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A Hidden Opponent in Spinoza's Tractatus

Studies of Benedict Spinoza's biblical interpretation rarely pay more than cursory attention to the contemporary context of that work. Analyses tend to focus on authors whom Spinoza singled out for attack in his Tractatus Theologico-Politicus, such as Moses Maimonides (died 1204) and a rabbi who later attacked him, Judah ibn Alfakhar (died 1235). After his excommunication in 1656, however, most of Spinoza's intellectual and social circle—those with whom he shared his philosophical ideas and surely his ideas about the Bible—were Christian, or of Christian background, and not Jews. Spinoza's Treatise was not conceived in a vacuum or in a segregated Jewish context, nor was it aimed primarily at Jewish readers. Among Christians, the work engaged a national debate, involving church, state, and the universities, about the authority and interpretation of the Bible. Great political as well as intellectual issues were at stake.