Maimonides and Spinoza

Until the last century, it was generally agreed that Maimonides was a great defender of Judaism, and Spinoza—as an Enlightenment advocate for secularisation—was among its key opponents. However, a new scholarly consensus has recently emerged suggesting that the teachings of the two philosophers were, in fact, much closer than was previously thought.

In his perceptive new book, Maimonides and Spinoza, Joshua Parens sets out to challenge the now predominant view of Maimonides as a protomodern forerunner to Spinoza. Parens aims to show that a chief reason to read Maimonides is to gain distance from our progressively secularised worldview.

Turning the focus from Spinoza’s oft-analysed Theologico-Political Treatise, this book centres on a nuanced analysis of his theory of human nature in the Ethics. Viewing this work in contrast to Maimonides’s Guide of the Perplexed, it becomes clear that Spinoza can no longer be thought of as the founder of modern Jewish identity, nor should Maimonides be thought of as having paved the way for a modern secular worldview.

Maimonides and Spinoza dramatically revises our understanding of both philosophers.