The God of Spinoza
A Philosophical Study

Brings together Spinoza's philosophical thinking and his conclusions about God and religion.

Richard Mason (Author)

9780521665858, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 1 July 1999

288 pages
22.8 x 15.3 x 1.9 cm, 0.405 kg

'This is a very good book … This brave new theology still needs to be heard. Armed with a copy of the Ethics and Mason's book, we can begin to hear it effectively.' Scottish Journal of Theology

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.

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?

Subject Areas: Western philosophy: c 1600 to c 1900 [HPCD]