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A Theological-Political Treatise [Part III]

Baruch Spinoza

The third part of Spinoza's treatise on religion and the state, continuing his examination of scripture, faith and philosophy.

The Theologico-Political Treatise argues that freedom to philosophise can be granted without harm to piety or to the peace of the state. This volume is the third of four parts into which this edition divides the work.

This edition's title page does not name its translator.

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(1) No reader of the New Testament can doubt that the Apostles were prophets; but as a prophet does not always speak by revelation, but only at rare intervals, as we showed at the end of Chap. I., we may fairly inquire whether the Apostles wrote their Epistles as prophets, by revelation and express mandate, as Moses, Jeremiah, and others did, or whether only as private individuals or teachers, especially as Paul, in Corinthians xiv:6, mentions two sorts of preaching.

(2) If we examine the style of the Epistles, we shall find it totally different from that employed by the prophets.

(3) The prophets are continually asserting that they speak by the command of God: "Thus saith the Lord," "The Lord of hosts saith," "The command of the Lord," &c.; and this was their habit not only in assemblies of the prophets, but also in their epistles containing revelations, as appears from the epistle of Elijah to Jehoram, 2 Chron. xxi:12, which begins, "Thus saith the Lord."

Contents

  1. 01Chapter XI - an Inquiry Whether the Apostles Wrote Their Epistles as Apostles and Prophets, or Merely as Teachers; and an Explanation of What Is Meant by an Apostle.
  2. 02Chapter XII - of the True Original of the Divine Law, and Wherefore Scripture Is Called Sacred, and the Word of God. How That, in So Far as It Contains the Word of God, It Has Come Down to Us Uncorrup
  3. 03Chapter XIII - It Is Shown That Scripture Teaches Only Very Simple Doctrines, Such as Suffice for Right Conduct.
  4. 04Chapter XIV - Definitions of Faith, the Faith, and the Foundations of Faith, Which Is Once for All Separated from Philosophy.
  5. 05Chapter XV - Theology Is Shown Not to Be Subservient to Reason, Nor Reason to Theology: A Definition of the Reason Which Enables Us to Accept the Authority of the Bible.
  6. 06Author's Endnotes to the Theologico-Political Treatise

About this edition

Author
Baruch Spinoza
Era
Early modern (c. 1500–1800)
Reading level
Advanced: for close, demanding reading
Formats
EPUB, PDF
Length
50 pages
This edition
Modern Philosophers