A Theological-Political Treatise [Part III]
- Language:
- English
- Status:
- Complete work
- Authorship:
- Written by the author
- Condition of the text:
- No scanning noise detected (automatic measure over the whole text, not checked by hand)
- Extent:
- ~16,600 words · 79 passages
Cite this work
- APABaruch Spinoza. (n.d.). A Theological-Political Treatise [Part III]. Digital reproduction: SigPhi. https://sigphiai.com/en/works/baruch-spinoza/a-theological-political-treatise-part-iii
- MLABaruch Spinoza. A Theological-Political Treatise [Part III]. Digital reproduction, SigPhi, https://sigphiai.com/en/works/baruch-spinoza/a-theological-political-treatise-part-iii.
- ChicagoBaruch Spinoza. A Theological-Political Treatise [Part III]. Digital reproduction, SigPhi. https://sigphiai.com/en/works/baruch-spinoza/a-theological-political-treatise-part-iii.
Reference to the edition that SigPhi reproduces: SigPhi is its digital reproduction, not its publisher. The edition's year is not in the metadata (hence "n.d."), and the translator appears only when recorded.
What it is about
Third part of Elwes's translation: the interpretation of Scripture and the inquiry into who really wrote the biblical books.
Context and history
Published without an author's name in 1670, under a false imprint, and banned in 1674: it was the most dangerous book of its century, and contemporaries understood this at once. The thesis that carries everything is that the freedom to philosophise does not threaten piety or the peace of the state — suppressing it is what destroys them. To get there, Spinoza does something no one had done with such rigour: he reads Scripture as a historical document, written by men for men, in which prophecy is vivid imagination rather than knowledge, and miracles can prove nothing, because nothing happens outside the order of nature. Modern biblical criticism descends from this. The final chapters draw the political consequence: the covenant transfers power but not the capacity to think, and a state that tries to rule over opinions therefore injures itself. The English translation is Elwes's, of 1883, divided into four parts in the corpus.
Editorial context, not a citable source: unlike the passages of the work itself, these statements cannot be checked against the corpus.
Apostleship they were teachers as well as prophets; however, if we call reason to our aid we shall clearly see that an authority to teach implies authority to choose the method. (50) It will nevertheless be, perhaps, more satisfactory to draw all our proofs from Scripture; we are there plainly told that each Apostle chose his particular method (Rom. xv: 20): "Yea, so have I strived to preach the gospel, not where Christ was named, lest I should build upon another man's foundation." (51) If all the Apostles had adopted the same method of teaching, and had all built up the Christian religion on the same foundation, Paul would have had no reason to call the work of a fellow-Apostle "another man's foundation," inasmuch as it would have been identical with his own: his calling it another man's proved that each Apostle built up his religious instruction on different foundations, thus resembling other teachers who have each their own method, and prefer instructing quite ignorant people who have never learnt under another master, whether the subject be science, languages, or even the indisputable truths of mathematics. (52) Furthermore, if we go through the Epistles at all attentively, we shall see that the Apostles, while agreeing about religion itself, are at variance as to the foundations it rests on. (53) Paul, in order to strengthen men's religion, and show them that salvation depends solely on the grace of God, teaches that no one can boast of works, but only of faith, and that no one can be justified by works (Rom. iii:27,28); in fact, he preaches the complete doctrine of predestination. (54) James, on the other hand, states that man is justified by works, and not by faith only (see his Epistle, ii:24), and omitting all the disputations of Paul, confines religion to a very few elements.…