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lavinia_speaks's review against another edition
challenging
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
user129380's review against another edition
informative
slow-paced
4.0
I read this alongside listening to the audiobook. In the audiobook, I think that it is difficult to distinguish between when Spinoza is being directly quoted and when the narrator is reading Sadler. Consequently, I would recommend the text over the audiobook.
kevin_shepherd's review against another edition
5.0
“Spinoza was the first to argue that the Bible is not literally the word of God but rather a work of human literature; that “true religion” has nothing to do with theology, liturgical ceremonies, or sectarian dogma but consists only in a simple moral rule: love your neighbor; and that ecclesiastic authorities should have no role whatsoever in the governance of a modern state.”
On July 27, 1656, at the tender age of twenty three, before Baruch de Spinoza had ever published a single page of anything at all, he was cast out of the Talmud Torah congregation, the most prominent Portuguese Jewish community in Amsterdam, with a vengeance.
“By decree of the angels and by the command of the holy men, we excommunicate, expel, curse, and damn Baruch de Espinoza, with the consent of God… Cursed be he by day and cursed be he by night; cursed be he when he lies down and cursed be he when he rises up. Cursed be he when he goes out and cursed be he when he comes in. The Lord will not spare him, but then the anger of the Lord shall smoke against that man, and all the curses that are written in this book shall lie upon him, and the Lord shall blot out his name from under heaven.”
Damn. They didn’t just want him out of their synagogue, they wanted him to suffer, to have a bad and highly intolerable existence, to be tormented like an ant under a magnifying glass on a hot August day in Oklahoma. The proclamation goes on to say that no one was to speak to Spinoza, to write letters to him, to show him any kindness, to be under the same roof, to read anything he has written, or to step within “four cubits” (roughly six feet) of him.
Damn. This was the most extreme excommunication ever handed down to a Jew in Holland. Ever. And we don’t really know why. The herem doesn’t say. As far as anyone knows he hadn’t penned a word of his treatise yet, or of ‘Ethics’ (his philosophical masterpiece). Whatever it was that he said or wrote he received the full attention of Polish rabbinical authority. And it was unforgivable.
If this alone doesn’t make you want to get better acquainted with Baruch Spinoza and his philosophies, to read and savor every word of Steven Nadler’s richly informative A Book Forged in Hell, I don’t think I want to know you. Stay four cubits away from me.
On July 27, 1656, at the tender age of twenty three, before Baruch de Spinoza had ever published a single page of anything at all, he was cast out of the Talmud Torah congregation, the most prominent Portuguese Jewish community in Amsterdam, with a vengeance.
“By decree of the angels and by the command of the holy men, we excommunicate, expel, curse, and damn Baruch de Espinoza, with the consent of God… Cursed be he by day and cursed be he by night; cursed be he when he lies down and cursed be he when he rises up. Cursed be he when he goes out and cursed be he when he comes in. The Lord will not spare him, but then the anger of the Lord shall smoke against that man, and all the curses that are written in this book shall lie upon him, and the Lord shall blot out his name from under heaven.”
Damn. They didn’t just want him out of their synagogue, they wanted him to suffer, to have a bad and highly intolerable existence, to be tormented like an ant under a magnifying glass on a hot August day in Oklahoma. The proclamation goes on to say that no one was to speak to Spinoza, to write letters to him, to show him any kindness, to be under the same roof, to read anything he has written, or to step within “four cubits” (roughly six feet) of him.
Damn. This was the most extreme excommunication ever handed down to a Jew in Holland. Ever. And we don’t really know why. The herem doesn’t say. As far as anyone knows he hadn’t penned a word of his treatise yet, or of ‘Ethics’ (his philosophical masterpiece). Whatever it was that he said or wrote he received the full attention of Polish rabbinical authority. And it was unforgivable.
If this alone doesn’t make you want to get better acquainted with Baruch Spinoza and his philosophies, to read and savor every word of Steven Nadler’s richly informative A Book Forged in Hell, I don’t think I want to know you. Stay four cubits away from me.
navahx's review against another edition
I loved this, and will come back to it! Now that I've read a bit more early modern history, I might be ready. It just wasn't the right time after several early medieval books (even though I was on a Northern Europe kick).