Spinoza Atheist

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From Pulitzer Prize finalist Steven Nadler, a fascinating historical and philosophical narrative that unravels the mystery of whether Spinoza was an atheist.

In 1656, a young Amsterdam merchant was excommunicated by his Portuguese-Jewish community in the harshest terms it had ever used. Baruch Spinoza was accused of unspecified 'horrifying heresies', but the precise reasons for his expulsion remain a mystery. When he published his Theological-Political Treatise in 1670, which was condemned as 'the most atheistic book ever written', he began to reveal to the world what his heresies may have been. Yet ever since the eighteenth century, most readers and scholars have assumed that Spinoza was a pantheist even a 'God-intoxicated man', as the poet Novalis put it. After all, how could a person whose books are suffused with talk of God be an atheist? In Spinoza, Atheist, Steven Nadler, one of the world's leading authorities on the philosopher, aims to settle the question and show that that's exactly what he was.

Nadler makes a powerful case that there is no real divinity for Spinoza. God is Nature, and isn't an object of worshipful awe or religious reverence but can only be understood through philosophy and science. There is nothing supernatural no mystery, ineffability, or sublimity. Spinoza does speak of 'blessedness' and 'salvation', but these, too, are to be understood in natural and rational terms, as the peace of mind and happiness that come from understanding ourselves and the world.

Whether Spinoza believed in God is a fascinating and enduring controversy. Spinoza, Atheist promises to transform our understanding of his views and to make clear just how radical a thinker he was and remains.

Book details and technical specifications

Format: Hardback
ISBN13: 9780691285238
Published: April 2026

Number of pages: 264
Width: 140 mm
Height: 216 mm
Depth: not specified

Publisher: Princeton University Press