The Tractatus Theologico-Politicus (TTP) or Theologico-Political Treatise, is a 1670 work of philosophy written in Latin by the Dutch philosopher Benedictus Spinoza (1632–1677). The book was one of the most important and controversial texts of the early modern period. Its aim was “to liberate the individual from bondage to superstition and ecclesiastical authority.”
In it, Spinoza expounds his views on contemporary Jewish and Christian religion and critically analyses the Bible, especially the Old Testament, which underlies both. He argues what the best roles for state and religion should be and concludes that a degree of democracy and freedom of speech and religion works best, such as in Amsterdam, while the state remains paramount within reason.
The goal of the state is to guarantee the freedom of citizens. Religious leaders should not interfere in politics. Spinoza interrupted his writing of his magnum opus, the Ethics, to respond to the increasing intolerance in the Dutch Republic, directly challenging religious authorities and their power over freedom of thought.
He published the work anonymously, in Latin, rightly anticipating harsh criticism and vigorous attempts by religious leaders and conservative secular authorities to suppress his work entirely. He halted the publication of a Dutch translation. One described it as being “Forged in hell by the apostate Jew working together with the devil”.
The work has been characterized as “one of the most significant events in European intellectual history”, laying the groundwork for ideas about liberalism, secularism, and democracy.
Historical context
The vaunted religious tolerance of the Dutch Republic was under strain in the mid-seventeenth century. War with England over trade and imperial dominance affected the Northern Netherlands’ prosperity.
The conservative leaders of the Dutch Reformed Church put pressure on civil authorities to curtail freedom of expression and the circulation of ideas to which they objected. In the political sphere conservatives sought to restore the position of stadholder, or head of state, with a member of the House of Orange.
During the First Stadtholderless period (1650–1672) Johan de Witt functioned as head of state and was in favor of policies of religious toleration, which had helped fuel prosperity. Jews could practice their religion openly and were an integral part of the commercial sector. There were also a great number of Christian sects that contributed to the religious and intellectual ferment of the Republic.
Some dissenters began openly challenging religious authorities and religion itself, as Spinoza had done, leading to his expulsion from the Jewish community in Amsterdam in 1656. A like-minded friend and kindred intellectual spirit, Adriaan Koerbagh (1633–1669), had published two works scathing of religion.
Because they were published in Dutch rather than Latin, and therefore accessible to a much wider readership, he quickly came to the attention of religious authorities, arrested, and thrown into prison, where he quickly died. His death was a hard blow for Spinoza and his reaction was to commence writing in 1665 what became the TTP.
Heeding the danger of writing in Dutch, Spinoza’s treatise is in Latin. Unlike the dense text of the Ethics, the TTP is much more accessible and deals with religion and politics rather than metaphysics. Scholars have suggested that the text of the TTP incorporates the Apologia (“defense”) he had written in Spanish after his expulsion from the Jewish community in 1656.
Writing and publication history
Spinoza had been working on his magnum opus, the Ethics, when he put it aside to write the TTP. Unlike the abstract composition of that work as a mathematical proof, the TTP is more discursive and accessible to readers of Latin.
He wrote to Henry Oldenburg, Secretary of the Royal Society, who had visited him in the Netherlands and they continued the connection via letters, telling him about the new work. Oldenburg was surprised and Spinoza wrote his justifications for the diversion from metaphysics. The TTP is a frontal assault on the power of theologians underpinned by Scripture. Spinoza wanted to defend himself against charges of atheism. He sought the freedom to philosophize, unhindered by religious authority.
The treatise was published anonymously in 1670 by Jan Rieuwertsz in Amsterdam. In order to protect the author and publisher from political retribution, the title page identified the city of publication as Hamburg and the publisher as Henricus Künraht.
Spinoza wrote in Neo-Latin, the language of European scholars of the era. To reach beyond the scholarly readership in the Dutch Republic, publication in Dutch was the next step. Jan Hendriksz Glazemaker, Spinoza’s Dutch translator and a Collegiant freethinker, prepared the edition by 1671 and sent it to the publisher; Spinoza himself intervened to prevent its printing for the moment, since the translation could have put Spinoza and his circle of supporters in increased danger with authorities.
Structure of the work
The work comprises 20 named chapters preceded by a preface. The majority of chapters deal with aspects of religion, with the last five concerning aspects of the state. The following list gives shortened chapter titles, taken from the full titles, in the 2007 edition of the TTP edited by Jonathan I. Israel.
