Ian Buruma

Bibliotheek

Spinoza, Freedom's Messiah

Boek: Spinoza, Freedom's Messiah
Door: Ian Buruma
Uitgeverij: Yale University Press
ISBN: 9780300248920
Publicatie: 13 februari 2024

Taal: Engels

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.

In de New Yorker verscheen een uitgebreide recensie.

Tekst en foto: Yale University Press