Baruch Spinoza’s book promoting democracy as a system of government spread underground like wildfire throughout Europe while most governments were monarchies. Among Spinoza’s many seminal ideas were the foundations for Enlightenment thought, the first modern approach to Biblical interpretation, and a presage to psychoanalysis. A Dutch philosopher of Jewish parents, living in the 1600s soon after Galileo, Spinoza jump started the modern world. He was named Humanistic Jewish role model by the Society for Humanistic Judaism for 2009-2010.
26. IISHJ Anthology declares Spinoza to be THE PRECURSOR to Secular Humanistic Jewish Thought IISHJ = International Institute for Secular Humanistic Judaism
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