodstock: Jewish Lights Publishing, 2009.
  From the Publisher: “A challenging look at two great Jewish philosophers, and what their thinking means to our understanding of God, truth, revelation and reason. Moses Maimonides (1138-1204) is Jewish history’s greatest exponent of a rational,… More

• “The Jewish Spinoza”

  - Nadler, Steven. “The Jewish Spinoza.” Journal of the History of Ideas 70, no. 3 (2009): 491–510. doi:10.1353/jhi.0.0044.
  Examines Spinoza’s relationship to Judiasm and the Jewish philosohpical and theological traditions.

• Maimonides and Spinoza by Joshua Parens

  - Parens, Joshua. Maimonides and Spinoza: Their Conflicting Views of Human Nature. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2012.
  From the publisher: Until the last century, it was generally agreed that Maimonides was a great defender of Judaism, and Spinoza—as an Enlightenment advocate for secularization—among its key opponents. However, a new scholarly consensus has recently… More

• Leo Strauss on Moses Mendelssohn by Martin Yaffe

  - Strauss, Leo. Leo Strauss on Moses Mendelssohn. Edited by Martin D. Yaffe. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2012.  
  From the Publisher: Leo Strauss on Moses Mendelssohn is a superbly annotated translation of ten introductions written by Strauss to a multi-volume critical edition of Mendelssohn’s work. Commissioned in Weimar Germany in the 1920s, the project was… More

• “Spinoza on the Ethics of Courage and the Jewish Tradition” by Alexander Green

  - Green, Alexander. “Spinoza on the Ethics of Courage and the Jewish Tradition.” Modern Judaism 33, no. 2 (May 1, 2013): 199–225.
  Alexander Green’s article “Spinoza on the Ethics of Courage and the Jewish Tradition” explores Spinoza’s remark in the Theological-Political Treatise about Jewish “effeminate spirits” potentially hindering the restoration of Jewish… More