The God of Spinoza : a philosophical study

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The God of Spinoza : a philosophical study

Richard Mason

Cambridge University Press, 1997

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Note

Includes bibliographical references (p. 261-268) and index

Description and Table of Contents

Description

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.

Table of Contents

  • 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?

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