Philosophy, Theology, and Politics BBAGLEY_f1_i-xiv.inddAGLEY_f1_i-xiv.indd i 33/10/2008/10/2008 1:41:141:41:14 PPMM Supplements to The Journal of Jewish Thought and Philosophy edited by Leora Batnitzky, Christian Wiese, Elliot Wolfson VOLUME 6 BBAGLEY_f1_i-xiv.inddAGLEY_f1_i-xiv.indd iiii 33/10/2008/10/2008 1:41:151:41:15 PPMM Philosophy, Theology, and Politics A Reading of Benedict Spinoza’s Tractatus theologico-politicus by Paul J. Bagley LEIDEN • BOSTON 2008 BBAGLEY_f1_i-xiv.inddAGLEY_f1_i-xiv.indd iiiiii 33/10/2008/10/2008 1:41:151:41:15 PPMM This book is printed on acid-free paper. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Bagley, Paul J. Philosophy, theology, and politics : a reading of Benedict Spinoza’s Tractatus theologico-politicus / By Paul Bagley. p. cm. — (Supplements to The Journal of Jewish thought and philosophy ; v. 6) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-90-04-16485-7 (hardcover : alk. paper) 1. Spinoza, Benedictus de, 1632–1677. Tractatus theologico-politicus. 2. Judaism and philosophy. 3. Philosophy and religion. 4. Religion and politics. I. Title. II. Title: Reading of Benedict Spinoza’s Tractatus theologico-politicus. III. Series. B3985.Z7B34 2008 199’.492—dc22 2008005724 ISSN 1873-9008 ISBN 978 90 04 16485 7 Copyright 2008 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands. Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill, Hotei Publishing, IDC Publishers, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers and VSP. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from the publisher. Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal use is granted by Koninklijke Brill NV provided that the appropriate fees are paid directly to The Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Suite 910, Danvers, MA 01923, USA. Fees are subject to change. printed in the netherlands BBAGLEY_f1_i-xiv.inddAGLEY_f1_i-xiv.indd iviv 33/10/2008/10/2008 1:41:161:41:16 PPMM For my parents James Edward III and Lorraine Marie BBAGLEY_f1_i-xiv.inddAGLEY_f1_i-xiv.indd v 33/10/2008/10/2008 1:41:161:41:16 PPMM BBAGLEY_f1_i-xiv.inddAGLEY_f1_i-xiv.indd vivi 33/10/2008/10/2008 1:41:161:41:16 PPMM CONTENTS Foreword ..................................................................................... ix Acknowledgements ..................................................................... xi Introduction ................................................................................ 1 Part One Philosophy ................................................................ 27 Part Two Theology .................................................................. 81 Part Three Politics ................................................................... 143 Part Four Philosophy, Theology, and Politics .......................... 187 Epilogue Spinoza: The New Moses ........................................ 227 Selected Bibliography ................................................................. 245 Index of Names .......................................................................... 251 BBAGLEY_f1_i-xiv.inddAGLEY_f1_i-xiv.indd viivii 33/10/2008/10/2008 1:41:161:41:16 PPMM BBAGLEY_f1_i-xiv.inddAGLEY_f1_i-xiv.indd viiiviii 33/10/2008/10/2008 1:41:161:41:16 PPMM FOREWORD The reading of Benedict Spinoza’s Tractatus theologico-politicus presented in this book is based upon the standard edition of the Latin work contained in Spinoza Opera, ed. Carl Gebhardt, 4 vols. (Heidelberg: Universitætsbuchhandlung, 1925). The Tractatus theologico-politicus is located in the third volume of the Gebhardt edition, pages 3–267. The Tractatus theologico-politicus also will be referred to as “the treatise” in this book. Quotations from the treatise in this book, or references to passages from the treatise or other writings contained in the Gebhardt edition of the Opera, will be cited in the footnotes by reference to the volume number and the page number(s) where the passage(s) may be found. In the footnotes, Tractatus theologico-politicus will be abbreviated TTP and therefore a reference to the fi rst page of the Preface to the treatise would appear in the footnote as TTP 3: 5. Translations from the Latin text into English have been made by the author. BBAGLEY_f1_i-xiv.inddAGLEY_f1_i-xiv.indd ixix 33/10/2008/10/2008 1:41:161:41:16 PPMM BBAGLEY_f1_i-xiv.inddAGLEY_f1_i-xiv.indd x 33/10/2008/10/2008 1:41:161:41:16 PPMM ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This book would not have been possible without the generous assistance and support of numerous people and institutions. I am grateful to Loyola College in Maryland for awarding me a senior faculty sabbatical leave that facilitated my research and writing. I also especially am indebted