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Do not fill this in! ===Baruch Spinoza=== {{main|Baruch Spinoza#Philosophy}} [[File:Spinoza.jpg|thumb|160px|The philosophy of Baruch Spinoza is often regarded as pantheism.<ref name=Picton/><ref>*Fraser, Alexander Campbell "Philosophy of Theism", William Blackwood and Sons, 1895, p 163.</ref>]] In the West, pantheism was formalized as a separate theology and philosophy based on the work of the 17th-century philosopher Baruch Spinoza.<ref name=Picton/>{{rp|p.7}} Spinoza was a Dutch philosopher of Portuguese descent raised in the [[Sephardi Jews|Sephardi Jewish]] community in [[Amsterdam]].<ref name=tws908>{{cite news | first=Anthony |last=Gottlieb | title = God Exists, Philosophically (review of "Spinoza: A Life" by Steven Nadler) | work=The New York Times |date=18 July 1999 | url = https://www.nytimes.com/books/99/07/18/reviews/990718.18gottlit.html | access-date =7 September 2009}}</ref> He developed highly controversial ideas regarding the authenticity of the Hebrew Bible and the nature of the Divine, and was effectively excluded from Jewish society at age 23, when the [[Portuguese Synagogue (Amsterdam)|local synagogue]] issued a ''[[Herem (censure)|herem]]'' against him.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.neh.gov/humanities/2013/septemberoctober/feature/why-spinoza-was-excommunicated|title=Why Spinoza Was Excommunicated|date=2015-09-01|website=National Endowment for the Humanities|language=en|access-date=2017-09-05|archive-date=8 September 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180908105602/https://www.neh.gov/humanities/2013/septemberoctober/feature/why-spinoza-was-excommunicated|url-status=dead}}</ref> A number of his books were published posthumously, and shortly thereafter included in the Catholic Church's ''[[Index Librorum Prohibitorum|Index of Forbidden Books]]''. The breadth and importance of Spinoza's work would not be realized for many years – as the groundwork for the 18th-century [[Age of Enlightenment]]<ref name=tws9907>{{cite news |title=The Spinoza Problem |first=Irvin |last=Yalom |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=21 February 2012 |url=https://articles.washingtonpost.com/2012-02-21/entertainment/35442915_1_history-teacher-novel-theories |access-date=7 March 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131112073417/http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2012-02-21/entertainment/35442915_1_history-teacher-novel-theories |archive-date=12 November 2013 |df=dmy-all }}</ref> and modern [[biblical criticism]],<ref>{{cite book |last=Yovel |first=Yirmiyahu |title=Spinoza and Other Heretics: The Adventures of Immanence |publisher=[[Princeton University Press]] |date=1992 |page=3}}</ref> including modern conceptions of the self and the universe.<ref name=tws9906>{{cite news| title = Destroyer and Builder |magazine=The New Republic | date = 3 May 2012 | url = https://newrepublic.com/book/review/book-forged-hell-spinoza-treatise-steven-nadler| access-date =7 March 2013 }}</ref> In the posthumous ''[[Ethics (Spinoza)|Ethics]]'', "Spinoza wrote the last indisputable Latin masterpiece, and one in which the refined conceptions of medieval philosophy are finally turned against themselves and destroyed entirely."<ref name="ReferenceA1">Scruton 1986 (2002 ed.), ch. 1, p.32.</ref> In particular, he opposed [[René Descartes]]' famous [[Dualism (philosophy of mind)|mind–body dualism]], the theory that the body and spirit are separate.<ref name=Plumptre /> Spinoza held the [[Monism|monist]] view that the two are the same, and monism is a fundamental part of his philosophy. He was described as a "God-intoxicated man," and used the word God to describe the unity of all substance.<ref name=Plumptre>{{cite book|last=Plumptre|first=Constance|title=General sketch of the history of pantheism, Volume 2|year=1879|publisher=Samuel Deacon and Co|location=London|isbn=9780766155022|pages=3–5, 8, 29}}</ref> This view influenced philosophers such as [[Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel]], who said, "You are either a [[Spinozism|Spinozist]] or not a philosopher at all."