Audio only
A Book Forged in Hell
Spinoza’s Scandalous Treatise and the Birth of the Secular AgeBy Steven NadlerNarrated by John LescaultLength9h 17m
About this audiobook
The story of one of the most important—and incendiary—books in Western history
When it appeared in 1670, Baruch Spinoza’s Theological-Political Treatise was denounced as the most dangerous book ever published—“godless,” “full of abominations,” “a book forged in hell … by the devil himself.” Religious and secular authorities saw it as a threat to faith, social and political harmony, and everyday morality, and its author was almost universally regarded as a religious subversive and political radical who sought to spread atheism throughout Europe. Yet Spinoza’s book has contributed as much as the Declaration of Independence or Thomas Paine’s Common Sense to modern liberal, secular, and democratic thinking.
In A Book Forged in Hell, Steven Nadler tells the fascinating story of this extraordinary book: its radical claims and their background in the philosophical, religious, and political tensions of the Dutch Golden Age, as well as the vitriolic reaction these ideas inspired.
It is not hard to see why Spinoza’s Treatise was so important or so controversial or why the uproar it caused is one of the most significant events in European intellectual history. In the book, Spinoza became the first to argue that the Bible is not literally the word of God but rather a work of human literature; that true religion has nothing to do with theology, liturgical ceremonies, or sectarian dogma; and that religious authorities should have no role in governing a modern state. He also denied the reality of miracles and divine providence, reinterpreted the nature of prophecy, and made an eloquent plea for toleration and democracy.
A vivid story of incendiary ideas and vicious backlash, A Book Forged in Hell will interest anyone who is curious about the origin of some of our most cherished modern beliefs.
Audiobook details
GenrePhilosophy, History
Length9 hrs 17 mins
Narrated byJohn Lescault
FormatAudiobook
Publish dateJun 19, 2021
LanguageEnglish
The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the HorseCharlie Mackesy58m$11 · $0.00
The Tao of Joy Every DayDerek Lin10h 24m$20 · $0.00
Old Path White CloudsThich Nhat Hanh16h 39m$25
Metaphysics (Annotated)Aristotle13h 30m$2 · $0.00
The Collected Works of Friedrich Nietzsche (Annotated)Friedrich Nietzsche93h 6m$2 · $0.00
Plato: Complete WorksPlato141h 38m$2 · $0.00
WitnessAriel Burger8h 1m$20 · $0.00
Feeling Is The SecretNeville Goddard44m5.0 (1)$2 · $0.00
The Way to a Beautiful WorldJames Norbury44m$9 · $0.00
The Practicing StoicWard Farnsworth9h 56m$20
The Complete Essays of Montaigne (Annotated)Michel de Montaigne46h 52m$2 · $0.00
Moral Letters to LuciliusLucius Annaeus Seneca25h 24m$2 · $0.00
THE THREE CRITIQUES: The Critique of Pure Reason, The Critique of Practical Reason & The Critique of JudgmentImmanuel Kant46h 10m$1 · $0.00
The LawFrédéric Bastiat2h 7m$10
IlluminationsWalter Benjamin10h 12m$20 · $0.00
Tâo Teh KingLaozi2h 34m$2 · $0.00
Buddhist Boot CampTimber Hawkeye2h 39m$18 · $0.00
The DhammapadaFriedrich Max Müller1h 30m$15
Change Your MindRJ Spina7h 5m$17
Enchiridion & The Discourses of Epictetus (Annotated)Arrian Epictetus18h 9m$2 · $0.00
The Two Swords of ChristRaymond Ibrahim15h 55m$30
Black AF HistoryMichael Harriot15h 43m5.0 (1)$33 · $0.00
The Gulag Archipelago Volume 3Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn21h 56m$46 · $0.00
The Redeemer’s ReturnArthur W. Pink13h 18m$20
The Happiest Man on EarthEddie Jaku3h 48m$7 · $0.00
MotherlandJulia Ioffe17h 52m$40 · $0.00
Where Cowards Go to DieBenjamin Sledge8h 42m$20 · $0.00
Frederick Douglass: All 3 Memoirs in One VolumeFrederick Douglass44h 9m$2 · $0.00
The Bark Canoes and Skin Boats of North America (Annotated)Howard Irving Chapelle, Tappan Adney13h 10m$2 · $0.00
I've Been to the MountaintopMartin Luther King48m5.0 (1)$11 · $0.00
RevolutionariesSanjeev Sanyal11h 23m$29 · $0.00
We Crossed a Bridge and It TrembledWendy Pearlman6h$24 · $0.00
Unbroken Bonds of BattleJohnny Joey Jones8h 31m$8 · $0.00
The Daughter of AuschwitzTova Friedman, Malcolm Brabant7h 54m$26 · $0.00
Lily's PromiseLily Ebert, Dov Forman8h 54m$29 · $0.00
Saving My EnemyBob Welch9h 11m$20
On Democracies and Death CultsDouglas Murray10h 38m$29 · $0.00
Across the RiverKent Babb11h 40m$29 · $0.00
Balcony Over Jerusalem: A Middle East Memoir - Israel, Palestine and BeyondJohn Lyons12h 37m$33 · $0.00
The Fire Next TimeJames Baldwin2h 25m$15
You may also like
Atheist ManifestoOnfray, Michel7h 53mFree
The Politically Incorrect Guide to American HistoryWoods, Thomas E.8h 49mFree
The Founding of New EnglandJames Truslow Adams20h 15m$1 · $0.00
History of the Philippine Islands (Vol. 1&2) (Annotated)Joaquín Martínez de Zúñiga11h 54m$2 · $0.00
The News Coverage Of Jb And Globo About The Fall Of The Berlin Wall (1989) And The End Of Soviet Union (1991)Célio Azevedo2h 56m$8 · $0.00
A letter to the Rev. Charles N. Wodehouse, Canon of Norwich, occasioned by his recent publicationCharles Campbell2h 11m$2 · $0.00
James Frederick FerrierElizabeth Sanderson Haldane3h 14m$2 · $0.00
The Social ContractJean-Jacques Rousseau10h 49m$9 · $0.00
Socrates in 90 MinutesPaul Strathern1h 19m$7
Hippie FoodJonathan Kauffman9h 13m$29 · $0.00
John Knox and the ReformationAndrew Lang8h 49m$1 · $0.00
The Political NovelJoseph Blotner6h 14m$2.30
G.W.F. HEGEL - Ultimate Collection (Annotated)Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel244h 16m$2 · $0.00
Science in an Age of UnreasonJohn Staddon7h 2m$17 · $0.00
On the Reception of the 'Origin of Species'Thomas Henry Huxley1h 44m$2 · $0.00
History of the Phoenician CivilizationGeorge Rawlinson16h 20m$2 · $0.00
Abortion RightsKate Greasley, Christopher Kaczor9h 20m$20 · $0.00
The Pope, the Kings and the PeopleWilliam Arthur31h$2 · $0.00
About IrelandE. Lynn Linton2h 44m$1 · $0.00
Sacred CowDiana Rodgers RD, Robb Wolf8h 28m$20