Volume 37, Number 8 · May 17, 1990
Spinoza and the Happy Few
By Stuart Hampshire
Spinoza and Other Heretics Vol. I: The Marrano of Reason Vol. II: The Adventures of Immanence
by Yirmiyahu Yovel
Princeton University Press, Vol. II: 225 pp., $45.00 the set
Spinoza and Other Heretics is a useful and important book because it points to a probable connection between some distinctive features of Spinoza's thought and a particularly interesting episode in the history of the Jews. Marranos were former Jews living in Spain and Portugal who had been converted to Christianity, at least nominally, by the threats and penalties of the Inquisition. Many Marranos secretly preserved their Jewish faith, and sometimes their Jewish customs and rituals, under a covering of Christian observance. Consequently they tended to develop an unusually sophisticated attitude not only to religious belief, but to the phenomenon of belief itself. Can one change one's moral and religious beliefs at will, and as prudence or public policy require? Marranos could not avoid asking themselves such philosophical questions, even if they were not otherwise drawn to philosophy.
Review, 3490 words
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