Radical Protestantism in Spinoza's Thought (review)

If this book's announced and modest aim—"to present the Christian dimension of Spinoza's thought positively and directly" (3)—were all the author meant to achieve, he was clearly successful. Any reader of the Theological Political Treatise (henceforth, TTP) cannot fail to see that Spinoza engaged seriously with Christianity, its sacred texts, and its internal divisions and disputes. Throughout his mature life, Spinoza lived among the Collegiants, the radical Dutch reformers, and it is clear that his dialogue with this circle played a significant role in shaping his writing on religion, Judaism, and Christianity. In this sense, it is trivially true that Christianity played a significant role in Spinoza's thought. But the author seems to be pushing a much bolder thesis. In claiming that Spinoza did not seem to have "heretical doubts about the divinity of Christ" (83), and in considering seriously that Spinoza was a practicing Christian (though in its radical Protestant form) (6), Hunter insinuates that he takes Spinoza to be a Christian philosopher. Indeed, Hunter concludes the book with the claim that "Spinoza's radicalism is still internal to protestant Christianity" (182). Obviously, the latter, and stronger, claim is both interesting and disputable.

The first two chapters of the book deal with Spinoza's Jewish background. Hunter's discussion in these chapters, while consistently fair, is not free from inaccuracies (such as his assumption that any Rabbinic court would have agreed to convert Uriel Da Costa to Judaism, knowing that the latter intended to keep only the ten commandments [26]). Chapters three to six deal with some of the central topics of the TTP, e.g., Spinoza's interpretation of the Bible, his view of Judaism, the relation between church and state, miracles, and the value of obedience. The picture we get from these chapters is of a Spinoza who is deeply influenced by the New Testament, accepts a Christian outlook on the issue of miracles, believes in the divinity of Christ, has some heretical views (such as rejecting the resurrection), believes in divine justice, mercy and grace, and preaches obedience to the teachings of Christ as the way to salvation. In the seventh chapter, Hunter attempts to show t hat the doctrines of the Ethics are consistent with his interpretation of Spinoza as a Christian philosopher.

The issue of Spinoza's relation to Christianity is complex. On the one hand, it is clear that he entertained a genuine sympathy for the figures of St. Paul and Christ (if he believed that Christ was an historical figure). There is also little doubt that he preferred Christianity to Judaism, by virtue of the former's (at least, alleged) universalism. On the other hand, some of his claims about Christ in the TTP can hardly be read at face value, and indeed, were not read in this way by his contemporaries, as when Oldenburg says, in a letter to Spinoza, that "many are of the opinion that . . . you are concealing your opinion with regard to Jesus Christ" (Letter 71). Furthermore, Spinoza's discussion of the nature of Christ in his late correspondence (1675–77) contains several assertions that would be quite offensive to a Christian believer. Some scholars have explained these tensions by taking the later, private correspondence to reveal Spinoza's real view of Christianity, while suggesting that his sympathy towards Christianity in the TTP stems from rhetorical and political considerations. Indeed, there is little doubt that in the TTP Spinoza adapted his claims to the beliefs of his Christian audience. It is also clear that, had he published his later claims about the nature of Christ, he would have placed himself in perilous circumstances. Obviously, the alternative explanation of these tensions (articulated, in different ways, by Hunter and others) stresses Spinoza's sympathetic attitude toward Christianity throughout the TTP, and then attempts to clarify the late letters (and the few TTP passages that are not consistent with this reading). To my mind, both readings face real challenges.

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