Tussendoor moet ik toch ook nog wel even wijzen op het essay dat Rebecca
Newberger Goldstein, schrijfster van Betraying
Spinoza: The Renegade Jew Who Gave Us Modernity, op 29 juli 2006 had in The New York Times n.a.v. de toen 350e
verjaardag van Spinoza’s ban. Dat
essay, "Reasonable Doubt",
eindigde ze aldus:
“Spinoza’s
dream of making us susceptible to the voice of reason might seem hopelessly
quixotic at this moment, with religion-infested politics on the march. But
imagine how much more impossible a dream it would have seemed on that day 350
years ago. And imagine, too, how much even sorrier our sorry world would have
been without it.”
