Spinoza’s Revelation, Religion, Democracy, and Reason
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loginNancy Levene reinterprets a major early modern philosopher, Benedictde Spinoza–aJewwhowasrejected by the Jewish community of his daybut whose thought contains, and critiques, both Jewish and Christianideas. 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 keyto this connection, and above all to Spinoza’s view of human power.This is to shift the emphasis in Spinoza’s thought from the languageofamor Dei(love of God) to the language oflibertas humana(humanfreedom) without losing either the dialectic of his most striking claim –that man is God to man – or the Jewish and Christian elements in histhought. Original and thoughtfully argued, this book offers new insightsinto Spinoza’s thought and should have wide appeal.
