Steven Nadler, "Spinoza, Atheist" (Princeton UP, 2026)

Spinoza wasn't just a heretic—he was an atheist, argues philosopher Stephen Nadler in his new book, 'Spinoza, Atheist.' Contrary to the popular image of Spinoza as a pantheist who saw God in nature, Nadler insists that Spinoza’s radical rejection of divine intervention, worship, and supernatural agency makes him not a pantheist but a true atheist. For Spinoza, God is not a being to be revered, but nature itself—understood through reason, not awe. This distinction isn’t just semantic; it’s existential. Nadler shows how Spinoza’s Ethics, though written in the language of theology, systematically dismantles religious authority by replacing faith with intellectual clarity. The real danger of misreading Spinoza as a pantheist, Nadler warns, is that it smuggles in the very superstition he fought against—wonder, reverence, and mystical awe. Instead, Spinoza’s vision is one of liberation through knowledge: freedom comes not from divine grace, but from understanding the causal order of nature. Even more strikingly, Nadler reveals that Spinoza believed moral virtue could be cultivated through imagination and narrative—even if those beliefs were false—so long as they inspired justice and kindness. In a world where belief often masks behavior, Spinoza’s enduring legacy may be the radical idea that a good life doesn’t require God at all.