Anthropomorphism and Spinoza's Innovations

Abstract

The first and most rigorous early modern discussion of anthropomorphism in religion was produced by Benedict Spinoza. The intellectual context for his consideration was the problem posed by biblical anthropomorphism for the philosophical reader. This problem had been treated by Muslim and Jewish philosophers and was the central issue for Maimonides in his Guide of the Perplexed. Spinoza's major contributions in two areas—biblical interpretation and the study of religion—can be understood from the starting-point of his critical reconsideration of anthropomorphism. By showing that the Bible's anthropomorphism is irreducible and therefore cannot be philosophically ‘demythologized’ without distorting the text's historical meanings, Spinoza established the presuppositions for both historical and literary interpretation. Further, by applying his general analysis of religion itself as intrinsically anthropomorphic to analysis of biblical religion, Spinoza brought the study of the Bible into the orbit of the modern study of religion as inherently comparative, historical and critical.

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