Commentary

• “How to Study Spinoza’s ‘Theologico-Political Treatise’”

  - Strauss, Leo. “How to Study Spinoza’s ‘Theologico-Political Treatise’.” Proceedings of the American Academy for Jewish Research 17 (January 1, 1947): 69–131. doi:10.2307/3622164.
  A pathbreaking study of the question of how to read Spinoza’s masterwork, the Theologico-Political Treatise.

• Persecution and the Art of Writing

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  Strauss, Leo. Persecution and the Art of Writing. Chicago: University Of Chicago Press, 1988.
  From the Publisher: “The essays collected in Persecution and the Art of Writing all deal with one problem—the relation between philosophy and politics. Here, Strauss sets forth the thesis that many philosophers, especially political philosophers,… More

• 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 Critique of Religion

  - Strauss, Leo. Spinoza’s Critique of Religion. Chicago: University Of Chicago Press, 1997.
  From the Publisher: “Leo Strauss articulates the conflict between reason and revelation as he explores Spinoza’s scientific, comparative, and textual treatment of the Bible. Strauss compares Spinoza’sTheologico-political Treatise and the… 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

• “On Leo Strauss’s Critique of Spinoza”

  - Smith, Steven B. “On Leo Strauss’s Critique of Spinoza.” Cardozo Law Review 25 (2003-2004): 741.
  Excerpt: ” In an essay from 1932 entitled Das Testament Spinozas, Leo Strauss observed that the reception of Spinoza has undergone various stages from condemnation as a soulless atheist and materialist, to canonization by the German romantics who saw… More

• “Strauss and Schmitt as Readers of Hobbes and Spinoza: On the Relation Between Political Theology and Liberalism”

  - Vatter, Miguel E. “Strauss and Schmitt as Readers of Hobbes and Spinoza: On the Relation Between Political Theology and Liberalism.” CR: The New Centennial Review 4, no. 3 (2004): 161–214. doi:10.1353/ncr.2005.0025.
  Excerpt: “Among those thinkers who experienced the emergence of totalitarian regimes and lived to offer a theoretical analysis of them, it is not infrequent to notice the absence of what in our times is presented as unquestionable evidence: 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

• “Leo Strauss and the Theological Dimension of Political Philosophy: Four Readings”

  - Yaffe, Martin D. “Leo Strauss and the Theological Dimension of Political Philosophy: Four Readings.” The Review of Politics 69, no. 04 (2007): 650–667.
  Review of four recent books on Strauss’ approach to the Theologico-Political Problem.

• 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