What Baruch Spinoza thinks about religion
Dutch philosopher (1632 to 1677), born in Amsterdam's Portuguese-Jewish community; died in The Hague; author of the Ethics and the Theological-Political Treatise.
Baruch Spinoza did not write this page.
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27 dated positions, c. 1670 to c. 1661–1675, in their own words. Our reading of what Baruch Spinoza has said — not written or endorsed by them.
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Their wordsWhatsoever is, is in God, and without God nothing can be, or be conceived.
↗Ethics (tr. R. H. M. Elwes, 1883)gutenberg.org All 8 from this book
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Their wordsTherefore miracles, in the sense of events contrary to the laws of nature, so far from demonstrating to us the existence of God, would, on the contrary, lead us to doubt it, where, otherwise, we might have been absolutely certain of it, as knowing that nature follows a fixed and immutable order.
↗Theologico-Political Treatise, Part 2 (1670; R. H. M. Elwes translation)gutenberg.org All 18 from this book
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Their wordsI have often wondered, that persons who make a boast of professing the Christian religion, namely, love, joy, peace, temperance, and charity to all men, should quarrel with such rancorous animosity, and display daily towards one another such bitter hatred, that this, rather than the virtues they claim, is the readiest criterion of their faith.
↗Theologico-Political Treatise, Part 1 (1670; R. H. M. Elwes translation)gutenberg.org All 20 from this book
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Their wordsI think I have now sufficiently established my second point, so that we can again conclude that a miracle, whether in contravention to, or beyond, nature, is a mere absurdity; and, therefore, that what is meant in Scripture by a miracle can only be a work of nature, which surpasses, or is believed to surpass, human comprehension.
↗Theologico-Political Treatise, Part 2 (1670; R. H. M. Elwes translation)gutenberg.org All 18 from this book
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Their wordsThese questions being answered, I was easily able to conclude, that the authority of the prophets has weight only in matters of morality, and that their speculative doctrines affect us little.
↗Theologico-Political Treatise, Part 1 (1670; R. H. M. Elwes translation)gutenberg.org All 20 from this book
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Their wordsHaving thus laid bare the bases of belief, I draw the conclusion that Revelation has obedience for its sole object, therefore, in purpose no less than in foundation and method, stands entirely aloof from ordinary knowledge; each has its separate province, neither can be called the handmaid of the other.
↗Theologico-Political Treatise, Part 1 (1670; R. H. M. Elwes translation)gutenberg.org All 20 from this book
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Their wordsWhen we reflect on these peculiarities, and also on the fact that most things are related very shortly, with very little details and almost in abridgments, we shall see that there is hardly anything in Scripture which can be proved contrary to natural reason, while, on the other hand, many things which before seemed obscure, will after a little consideration be understood and easily explained.
↗Theologico-Political Treatise, Part 2 (1670; R. H. M. Elwes translation)gutenberg.org All 18 from this book
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Their wordsFurthermore, as men's habits of mind differ, so that some more readily embrace one form of faith, some another, for what moves one to pray may move another only to scoff, I conclude, in accordance with what has gone before, that everyone should be free to choose for himself the foundations of his creed, and that faith should be judged only by its fruits; each would then obey God freely with his whole heart, while nothing would be publicly honoured save justice and charity.
↗Theologico-Political Treatise, Part 1 (1670; R. H. M. Elwes translation)gutenberg.org All 20 from this book
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Our readingReligion has come to mean defending human commentaries and spreading hatred rather than charity
Their wordsAmbition and unscrupulousness have waxed so powerful, that religion is thought to consist, not so much in respecting the writings of the Holy Ghost, as in defending human commentaries, so that religion is no longer identified with charity, but with spreading discord and propagating insensate hatred disguised under the name of zeal for the Lord, and eager ardour.
↗Theologico-Political Treatise, Part 2 (1670; R. H. M. Elwes translation)gutenberg.org All 18 from this book
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Their wordsWe need no longer scruple to affirm that the prophets only perceived God's revelation by the aid of imagination, that is, by words and figures either real or imaginary.
↗Theologico-Political Treatise, Part 1 (1670; R. H. M. Elwes translation)gutenberg.org All 20 from this book
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Their wordsI may sum up the matter by saying that the method of interpreting Scripture does not widely differ from the method of interpreting nature - in fact, it is almost the same.
↗Theologico-Political Treatise, Part 2 (1670; R. H. M. Elwes translation)gutenberg.org All 18 from this book
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Our readingNature is the power of God under another name, so ignorance of nature is ignorance of God's power
Their wordsNature herself is the power of God under another name, and our ignorance of the power of God is co-extensive with our ignorance of Nature.
↗Theologico-Political Treatise, Part 1 (1670; R. H. M. Elwes translation)gutenberg.org All 20 from this book
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Their wordsWherefore the Divine origin of Scripture must consist solely in its teaching true virtue.