Preface.
Chapter I On prophecy
Chapter II On the prophets
Chapter III On the vocation of the Hebrews
Chapter IV On the divine law
Chapter V On ceremonies and narratives
Chapter VI On miracles
Chapter VII On the interpretation of Scripture
Chapter VIII Pentateuch, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, Samuel, Kings
Chapter IX Further queries about the same books
Chapter X Remaining Old Testament books
Chapter XI Apostles and prophets
Chapter XII Divine law and the word of God
Chapter XIII The teachings of Scripture
Chapter XIV Faith and philosophy
Chapter XV Theology and reason
Chapter XVI Foundations of the state
Chapter XVII The Hebrew state in the time of Moses
Chapter XVIII The Hebrew state and its history
Chapter XIX Sovereign powers and religion
Chapter XX A free state
Treatment of religion
In the treatise, Spinoza put forth his most systematic critique of Judaism, and all organized religion in general. Spinoza argued that theology and philosophy must be kept separate, particularly in the reading of Scripture.
Whereas, he contends, the goal of theology is obedience, philosophy aims at understanding rational truth. Scripture does not teach philosophy and thus cannot be made to conform with it, otherwise the meaning of scripture will be distorted. Conversely, if reason is made subservient to scripture, then, Spinoza argues, “the prejudices of a common people of long ago… will gain a hold on his understanding and darken it.”
Spinoza held that purportedly supernatural occurrences, namely prophecy and miracles, have only natural explanations. He argued that God acts solely by the laws of God’s own nature and rejected the view that God acts for a particular purpose or telos. For Spinoza, those who believe that God acts for some particular end are delusional, projecting their hopes and fears onto the workings of nature.
Scriptural interpretation
Spinoza was not only the real father of modern metaphysics and moral and political philosophy, but also of the so-called higher criticism of the Bible. He was particularly attuned to the idea of interpretation; he felt that all organized religion was simply the institutionalized defense of particular interpretations.
He rejected in its entirety the view that Moses composed the first five books of the Bible, called the Pentateuch by Christians or Torah by Jews. He provided an analysis of the structure of the Bible which demonstrated that it was essentially a compiled text with many different authors and diverse origins; in his view, it was not “revealed” all at once.
His Tractatus Theologico-Politicus undertook to show that Scripture, properly understood, gave no authority for the militant intolerance of the clergy who sought to stifle all dissent by the use of force. To achieve his object, Spinoza had to show what is meant by a proper understanding of the Bible, which gave him occasion to apply criticism to the Bible.
His approach stood in stark contrast to contemporaries such as John Bunyan, Manasseh ben Israel, and militant clerics. Spinoza, who permitted no supernatural rival to Nature and no rival authority to the civil government of the state, rejected also all claims that Biblical texts should be treated in a manner entirely different from that in which any other document is treated that claims to be historical.
His contention that the Bible “is in parts imperfect, corrupt, erroneous, and inconsistent with itself, and that we possess but fragments of it” roused great storm at the time, and was mainly responsible for his evil repute for a century at least. Nevertheless, many have gradually adopted his views, agreeing with him that the real “word of God”, or true religion, is not something written in books but “inscribed on the heart and mind of man”.
Many scholars and religious leaders now praise Spinoza’s services in the correct interpretation of Scripture as a document of first rate importance in the progressive development of human thought and conduct.
Treatment of Judaism
Spinoza had been permanently excommunicated from the Jewish community in Amsterdam in 1656, having previously been raised in that community and educated in a yeshiva. After his expulsion, he never sought to return. In the TTP he does not refer to himself as a Jew, although a number of Christians labeled him a Jew.
He only speaks of “the Hebrews” or “the Jews” in third person. His knowledge of Hebrew, his yeshiva studies of Jewish scripture, and his insider knowledge of how religious authorities exercised power by claiming special knowledge of sacred texts, meant Judaism was a salient target for his defense of individual freedom of thought.
The treatise rejected the notion of the Jews being “God’s chosen people”. To Spinoza, all peoples are on par with each other, articulating a key element of what came to be called liberalism. God has not elevated one over the other.
Spinoza also offered a sociological explanation as to how the Jewish people had managed to survive for so long, despite facing relentless persecution. In his
