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book: Spinoza's Religion
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Spinoza's Religion

A New Reading of the Ethics
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Language: English
Published/Copyright: 2021

About this book

A bold reevaluation of Spinoza that reveals his powerful, inclusive vision of religion for the modern age

Spinoza is widely regarded as either a God-forsaking atheist or a God-intoxicated pantheist, but Clare Carlisle says that he was neither. In Spinoza’s Religion, she sets out a bold interpretation of Spinoza through a lucid new reading of his masterpiece, the Ethics. Putting the question of religion centre-stage but refusing to convert Spinozism to Christianity, Carlisle reveals that “being in God” unites Spinoza’s metaphysics and ethics. Spinoza’s Religion unfolds a powerful, inclusive philosophical vision for the modern age—one that is grounded in a profound questioning of how to live a joyful, fully human life.

Like Spinoza himself, the Ethics doesn’t fit into any ready-made religious category. But Carlisle shows how it wrestles with the question of religion in strikingly original ways, responding both critically and constructively to the diverse, broadly Christian context in which Spinoza lived and worked. Philosophy itself, as Spinoza practiced it, became a spiritual endeavor that expressed his devotion to a truthful, virtuous way of life. Offering startling new insights into Spinoza’s famously enigmatic ideas about eternal life and the intellectual love of God, Carlisle uncovers a Spinozist religion that integrates self-knowledge, desire, practice, and embodied ethical life to reach toward our “highest happiness”—to rest in God.

Seen through Carlisle’s eyes, the Ethics prompts us to rethink not only Spinoza but also religion itself.

Author / Editor information

Clare Carlisle is Professor of Philosophy at King’s College London, and the author of six previous books, including Philosopher of the Heart: The Restless Life of Søren Kierkegaard. She is also the editor of George Eliot’s translation of Spinoza’s Ethics (Princeton). She grew up in Manchester and lives in London.

Reviews

"Spinoza’s Religion is a joy to read. . . . It is a book that has the power to bring Spinoza deeper into our hearts, making his words a companion n our efforts to live with greater equanimity and delight. Spinoza's Religion also poses a compelling challenge to what we think we know about Spinoza."---Hasana Sharp, Journal of the History of Philosophy --- "I’m sure I’m not the only person who feels excited to explore the new world of interpretation that Carlisle has opened up by taking Spinoza’s religion seriously."---Alexander Douglas, Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews --- "Carlisle’s interpretation of Spinoza is consistently fresh and surprising. . . . This book steps decisively away from the modes of rational reconstruction and conceptual analysis that now dominate Spinoza scholarship in the English language, and is all the better for it. . . . An excellent book that will reward readers of Spinoza of all levels."---Beth Lord, Philosophy --- "An intimate, religious reading of Spinoza’s Ethics, which allows his peculiar religion to emerge with all its promise and paradox." --- "Carlisle has done us a great service by offering a convincing and newly rounded portrayal—and by reminding us that you can never exhaust the majesty of Spnoza's religious writing."---Alex Dean, Prospect --- "[Carlisle] admirably establishes that Spinoza’s philosophy can be interpreted as a distinctive and original form of rational religion."---Carlos Fraenkel, Times Literary Supplement --- "Carlisle’s book is a finely written and thoughtful introduction to Spinoza’s philosophy for anyone who is curious as to why this thinker, dead for almost 350 years, remains vitally relevant today"---Steven Nadler, Literary Review

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    Frontmatter

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    Contents

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    Introduction: The Question of Religion

    1
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    Chapter one Philosophy and Devotion

    18
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    Chapter two What Is the Ethics?

    35
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    Chapter three Being-in-God

    56
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    Chapter Four Whatever We Desire and Do

    79
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    Chapter Five Participating in Divine Nature

    92
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    Chapter Six Acquiescentia

    112
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    Chapter Seven How to Love God

    134
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    Chapter Eight Eternal Life

    148
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    Chapter Nine Spinoza’s Religion

    164
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    Afterword ‘The path to these things’

    184
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    Acknowledgements

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    Notes

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    Works Cited

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    Index

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Publishing information
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
eBook published on:
September 8, 2021
eBook ISBN:
9780691224206
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
View content
https://doi.org/10.1515/9780691224206
eBook ISBN: 9780691224206
Keywords for this book
Baruch Spinoza; Theology; Religion; God; Ethics; Philosophy; Spinozism; Philosopher; Love of God; Thought; Reason; Thomas Aquinas; Existence; Four causes; Critique; Consciousness; Princeton University Press; Morality; Divine law; Good and evil; Atheism; Piety; Pantheism; Suggestion; Immanence; Treatise; Superstition; Religio; Conceptions of God; Understanding; Cognition; Concept; Omniscience; Causality; Christian theology; Spirituality; Humility; Self-love; Calvinism; Lecture; Christianity; Stoicism; Principle; Christian tradition; Philosophy of religion; Conatus; Sadness; Existence of God; Ontology; Summa Theologica; Thomism; Writing; Explanation; Protestantism; Loving-kindness; Orthodoxy; Lutheranism; Religious text; Søren Kierkegaard; Proslogion; Meditations; Heresy; Copyright; Eternal life (Christianity); Obedience (human behavior); Secularism; Intelligibility (philosophy); Dogma; Magis; Epistemology
Audience(s) for this book
For a non-specialist adult audience
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