to the Program Offi cer, the President, and the Trustees of the Earhart Foundation for the award of a fellowship research grant that permitted me to focus exclusively on the completion of the manuscript for this book over an extended period of time. I wish to recognize the teachers, colleagues, and friends who have encouraged me in my work: Richard Kennington; Gary B. Herbert; David Berman; Rev. Aidan Manning, S.T.; Martin D. Yaffe; William Desmond; L.S. & P.; Douglas Den Uyl; Vigen Guroian; Robert Miola; Gregory Cowart; Rev. Joseph Rossi, S.J.; Rev. John Conley, S.J. I gratefully acknowledge and thank my children, Katherine Sarah and Michael Hugh, for their patience with me and Susan for her friendship and joy. BBAGLEY_f1_i-xiv.inddAGLEY_f1_i-xiv.indd xixi 33/10/2008/10/2008 1:41:161:41:16 PPMM BBAGLEY_f1_i-xiv.inddAGLEY_f1_i-xiv.indd xiixii 33/10/2008/10/2008 1:41:161:41:16 PPMM Si homines res omnes suas certo consilio regere possent, vel si fortuna ipsis prospera semper foret, nulla supersitione tenerentur. Præfatio, Tractatus theologico-politicus BBAGLEY_f1_i-xiv.inddAGLEY_f1_i-xiv.indd xiiixiii 33/10/2008/10/2008 1:41:161:41:16 PPMM BBAGLEY_f1_i-xiv.inddAGLEY_f1_i-xiv.indd xivxiv 33/10/2008/10/2008 1:41:171:41:17 PPMM INTRODUCTION BBAGLEY_f2_1-26.inddAGLEY_f2_1-26.indd 1 33/10/2008/10/2008 1:43:281:43:28 PPMM BBAGLEY_f2_1-26.inddAGLEY_f2_1-26.indd 2 33/10/2008/10/2008 1:43:291:43:29 PPMM Benedict Spinoza’s Tractatus theologico-politicus1 is a complex book: it is a whole that consists of parts. The Tractatus theologico-politicus also is a complicated book: it is a whole the parts of which are interwoven in an intricate way. In other words, Spinoza’s old book can be a diffi cult read. Spinoza’s Tractatus theologico-politicus contains a lengthy study of the elemental features of Judeo-Christian revealed religion. Spinoza exam- ines the nature of prophecy; the nature of the prophet; the nature of the Hebrew vocation; the nature of natural law, divine law, human law, and ceremonial law; the nature of miracles; the nature of Scriptural interpretation; the nature of the Scriptural canon; the nature of piety and the simplicity of Scripture; the nature of the apostolic mission; the nature of faith; and the nature of the relationship between theology and philosophy. But Spinoza also examines the foundational principles and aims of republics or democratic political regimes; and in the course of that examination his remarks frequently refl ect what had been argued or concluded about revealed theology or religion in the fi rst fi fteen chapters of his book. In the fi nal fi ve chapters of the treatise, Spinoza 1 The title page of the TTP bears the publication date of 1670 and it lists the pub- lisher as Henricus Künrath of Hamburg; the treatise was published anonymously. After the initial printing of the TTP, three other impressions of the book were distributed and each bore the 1670 publication date. During 1673 and 1674, four other printings of the book appeared from Amsterdam or Leiden but only one of them was published under the original title, Tractatus theologico-politicus: see Jacob Freudenthal, “On the History of Spinozism,” Jewish Quarterly Review 8 (1895–96): 30–31. According to Pierre Bayle in his Dictionary article on Spinoza, from 1681 until the close of the 17th century the TTP was translated two or three times into French under the titles, Traité des ceremonies superstitieuses des Juifs, La clef du sanctuaire, and Réfl exions curieuses d’un esprit désintéressé: see An Historical and Critical Dictionary, 4 vols. (London, 1710) 4: 2789; and compare Ira O. Wade, The Structure and Form of the French Enlightenment, 2 vols. (Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1977) 1: 183. In Epistle 44 to Jarig Jelles, dated 17 February 1671, Spinoza requested that his correspondent intercede to prevent the publication of a Dutch translation of the TTP. The entreaty of Jelles to those intending to publish a Dutch translation of the TTP was honored and the publication of the treatise in Dutch did not appear until 1693 after both Spinoza and Jelles had died. BBAGLEY_f2_1-26.inddAGLEY_f2_1-26.indd 3 33/10/2008/10/2008 1:43:291:43:29 PPMM 4 introduction explains the nature and constitution of a republic; the nature of a democratic polity; the nature of the relationship between republics and citizens; the nature of the Hebrew republic and the political lessons to be derived from it; the nature of the relationship between religion and the republic; and the nature of the liberties that are to be found in a liberal republic. The reader of the treatise is notifi ed that the various examinations, discussions, and conclusions presented in the book serve the purpose