Lessing's Spinozism looms up out of the numerous intellectual riddles of the past. Almost everything has been tried in an effort to sound and weigh the exact amount of Spinozism Lessing betrayed in his conversations with Jacobi.

Spinoza’s Modernity is a major, original work of intellectual history that reassesses the philosophical project of Baruch Spinoza, uncovers his influence on later thinkers, and demonstrates how that crucial influence on Moses Mendelssohn, G. E. Lessing, and Heinrich Heine shaped the development of modern critical thought. Excommunicated by his Jewish community, Spinoza was a controversial figure in his lifetime and for centuries afterward. Willi Goetschel shows how Spinoza’s philosophy was a direct challenge to the theological and metaphysical assumptions of modern European thought. He locates the driving force of this challenge in Spinoza’s Jewishness, which is deeply inscribed in his philosophy and defines the radical nature of his modernity.

Bringing together a collection of essays by prominentscholars, The Blackwell Companion to Nineteenth CenturyTheology presents a comprehensive account of the mostsignificant theological figures, movements, and developments ofthought that emerged in Europe and America during the nineteenthcentury. Representing the most up-to-date theological research, thisnew reference work offers an engaging and illuminating overview ofa period whose forceful ideas continue to live on in contemporarytheology A new reference work providing a comprehensive account of themost significant theological figures and developments of thoughtthat emerged in Europe and America during the nineteenthcentury Brings together newly-commissioned research from prominentinternational Biblical scholars, historians, and theologians,covering the key thinkers, confessional traditions, and majorreligious movements of the period Ensures a balanced, ecumenical viewpoint, with essays coveringCatholic, Russian, and Protestant theologies Includes analysis of such prominent thinkers as Kant andKierkegaard, the influence and authority of Darwin and the naturalsciences on theology, and debates the role and enduring influenceof the nineteenth century “anti-theologians”

In 850 analytical articles, this two-volume set explores the developments that influenced the profound changes in thought and sensibility during the second half of the eighteenth century and the first half of the nineteenth century. The Encyclopedia provides readers with a clear, detailed, and accurate reference source on the literature, thought, music, and art of the period, demonstrating the rich interplay of international influences and cross-currents at work; and to explore the many issues raised by the very concepts of Romantic and Romanticism.

Reason and Experience in Mendelssohn and Kant provides the first in-depth examination of the lifelong intellectual relationship between two of the greatest figures of the European Enlightenment, Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) and Moses Mendelssohn (1729-1786). Both were engaged in a common project of striking the right balance between rationalism and empiricism. They sometimes borrowed from one another, often disagreed with one another, and can usefully be compared even when they did not directly interact. Guyer examines a series of comparisons and contrasts: their arguments and conclusions on a range of metaphysical issues, including proofs of the existence of God, immortality, and idealism; their shared interests in aesthetics; and their path-breaking work on the “religion of reason” and the separation of church and state. Setting the work of both philosophers in historical context, Guyer shows that, where Kant sometimes provides deeper insight into the underlying structure of human thought, Mendelssohn is often the deeper student of the variety of human experience. This is evident above all in their treatments of aesthetics and religion: Mendelssohn recognizes more deeply than Kant the emotional impact of art, and while Kant imagines that organized religion will one day be superseded by pure morality, Mendelssohn argued that organized religion in all its varieties seems here to stay, and so toleration for religious variety is an inescapable requirement of human morality. Based on an exhaustive study of a wide range of texts, this study demonstrates the on-going relevance of Kant and Mendelssohn to modern thought.

It is widely believed that modern philosophers have dismissed the idea of God and opted instead for a secular humanism. Challenging these stereotypes through a careful study of major philosophical texts written since the Enlightenment, Philip Clayton shows how the main thinkers of the modern period have continued to wrestle with the problem of God and to make proposals for understanding the divine. Following up on his award-winning book God and Contemporary Science, Clayton here explores the constructive resources that modern thought offers to those struggling with the notion of God as "infinite" and "perfect." He finds in the narrative of modern thought about God strong support for panentheism, the new theological movement that maintains the transcendence of God while denying the separation of God and the world.

Jacobi's polemical tract Concerning the Doctrine of Spinoza in Letters to Herr Moses Mendelssohn propelled him to notoriety in 1785. This work, as well as David Hume on Faith, or Idealism and Realism, Jacobi to Fichte, and the novel Allwill, is included in George di Giovanni's translation. In a comprehensive introductory essay di Giovanni situates Jacobi in the historical and philosophical context of his time, and shows how Jacobi's life and work reflect the tensions inherent in the late Enlightenment.

Seventeenth-century philosophy scholars come together in this volume to address the Insiders--Descartes, Spinoza, Leibniz, Locke, and Hobbes--and Outsiders--Pierre Gassendi, Kenelm Digby, Theophilus Gale, Ralph Cudworth and Nicholas Malebranche--of the philosocial canon, and the ways in which reputations are created and confirmed. In their own day, these ten figures were all considered to be thinkers of substantial repute, and it took some time for the Insiders to come to be regarded as major and original philosophers. Today these Insiders all feature in the syllabi of most history of philosophy courses taught in western universities, and the papers in this collection, contrasting the stories of their receptions with those of the Outsiders, give an insight into the history of philosophy which is generally overlooked.

On the basis of intensive study of the entire corpus of Lessing's philosophical and theological writings as well as the extensive secondary literature, the author leads the reader into the systematic core of Lessing's highly elusive religious thought.