Theologico-Political Treatise — Part 2
- Language:
- English
- Status:
- Complete work
- Authorship:
- Written by the author
- Condition of the text:
- Clean text · 1 illegible passages, excluded from answers
- Extent:
- ~33,100 words · 157 passages
Cite this work
- APABaruch Spinoza. (n.d.). Theologico-Political Treatise — Part 2. SigPhi. https://sigphiai.com/en/works/baruch-spinoza/theologico-political-treatise-part-2
- MLABaruch Spinoza. "Theologico-Political Treatise — Part 2." SigPhi, https://sigphiai.com/en/works/baruch-spinoza/theologico-political-treatise-part-2.
- ChicagoBaruch Spinoza. Theologico-Political Treatise — Part 2. SigPhi. https://sigphiai.com/en/works/baruch-spinoza/theologico-political-treatise-part-2.
What it is about
Second part of Elwes's translation: divine law, ceremonies, and the chapters on miracles.
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 To get there, Spinoza does something no one had done with such rigour: he reads Scripture as a historical document, written by men for men, in which prophecy is vivid imagination rather than knowledge, and miracles can prove nothing, because nothing happens outside the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.
Sentence Numbers, shown thus (1), have been added by volunteer. A Theologico-Political Treatise Part 2 - Chapters VI to X by Baruch Spinoza TABLE OF CONTENTS: CHAPTER VI - Of Miracles. Confused ideas of the vulgar on the subject. A miracle in the sense of a contravention of natural laws an absurdity. In the sense of an event, whose cause is unknown, less edifying than an event better understood. God's providence identical with the course of nature. How Scripture miracles may be interpreted. CHAPTER VII - Of the Interpretation of Scripture. Current systems of interpretation erroneous. Only true system to interpret it by itself. Reasons why this system cannot now be carried out in its entirety. Yet these difficulties do not interfere with our understanding the plainest and most important passages. Rival systems examined - that of a supernatural faculty being necessary - refuted. That of Maimonides. Refuted. Traditions of the Pharisees and the Papists rejected. CHAPTER VIII. - Of the authorship of the Pentateuch, and the other historical books of the Old Testament. The Pentateuch not written by Moses. His actual writings distinct. Traces of late authorship in the other historical books. All the historical books the work of one man. Probably Ezra. Who compiled first the book of Deuteronomy. And then a history, distinguishing the books by the names of their subjects. CHAPTER IX. - Other questions about these books. That these books have not been thoroughly revised and made to agree. That there are many doubtful readings. That the existing marginal notes are often such. The other explanations of these notes refuted. The hiatus. CHAPTER X. - An Examination of the remaining books of the Old Testament according to the preceding method. Chronicles, Psalms, Proverbs. Isaiah, Jeremiah. Ezekiel, Hosea. Other prophets, Jonah, Job. Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther. The author declines to undertake a similar detailed examination of the Ne