The question of the “truth” of the Bible has been largely determined in the last few hundred years by Spinoza's Theologico-Political Treatise. The TTP was the first work of Biblical criticism, and it is in terms of this work – whether positive or negative – that the debate is now carried on. The creation/evolution controversy is a prime example of the way in which Spinoza determines the ground of the debate. It it a historical fact that species developed from one another by natural selection (including the non-Darwinian theories) over the course of billions of years? Or did God intervene in nature and create man specially? Do we say that the Genesis account is historical or “merely” mythical? Where specifically is Genesis historical and where is it metaphorical (and in this metaphor is understood as something like primitive history)? It is notable that the early theologians paid little attention to the “historical” truth of the Old Testament, particularly when wresting it from the Jews. It was in Spinoza that historicity first became thematic. Why is this? What is new in Spinoza?
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