While Spinoza is often interpreted as an early secular or liberal thinker, this book argues that such interpretations neglect the senses of order and authority that are at the heart of Spinoza’s idea of God. For Spinoza, God is an organized and directed totality of all that exists. God is entirely immanent to this totality, to such an extent that all things are fundamentally of God.

Ben Stahlberg received his PhD from Syracuse University in New York. He is currently Senior Lecturer of Religion at Colgate University in Hamilton, New York.

Contents: «The Face of the Whole Universe»: Spinoza’s Idea of God – «A Kingdom Within a Kingdom»: Spinoza on the Individual and the Idea of the Will – «Nothing More Useful than Man…»: Spinoza on Politics – «The Supreme Reward of the Divine Law»: Law and Religion in Spinoza.