The Dutch Maimonides" Consider this description of Baruch Spinoza

The first 200 words of this essay...

The Dutch Maimonides" Consider this description of Baruch Spinoza

The Dutch Maimonides: how ironic that this epithet, a name

`synonomous with virtue, respect and religious devotion, should be

`directed at a man villified and ostracized by the Dutch Jewish

`community for heretical tendencies, and left to die in

`circumstances bordering on the ignominious, among Gentiles. In

`this essay we will give a brief overview of Spinoza's life and

`character then go on to examine his conception of God and then

`evaluate whether a comparison with Maimonides is justified, or

`indeed, warranted.

`Baruch Spinoza (1632-77) grew up in Amsterdam at a

`time when scientific discovery, religious division and profound

`political change, were coursing through the very fabric of Dutch

`society. His antecedents, wealthy and respected merchants in

`Portugal, had finally fled from the oppressive tyranny of the

`Inquisition and gravitated naturally towards the secular and

`tolerant Northern Provinces of the Netherlands. His father, warden

`of the synagogue and pillar of the Jewish the community, gave his

`only