In 1656, Amsterdam's Jewish community excommunicated Baruch Spinoza, and, at the age of twenty-three, he became the most famous heretic in Judaism....
read full description
reviews
Oct 06, 2011
Mike
rated it: 
It certainly lives up to its title! But why would anyone want to betray Spinoza? Especially an admitted analytic philosopher such as the writer of this book? That's just not logically coherent and analytic philosophers are never incoherent. Nonetheless, the book had a few good moments, mostly when the writer just stuck to the overall scope of Spinoza's project (flattening the universe to a single all-connecting rational plane, thereby vanquishing all metaphysics and religious superstition). The
More...
Mar 11, 2010
Khaya
rated it:
It’s an interesting experience to read Rebecca Goldstein’s “Betraying Spinoza” immediately after reading Steven Nadler’s “Spinoza: A Life.” They are two very different books about Spinoza with different strengths and weaknesses, although arguably Nadler’s has more strengths while Goldstein’s has more weaknesses.
While Nadler’s “Spinoza: A Life” is a detailed, factual, historical biography, Goldstein’s “Betraying Spinoza” tries to do many things, some of them more effectively than ot More...
While Nadler’s “Spinoza: A Life” is a detailed, factual, historical biography, Goldstein’s “Betraying Spinoza” tries to do many things, some of them more effectively than ot More...
0 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
Aug 13, 2009
Chris
rated it: 
A very good book which might be accused of going off on tangents for too long. I'm not sure what this book essentially is - it isn't a biography, although it details much of Spinoza's life, both the external circumstances of his life and what the author believes Spinoza must have mentally went through in the development of his philosophical thoughts. Nor is it merely about Spinoza, as it details the historical and psychological circumstances of the Portugese Jewish community in Amsterdam, expand
More...
Oct 15, 2011
Gerald
rated it: 
Founder of the Religious Science movement Ernest Holmes was a civil servant who aggregated many religious traditions to form what's become a significant stream in the New Thought movement. Among his sources were Ralph Waldo Emerson, that Yank separatist, and Madame Blavatsky, herself a compiler of older and even ancient religious traditions.
People who met Holmes in his later life found him still obsessing about fundamental questions. He was said to accost complete strangers with the ur More...
People who met Holmes in his later life found him still obsessing about fundamental questions. He was said to accost complete strangers with the ur More...
Jan 09, 2010
Esteban
rated it:
"By decree of the angels and by the command of the holy men, we excommunicate, expel, curse and damn Baruch de Espinoza, with the consent of God, Blessed be He, and with the consent of the entire holy congregation, and in front of these holy scrolls with the 613 precepts which are written therein; cursing him with the excommunication with which Joshua banned Jericho and with the curse which Elisha cursed the boys and with all the castigations which are written in the Book of the Law. Cursed
More...
12 comments
like
(11 people liked it)
Apr 15, 2011
Paul
rated it:
Betraying Spinoza is ostensibly a biography of the 17th century philosopher Baruch Spinoza. At its heart, however, the book is a rich mix of memoir, history, and speculative biographical narrative.
The author approaches Spinoza and his work from various angles. She finds parallels between her own experiences growing up as an orthodox Jew and the philosopher's upbringing and ideas. She explores the history of the Spanish and Portuguese Marranos and the establishment and development of More...
The author approaches Spinoza and his work from various angles. She finds parallels between her own experiences growing up as an orthodox Jew and the philosopher's upbringing and ideas. She explores the history of the Spanish and Portuguese Marranos and the establishment and development of More...
Jul 22, 2010
Lynne
rated it:
The "betraying" in the title is the author's attempt to try to understand something about Spinoza as an individual in his time and culture. This getting to the personal is a "betrayal" because Spinoza rejected the focus on himself as an individual and sought to connect everyone and everything into a oneness with the universe that he referred to as "god." This "god" for Spinoza was nothing like the god of the Jews or of the Christians at the time or like
More...
