The genealogy is pretty clear: Pietist-leaning Collegiants, with affinities to the Anabaptists of the sixteenth century, influence the theological and political view of Spinoza, leading him to write a treatise where he defends two central Anabaptist/Pietist clams: a) he attacks the tyranny of the letter and b) he argues for a liberal political system in which everyone is free to hold whatever theological opinions he wishes.
Spinoza’s Tractatus is one of the earliest treatises on liberal polity, preceding Locke’s Letter Concerning Toleration by several decades. It is part of the invention of the liberal state, and it arises from Anabaptist/Pietist conceptions of piety and polity.
It is ironic, then, that some of the most vocal of today’s theological critics of liberalism work in an Anabaptist/Pietist framework.
Peter Leithart
Peter J. Leithart is President of Theopolis Institute. He is the author of numerous books on theology, literature, and culture, including Theopolitan, Defending Constantine, and Baptized Body.
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