SPINOZA
Spinoza was born into a Jewish family in 1632 during the Spanish Inquisition. His parents fled Spain after heavy persecution by the Catholics to convert. When Spinoza was just 12 years old he began to question his teachings of Judaism being the "best" religion. A few years later he was ex-communicated by his synagogue for questioning those beliefs. He believed that the Bible was not to be used in a literal sense, but to be interpreted metaphorically.
His religious philosophy was that religion should be based on conduct and not creed. He felt that individual freedom was attainable only by God and that humans had boundaries which could not be surpassed, however, those boundaries can be pushed and extended by gaining knowledge of yourself and your place in nature. According to Spinoza God was not a physical being, but rather an essence that forever surrounds and controls everything in life. God unites mind and matter and is actually nature in itself. Spinoza said that......

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Title: Spinoza's Life
Approximate Word Count: 293
Approximate Pages: 2 (250 words per double-spaced page)

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