May 12, 2011
Ronald
rated it:
Rebecca Goldstein presents an in-depth history of the Sephardic Jews in Spain and Portugal, and reveals how the brutalized Jewish population dealt with life under first Moorish, then Christian domination during the ghastly Inquisition of the Catholic church. She follows the migration of large numbers of Jewish survivors to the relatively tolerant city of Amsterdam, The Netherlands, which had its own conflicts with various competing European powers, but allowed Jews an uneasy coexistence with th
More...
Sep 29, 2010
Prooost
rated it:
Rebecca Newberger Goldstein's introduction to the subject of Spinoza came when she was a schoolgirl, and her teacher did not paint a flattering picture of him, Spinoza having been excommunicated from the Jewish community of Amsterdam for disbelief of many things, one being that Moses could have written the Torah.
Ms. Goldstein, also a doubter of received wisdom, felt an affinity with Spinoza. She went on to become a philosopher, and, having studied Spinoza's work, wondered about Spin More...
Ms. Goldstein, also a doubter of received wisdom, felt an affinity with Spinoza. She went on to become a philosopher, and, having studied Spinoza's work, wondered about Spin More...
Jan 09, 2012
Ed
rated it:
In this charming little book, Goldstein betrays Spinoza by using her novelist's imagination to try to discover the man behind a philosopher who made such an effort to abstract himself from the personal. Some parts of the book work better than others. I feel that I did get a better understanding of how Spinoza's ideas relate to living. the history of the Jews that she uses to try to understand where Spinoza was 'coming from' was also quite interesting. Her effort to imagine his life without proje
More...
May 11, 2010
Stepan
rated it:
Betraying Spinoza was an interesting look at the philosopher's life and background from a contemporary Jewish perspective.
I'm afraid that my lack of grounding in philosophy made parts of the book a chore to read - the vocabulary is fairly forbidding. The more interesting and "betraying" parts of Spinoza's life seemed rather speculative, though they were an easier read.
What I did find fascinating was Goldstein's own story of discovering Spinoza at the beginning More...
I'm afraid that my lack of grounding in philosophy made parts of the book a chore to read - the vocabulary is fairly forbidding. The more interesting and "betraying" parts of Spinoza's life seemed rather speculative, though they were an easier read.
What I did find fascinating was Goldstein's own story of discovering Spinoza at the beginning More...
0 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
May 23, 2011
Alexis
rated it:
I loved Goldstein's book on Goedel and wish this had followed more of the same format, that is, half biography half explanation of the proof/philosophy. I was really hoping for more of Spinoza's philosophy but the material that makes up the historical background that takes up most of the book is really interesting (and it is after all part of a "jewish thinkers" series). Also, I didn't think the "novelization" of his life at the end added anything that she hadn't already go
More...
Jul 05, 2011
Kenny
rated it: 
I like schizophrenic books, frequently, and enjoy tangents, and there are some highly interesting paragraphs about Spinoza's philosophy in this book, but there are also dozens of pages on the author's own childhood learning about Spinoza (not irrelevant, but not interesting enough to warrant the volume they get), waaaay too much speculation to establish the context of what Spinoza might have been exposed to, and to end the book, an imagined narrative of what Spinoza's life and thoughts may have
More...
Sep 27, 2008
giselayvonne
rated it:
once i got thru the first few chapters, the book was a breeze. the first few chapters were brutal for me, a person whose mind gets twisted with vocabulary i don't understand and concepts unfamiliar to me. i've never studied philosophy past basic logic and "a priori", ontological truths, and the "is/ought gap" are totally new terms for me and their usage, obviously, i'm still shaky on that.
anyway, the book felt like a conversation with goldstein about a very interest More...
anyway, the book felt like a conversation with goldstein about a very interest More...
Jan 17, 2008
Katherine
rated it:
Let me start off with my biases and prejudices. Spinoza is my favorite philosopher, but I don't really like reading biographies. So this was a mixed-bag experience for me. Rebecca Goldstein has done an excellent job with filling out the story around Spinoza. There is a ton of Jewish history in the book (there's a chunk of at least 20 pages where the name Spinoza isn't even mentioned) because she's really trying to put him in historical perspective. She wants to show how his philosophy was part o
More...
