Spinoza
Freedom's Messiah
Format:Paperback
Publisher:Yale University Press
Publishing:22nd Apr '25
£11.99
This title is due to be published on 22nd April, and will be despatched as soon as possible.
This paperback is available in another edition too:
- Hardback£16.99(9780300248920)
Ian Buruma explores the life and death of Baruch Spinoza, the Enlightenment thinker whose belief in freedom of thought and speech resonates in our own time
A New Yorker “Best Book of 2024” Selection
“An elegant, relevant biography of a vital thinker.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
Baruch (Benedictus) Spinoza (1632–1677) was a radical free thinker who led a life guided by strong moral principles despite his disbelief in an all-seeing God. Seen by many—Christians as well as Jews—as Satan’s disciple during his lifetime, Spinoza has been regarded as a secular saint since his death. Many contradictory beliefs have been attached to his name: rationalism or metaphysics, atheism or pantheism, liberalism or despotism, Jewishness or anti-Semitism. However, there is no question that he viewed freedom of thought and speech as essential to an open and free society.
In this insightful account, the award-winning author Ian Buruma stresses the importance of the time and place that shaped Spinoza, beginning with the Sephardim of Amsterdam and followed by the politics of the Dutch Republic. Though Spinoza rejected the basic assumptions of his family’s faith, and was consequently expelled from his Sephardic community, Buruma argues that Spinoza did indeed lead a Jewish life: a modern Jewish life. To Heine, Hess, Marx, Freud, and no doubt many others today, Spinoza exemplified how to be Jewish without believing in Judaism. His defense of universal freedom is as important for our own time as it was in his.
“A brief but forceful entry in Yale’s sprawling Jewish Lives series. . . . Mr. Buruma succeeds admirably in capturing the man as well as the essentials of his thought. Rather than unhappy and isolated, as he’s sometimes been depicted, the stoic Spinoza portrayed here practically glows with serenity and grace.”—Daniel Akst, Wall Street Journal
A New Yorker “Best Book of 2024” Selection
“Undoubtedly the most readable introduction to Spinoza’s life now available.”—Joe Moshenska, The Guardian
“In his new book, Spinoza: Freedom’s Messiah, . . . Buruma observes that ‘intellectual freedom has once again become an important issue, even in countries, such as the United States, that pride themselves on being uniquely free.’”—Adam Kirsch, New Yorker
“Ours is a censorious era in which political authoritarianism and intellectual intolerance converge—as in Spinoza’s time. The situation demands a brief, agile, reflective book that recreates Spinoza’s life and work, and builds bridges with the present. We now have such a work.”—Enrique Krauze, Project Syndicate
“This highly readable biography contextualises his political thinking within an era of great instability and illuminates the ways in which his belief in democracy and rationalism influenced the Enlightenment thinkers to come. A timely book.”—The Jewish Chronicle
Longlisted for The Wingate Literary Prize 2024, sponsored by The Wingate Foundation
“Ian Buruma tells the story of Spinoza’s star-crossed Jewish life engagingly, drawing on his own Dutch background to give it added relief. His jargon-free critique of Spinoza’s philosophy, while placing it in his time, also asks trenchantly what it might say about our time.”—Gary Schwartz, author of Rembrandt in a Red Beret: The Vanishings and Reappearances of a Self-Portrait
“Ian Buruma has written a wonderfully lively and instructive introduction to the great philosopher who led a ‘modern Jewish life,’ and whose struggles for freedom of thought provide a model for us today.”—David A. Bell, Princeton University
“In this short and splendid book, Ian Buruma incarnates Spinoza as an exceptional human being, but human all the same. His immensely vivid account breathes new life into Spinoza, freeing him from mummified versions of this great man.”—Avishai Margalit, author of On Betrayal
ISBN: 9780300281866
Dimensions: unknown
Weight: unknown
216 pages