<ref name="Hegel's History of Philosophy">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ESNZ3TUdN40C&pg=PA144 |title=Hegel's History of Philosophy |access-date=2 May 2011| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110513033919/https://books.google.com/books?id=ESNZ3TUdN40C&pg=PA144&lpg=PA144&dq=%22you+are+either+a+spinozist+or+not+a+philosopher+at+all%22&source=bl&ots=XRsqJEbyNT&sig=bCClaJ9V6lL_CJbOR-S3zaGwHqo&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=1&ct=result| archive-date= 13 May 2011 | url-status= live|isbn=9780791455432 |year=2003 |publisher=SUNY Press }}</ref> Spinoza earned praise as one of the great [[rationalism|rationalists]] of [[17th-century philosophy]]<ref>Scruton 1986 (2002 ed.), ch. 2, p.26</ref> and one of [[Western philosophy]]'s most important thinkers.<ref>{{cite book|first1=Gilles |last1=Deleuze|title=Expressionism in Philosophy: Spinoza|date=1990|publisher=Zone Books|chapter=(translator's preface)}} Referred to as "the prince" of the philosophers.</ref> Although the term "pantheism" was not coined until after his death, he is regarded as the most celebrated advocate of the concept.<ref name="Shoham 2010 111">{{cite book|last=Shoham|first=Schlomo Giora|title=To Test the Limits of Our Endurance|year=2010|publisher=Cambridge Scholars|isbn=978-1443820684|page=111}}</ref> ''Ethics'' was the major source from which Western pantheism spread.<ref name="Genevieve Lloyd 1996"/> [[Heinrich Heine]], in his ''Concerning the History of Religion and Philosophy in Germany'' (1833–36), remarked that "I don't remember now where I read that [[Johann Gottfried Herder|Herder]] once exploded peevishly at the constant preoccupation with Spinoza, "If [[Goethe]] would only for once pick up some other Latin book than Spinoza!" But this applies not only to Goethe; quite a number of his friends, who later became more or less well-known as poets, paid homage to pantheism in their youth, and this doctrine flourished actively in German art before it attained supremacy among us as a philosophic theory." In their ''[[The Holy Family (book)|The Holy Family]]'' (1844) [[Karl Marx]] and [[Friedrich Engels]] note, "[[Spinozism]] dominated the eighteenth century both in [[French materialism|its later French variety]], which made matter into substance, and in [[deism]], which conferred on matter a more spiritual name.... Spinoza's French school and the supporters of deism were but two sects disputing over the true meaning of his system...." In [[George Henry Lewes]]'s words (1846), "Pantheism is as old as philosophy. It was taught in the old Greek schools—by [[Plato]], by [[St. Augustine]], and by the [[Jew]]s. Indeed, one may say that Pantheism, under one of its various shapes, is the necessary consequence of all metaphysical inquiry, when pushed to its logical limits; and from this reason do we find it in every age and nation. The dreamy contemplative Indian, the quick versatile Greek, the practical Roman, the quibbling Scholastic, the ardent Italian, the lively Frenchman, and the bold Englishman, have all pronounced it as the final truth of philosophy. Wherein consists Spinoza's originality?—what is his merit?—are natural questions, when we see him only lead to the same result as others had before proclaimed. His merit and originality consist in the systematic exposition and development of that doctrine—in his hands, for the first time, it assumes the aspect of a science. The Greek and Indian Pantheism is a vague fanciful doctrine, carrying with it no scientific conviction; it may be true—it looks true—but the proof is wanting. But with Spinoza there is no choice: if you understand his terms, admit the possibility of his science, and seize his meaning; you can no more doubt his conclusions than you can doubt [[Euclid]]; no mere opinion is possible, conviction only is possible."<ref>{{cite book |last=Lewes |first=George Henry |title=A Biographical History of Philosophy, Volumes III & IV |location=London |publisher=C. Knight & Company |date=1846}}</ref> S. M. Melamed (1933) noted, "It may be observed, however, that Spinoza was not the first prominent [[monist]] and pantheist in modern Europe. A generation before him Bruno conveyed a similar message to humanity. Yet Bruno is merely a beautiful episode in the history of the human mind, while Spinoza is one of its most potent forces. Bruno was a [[rhapsodist]] and a poet, who was overwhelmed with artistic emotions; Spinoza, however, was spiritus purus and in his method the prototype of the philosopher."<ref>{{cite book |last=Melamed |first=S. M. |title=Spinoza and Buddha: Visions of a Dead God |location=Chicago |publisher=University of Chicago Press |date=1933}}</ref> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page