Spinoza's revelation : religion, democracy, and reason / Nancy K. Levene.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Levene, Nancy, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Spinoza, Benedictus de, 1632-1677.

Spinoza, Benedictus de.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xxi, 256 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2004.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Nancy Levene reinterprets a major early modern philosopher, Benedict de Spinoza - a Jew who was rejected by the Jewish community of his day but whose thought contains, and critiques, both Jewish and Christian ideas. It foregrounds the connection of religion, democracy, and reason, showing that Spinoza's theories of the Bible, the theologico-political, and the philosophical all involve the concepts of equality and sovereignty. Professor Levene argues that Spinoza's concept of revelation is the key to this connection, and above all to Spinoza's view of human power. This is to shift the emphasis in Spinoza's thought from the language of amor Dei (love of God) to the language of libertas humana (human freedom) without losing either the dialectic of his most striking claim - that man is God to man - or the Jewish and Christian elements in his thought. Original and thoughtfully argued, this book offers fresh insights into Spinoza's thought.

Contents:

Vera religio

Superstition

The God of the philosophers

Spinoza's God

Man is God to man

Spinoza's Bible: concerning how it is that "scripture, insofar as it contains the word of God, has come down to us uncorrupted"

Why the Bible

Prophecy, or revelation

Interpretation

The Bible and the sacred

Politics, law, and the multitude

The politics of the multitude

Law

Obedience

Freedom

Reason, revelation, and the case of the Hebrews

The pacts

Election, divine and human

The love of God.

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 05 Oct 2015).

Includes bibliographical references (p. 242-248) and index.

ISBN:

1-107-14825-1

1-280-54039-7

0-511-21471-5

0-511-21650-5

0-511-21113-9

0-511-31529-5

0-511-48844-0

0-511-21290-9

OCLC:

173610082