Skip to content

Spinoza Theological-Political Treatise

Best in textbook rentals since 2012!

ISBN-10: 0521530970

ISBN-13: 9780521530972

Edition: 2007 (Annotated)

Authors: Benedictus de Spinoza, Jonathan I. Israel, Michael Silverthorne

List price: $31.99
Blue ribbon 30 day, 100% satisfaction guarantee!
what's this?
Rush Rewards U
Members Receive:
Carrot Coin icon
XP icon
You have reached 400 XP and carrot coins. That is the daily max!

Description:

Spinoza's Theological-Political Treatise (1670) is one of the most important philosophical works of the early modern period. In it Spinoza discusses at length the historical circumstances of the composition and transmission of the Bible, demonstrating the fallibility of both its authors and its interpreters. He argues that free enquiry is not only consistent with the security and prosperity of a state but actually essential to them, and that such freedom flourishes best in a democratic and republican state in which individuals are left free while religious organizations are subordinated to the secular power. His Treatise has profoundly influenced the subsequent history of political thought,…    
Customers also bought

Book details

List price: $31.99
Copyright year: 2007
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Publication date: 5/3/2007
Binding: Paperback
Pages: 329
Size: 6.02" wide x 8.98" long x 0.83" tall
Weight: 1.320
Language: English

Michael Silverthorne is Honorary University Fellow, Department of Classics, University of Exeter. He is co-editor with Lisa Jardine of Francis Bacon: The New Organon (2000).

Introduction
Chronology
Further reading
Note on the text and translation
Preface
On prophency
On the prophets
ON the vocation of the Hebrews, and whether the prophetic gift was peculiar to them
On the divine law
On the reason why ceremonies were instituted, and on belief in the historical narratives, i.e. for what reason and for whom such belief is necessary
On miracles
On the interpretation of Scripture
In which it is shown that the Pentateuch and the books of Joshua, Judges, Ruth, Samuel and Kings were not written by the persons after whom they are named. The question is then asked whether they were written by several authors or by one, and who they were
Further queries about the same books, namely, whether Ezra made a definitive version of them, and whether the marginal notes found in the Hebrew MSS are variant readings
Where the remaining books of the Old Testament are examined in the same manner as the earlier ones
Where it is asked whether the Apostles wrote their Epistles as apostles and prophets or as teachers, and the role of an Apostle is explained
On the true original text of the divine law, and why Holy Scripture is so called, and why it is called the word of God, and a demonstration that, in so far as it contains the word of God, it has come down to us uncorrupted
Where it is shown that the teachings of Scripture are very simple, and aim only to promote obedience, and tell us nothing about the divine nature beyond what men may emulate by a certain manner of life
What faith is, who the faithful are, the foundations of faith defined, and faith definitively distinguished from philosophy
Where it is shown that theology is not subordinate to reason nor reason to theology, and why it is we are persuaded of the authority of Holy Scripture
On the foundations of the state, on the natural and civil right of each person, and on the authority of sovereign powers
Where it is shown that no one can transfer all things to the sovereign power, and that it is not necessary to do so; on the character of the Hebrew state in the time of Moses, and in the period after his death before the appointment of the kings; on its excellence, and on the reasons why this divine state could perish, and why it could scarcely exist without sedition
Some political principles are inferred from the Hebrew state and its history
Where is shown that authority in sacred matters belongs wholly to the sovereign powers and that the external cult of religion must be consistent with the stability of the state if we wish to obey God rightly
Where it is shown that in a free state everyone is allowed to think what they wish and to say what they think
Annotations: Spinoza's supplementary notes to the Theological-Political Treatise
Index