An Escape from the Escape Fiction -

 
 

 
Just read "A Book Forged in Hell" about Baruch Spinoza and his seminal Theological-Political Treatise, written by William H. Hay II Professor of Philosophy at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.  It is part biography, part a critique of his treatise, and part a discussion of the early days of the Enlightenment.
 
A number of years ago, I initially became interested in Spinoza because of a comment Einstein made when challenged by the Jewish rabbinical powers as to if he, in fact, "believed in God."  He answered "I believe in the God of Spinoza."  I could not fail to followup this discovery with some reading on Spinoza.  I have read two books on Spinoza previously, but this looked to have a greater potential to dig deeper into his philosophy rather than the story of his life.  It did.
 
I was concerned that this might be another "philosophy light" as so many books on historic thinkers seem to be these days.  This was indeed reasonably readable, but it was a pretty intense, dissection of Spinoza's Theological-Political Treatise, with discussions of its relation to the writings of Hume, Descartes and others..  The term "forged in Hell" was actually used by 17th century critics twice.  This work was Spinoza's great hope; he thought it would so irrefutably convince others that any extreme of philosophical thought was proper, and should pose no threat to the religious/political order.  He was severely mistaken, and he was harassed as an heretic, and charged with blasphemy.  This should not have been surprising, seeing the inquisition put Galileo under lifelong house arrest, an act that silenced Descartes, who decided not to publish a very similar treatise on the movement of the celestial bodies.  Blasphemy was still a capital offense through most of Europe . . . Spinoza was just at the dawning of the enlightenment. 
 
"To the extent that we are committed to the ideal of a secular society free of ecclesiastic influence and governed by toleration, liberty, and a conception of civic virtue; and insofar as we think of true religious piety as consisting in treating other human beings with dignity and respect, and regard the Bible simply as a profound work of human literature with a universal moral message, we are the heirs of Spinoza's scandalous treatise."