Introduction

In 1670 the Theological-Political Treatise was published anonymously in Amsterdam, with a false place of publication and printer on its title page, yet it was at once banned by religious and civil authorities alike and called 'a book forged in hell'. Spinoza studies the Bible with the methods of history and philology, showing that the five books of Moses were not written by Moses and that the prophecies and miracles of Scripture must be explained by the understanding of the people of the time; the purpose of Scripture is to teach obedience and good conduct, not philosophical truth, so that faith and philosophy each have their own domain and do not interfere with each other. In the second half he argues that the purpose of the state is freedom, and defends freedom of thought and speech, holding that such freedom, far from endangering the peace of the state, is its safeguard.