A Book Forged in Hell by Steven Nadler

Reading Nadler is much easier than reading Spinoza so if you want to learn about Spinoza's infamous Tractatus Theologico-Politicus this is a good place to start. Spinoza shocked the clergy and others of the seventeenth century by stating his views that 1) there is no such thing as miracles, 2) the Bible is simply a work of literature, 3) God is Nature, and 4) organized religion is harmful and unnecessary. But his work is also given credit for promoting democracy and insisting on intellectual freedom. And beneath the disdain for organized religion there is a belief in a personal and individualistic spirituality each person would develop for him/her self. I love Spinoza's  thought and would recommend this book to anyone who doesn't mind reading philosophy. For me it was a little hard.