Cherem

With the judgment of the angels and of the saints we excommunicate, cut off, curse, and anathematize Baruch de Espinoza, with the consent of the elders and of all this holy congregation, in the presence of the holy books; by the 613 precepts which are written therein, with the anathema wherewith Joshua cursed Jericho, with the curse which Elisha laid upon the children, and with all the curses which are written in the law. Cursed be he by day and cursed be he by night. Cursed be he in sleeping and cursed be he in waking, cursed in going out and cursed in coming in. The Lord shall not pardon him, the wrath and fury of the Lord shall henceforth be kindled against this man, and shall lay upon him all the curses which are written in the book of the law. The Lord shall destroy his name under the sun, and cut him off for his undoing from all the tribes of Israel, with all the curses of the firmament which are written in the book of the law. But you that cleave unto the Lord your God, live all of you this day.

And that's only part of it...

It's quite a reaction considering that Spinoza thought that "a person's actions should not be aimed at pleasing God, but rather at acting in conformity to the nature of God" (in Antonio Damasio's paraphrase--seems accurate enough to me).

Voltaire wrote this about Spinoza:

And then, a little Jew, with a long nose and a pale complexion,
Poor but satisfied, pensive and reserved,
A subtle but hollow spirit, less read than celebrated,
Hidden under the mantle of Descartes, his mentor,
Walking with measured steps, comes close to the great being:
Excuse me, he says, addressing him in a whisper,
But I think, just between us, that you do not exist at all.

That's not really true, of course, but his conception of God is certainly different from that of the Judeo-Christian tradition. After all, he wrote, "He who loves God must not expect God to love him in return."



You've probably guessed by now, but I really like Spinoza.