This volume consists of 21 papers delivered at an international Spinoza conference on Disguised and Overt Spinozism around 1700, held at the Erasmus University (Rotterdam) in October 1994. In these papers, scholars from Italy, France, Germany, Great Britain, the Netherlands and the United States examine the impact of Spinoza's philosophy on the European Republic of Letters, one generation after the death, in 1677, of the greatest philosopher in the history of the Netherlands.

Ever since it was first written, Adriaan Koerbagh's anti-Christian work, A Light Shining in Dark Places, has been nearly inaccessible. Had it been known during the Enlightenment, it would have been a great inspiration to radical thinkers. However, it was suppressed and the author died in jail. The full text is now available in English. Koerbagh demolishes such Christian notions as the Creator, the Trinity, the divinity of Jesus, heaven and hell, angels, devils and miracles. Instead, he presents a monistic world view in which Nature and God are identical. Theology is a part of natural...

Spinoza Past and Present consists of twelve essays on Benedictus de Spinoza's Jewish background, his views on metaphysics, mathematics, religion and society. Special attention is paid to the various ways in which Spinoza's works have been interpreted from the late seventeenth century to the present day. In particular, Spinoza's recent popularity among advocates of the Radical Enlightenment is discussed: Van Bunge proposes a new interpretation of Spinoza's role in the early Dutch Enlightenment.