Theologico-Political Treatise (Barnes & Noble Digital Library)

Theologico-Political Treatise is the only work of Baruch Spinoza’s original philosophy published during his lifetime.  The work has three purposes: to defend and bolster religious tolerance, to make a plea for freedom of thought and democracy, and to offer a new approach to the study and interpretation of the Bible and to its political uses.  Despite the author’s attempt to disguise its origin—it was published in 1670 anonymously and with a false city of publication—the Treatise was quickly attributed to Spinoza and became a sensation.  It was widely vilified, considered an illegal publication, and quickly put under local censorship and suppression.  Nevertheless, unlike other banned books, the Theologico-Political Treatise spread like wildfire all over Europe and numerous copies of it in various European language translations were found in libraries from Britain and all over Europe.