Oct 07, 2009
Sellyndavies
rated it:
Goldstein theorizes that the Portuguese Nation's struggle to reclaim Judaism in the wake of the Inquisition propelled Spinoza toward a philosophy free of an identity imposed at birth. He argued we are only free when we abandon arbitrarily acquired definitions of self for universal truths. According to her, that's no accident. She implies a comparison of the Sephardic transition to Holland to the anxious, border-sensitive atmosphere of American Ashkenazic Judaism since the Holocaust.
Oct 11, 2009
Lauren
rated it:
The book wasn't what I expected. First, it opens with a discussion of her childhood and her time in Yeshiva. I wanted to laugh and cry at the same time at her memories of what she was taught there about Spinoza! Then, she goes into a discussion of Jewish history pre-Spinoza--the Marranos, etc. A lot of the book passes before she begins discussing Spinoza, his life and his philosophy. But it was interesting to read and I learned a lot from it--not all about Spinoza.
Nov 07, 2011
Mike
rated it:
A wonderful mix of philosophy, history and personal experience, Betraying Spinoza does a fantastic job of unfolding the very private life of the philosopher. Though I am generally unread in Philosophy, the book was rarely overwhelming in its dissection of Spinoza's theories. My only caveat is that the author writes from a Jewish perspective, and those without the same upbringing might have a hard time understanding such an idiosyncratic cultural view.
Feb 11, 2010
Carol
rated it:
I have loved Rebecca Goldstein and read all her books but I love Spinoza even more and I don't think she really gets what makes him so amazing. She cannot see him beyond all she has heard about him. Having lived with Spinoza as the major subject matter of my teaching and studying I think she has not fully grasped the profound adoration Spinoza has for a God who is beyond all the easy definitions.
Jul 12, 2009
Sue
rated it:
Goldstein starts by telling what she learned about Spinoza in her own yeshiva education as a child - that he was a heretic, the evil one, &c. Subsequently, a professor of philosohy at Columbia, she returned to Spinoza & ended up teaching about him in a course on Descartes, Leibniz, & Spinoza. The "betraying" part of the title refers to the fact that she's trying to capture his personal life, when his whole philosophy was about rejecting personal preferences & specificity. In places,
More...
Dec 30, 2011
Jeffra
rated it:
For anyone curious about divine Spinoza but knows not where to begin, read this biography and find out why and how, according to Goldstein, Spinoza's family history influenced his thought and writing. The author's humor, and learning, are on every page.
Feb 03, 2010
Orin
rated it:
This is my second time through. This is some serious scholarship and serious thought. It's hard to believe that Spinoza got it so right and we are still so saddled with superstitious religion some 350 years later. I think I'll read this again.
Mar 05, 2009
Peter
rated it:
Really explains Spinoza's views/philosophy quite well. Recommended to my by my Political Science professor as an alternative to diving right in and banging your head against a translation of 16th century Latin written by a Dutch Jew.
Jun 12, 2009
Neatly places the philosopher in his time-mid 17th century Amsterdam and his people- immigrant Marrano Jews from Spain. Appreciated the history and Goldstein's personal connection to Spinoza but the great man's metaphysics are beyond me.
Oct 18, 2009
Daniel
rated it:
This was a very interesting read for a beginner like me. Even the part at the end where she trails off into hypothesis was interesting. Not an in-depth read but definitely a satisfying one
Jan 17, 2012
Lynnnadeau
rated it:
Not yet completed. Got bogged down with the rabbis disagreements around death, salvation and messiah. I can see why Spinoza went rational...
Jan 26, 2009
Jaylia3
rated it:
Spinoza, seventeenth century Amsterdam, the Spanish Inquisition, Descartes, Leibniz, Maimonides, Kabbalah--This book is fascinating.
Feb 04, 2010
Frederic
rated it:
Not a biography but rather an introduction to and meditation on Spinoza as Philosopher and Jew...but NOT "Jewish Philosopher"...makes me want to read "Ethics"... and the novels of Rebecca Goldstein...