↗Theologico-Political Treatise, Part 2 (1670; R. H. M. Elwes translation)gutenberg.org All 18 from this book
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Their wordsIt is absolute folly, therefore, to ascribe an event to the power of God when we know not its natural cause, which is the power of God.
↗Theologico-Political Treatise, Part 1 (1670; R. H. M. Elwes translation)gutenberg.org All 20 from this book
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Their wordsThe whole knowledge of the Bible must be sought solely from itself.
↗Theologico-Political Treatise, Part 2 (1670; R. H. M. Elwes translation)gutenberg.org All 18 from this book
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Their wordsWhat we here say of Euclid might equally be said of any book which treats of things by their nature perceptible: thus we conclude that we can easily follow the intention of Scripture in moral questions, from the history we possess of it, and we can be sure of its true meaning.
↗Theologico-Political Treatise, Part 2 (1670; R. H. M. Elwes translation)gutenberg.org All 18 from this book
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Their wordsWe have determined, then, that we are only bound to believe in the prophetic writings, the object and substance of the revelation; with regard to the details, every one may believe or not, as he likes.
↗Theologico-Political Treatise, Part 1 (1670; R. H. M. Elwes translation)gutenberg.org All 20 from this book
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Their wordsFor as the highest power of Scriptural interpretation belongs to every man, the rule for such interpretation should be nothing but the natural light of reason which is common to all - not any supernatural light nor any external authority; moreover, such a rule ought not to be so difficult that it can only be applied by very skilful philosophers, but should be adapted to the natural and ordinary faculties and capacity of mankind.
↗Theologico-Political Treatise, Part 2 (1670; R. H. M. Elwes translation)gutenberg.org All 18 from this book
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Their wordsNations, then, are distinguished from one another in respect to the social organization and the laws under which they live and are governed; the Hebrew nation was not chosen by God in respect to its wisdom nor its tranquillity of mind, but in respect to its social organization and the good fortune with which it obtained supremacy and kept it so many years.
↗Theologico-Political Treatise, Part 1 (1670; R. H. M. Elwes translation)gutenberg.org All 20 from this book
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Their wordsFrom what has been said, it is thus clearer than the sun at noonday that the Pentateuch was not written by Moses, but by someone who lived long after Moses.
↗Theologico-Political Treatise, Part 2 (1670; R. H. M. Elwes translation)gutenberg.org All 18 from this book
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Their wordsWho this historian was, it is not so easy to show; but I suspect that he was Ezra, and there are several strong reasons for adopting this hypothesis.
↗Theologico-Political Treatise, Part 2 (1670; R. H. M. Elwes translation)gutenberg.org All 18 from this book
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Our readingThe biblical histories were compiled from various writers without arrangement or examination
Their wordsWe are compelled to confess that these histories were compiled from various writers without previous arrangement and examination.
↗Theologico-Political Treatise, Part 2 (1670; R. H. M. Elwes translation)gutenberg.org All 18 from this book
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Their wordsThe truth of a historical narrative, however assured, cannot give us the knowledge nor consequently the love of God, for love of God springs from knowledge of Him, and knowledge of Him should be derived from general ideas, in themselves certain and known, so that the truth of a historical narrative is very far from being a necessary requisite for our attaining our highest good.
↗Theologico-Political Treatise, Part 1 (1670; R. H. M. Elwes translation)gutenberg.org All 20 from this book
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Our readingForcing every passage of Scripture to agree bends the clear passages to the obscure and corrupt
Their wordsThey think it pious to reconcile one passage of Scripture with another - a pretty piety, forsooth, which accommodates the clear passages to the obscure, the correct to the faulty, the sound to the corrupt.
↗Theologico-Political Treatise, Part 2 (1670; R. H. M. Elwes translation)gutenberg.org All 18 from this book
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Our readingRites that are good only because commanded are mere shadows, not the fruit of a sound mind
Their wordsSuch things as are good simply because they have been commanded or instituted, or as being symbols of something good, are mere shadows which cannot be reckoned among actions that are the offsprings as it were, or fruit of a sound mind and of intellect.
↗Theologico-Political Treatise, Part 1 (1670; R. H. M. Elwes translation)gutenberg.org All 20 from this book
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Their wordsThose, therefore, who would demonstrate the authority of Holy Scripture, are bound to show the authority of each separate book; it is not enough to prove the Divine origin of a single book in order to infer the Divine origin of the rest.
↗Theologico-Political Treatise, Part 2 (1670; R. H. M. Elwes translation)gutenberg.org All 18 from this book
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Our readingConceiving God as ruler, lawgiver, king, merciful or just applies human traits alien to God's nature
Their wordsWherefore he perceived these things not as eternal truths, but as precepts and ordinances, and he ordained them as laws of God, and thus it came to be that he conceived God as a ruler, a legislator, a king, as merciful, just, &c., whereas such qualities are simply attributes of human nature, and utterly alien from the nature of the Deity.
↗Theologico-Political Treatise, Part 1 (1670; R. H. M. Elwes translation)gutenberg.org All 20 from this book