Goldstein betrays Spinoza by introducing three elements in the telling of his life story--ones that he spent his whole life trying to erase through philosophy: imagination, emotion, and [Jewish] identity. She lovingly leads us on a journey to understand Spinoza's fundamental ideas that built the bridge from medieval times to modernity: how do i achieve personal salvation without religion? what is love and what is pain? how can I be happy? what is the proper role of the State in protecting ind... (show more)

Goldstein betrays Spinoza by introducing three elements in the telling of his life story--ones that he spent his whole life trying to erase through philosophy: imagination, emotion, and [Jewish] identity. She lovingly leads us on a journey to understand Spinoza's fundamental ideas that built the bridge from medieval times to modernity: how do i achieve personal salvation without religion? what is love and what is pain? how can I be happy? what is the proper role of the State in protecting individual liberties of worship, identity?

Spinoza emerges as a true iconoclast, a rebel, a medieval Jew-bu. A revolutionary figure historically more appreciated on the global stage of philosophy than within Jewish culture.

I loved this book and highly recommend it to anyone interested in Jewish philosophy, modernity, psychology and behavior, identity and liberal politics. (show less)