Author: Abraham Anderson
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
ISBN: 0585229910
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 181
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Book Description
Including the first English edition of the Treatise of the Three Impostors since 1904, this book examines the treatise in its literary, political, and philosophical context.
Author: Spinoza
Publisher: Max Milo
ISBN: 2315010993
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 99
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Book Description
The Treatise on the Three Impostors was first published in 1712 under the title L'esprit de M. Benoît de Spinosa, preceded by a biography entitled La Vie de M. Benoît de Spinosa. These two works, of very dissimilar contents, have been brought together only by their common reference to Spinoza. Who is the author? This question has lost none of its relevance in three centuries. First of all, let us rule out the participation of Spinoza himself for chronological reasons, La vie de M. Benoît de Spinosa refers to events after the philosopher's death in 1677, such as the presence of the Prince of Condé in Utrecht, "at the beginning of the last wars" in 1678. In his Dictionnaire Historique, published in The Hague in 1758, Prosper Marchand concluded that the author of L'esprit de M. Benoît de Spinosa was a certain Jan Vroesen. Marchand was a scholar, editor, bibliographer, bookseller and writer, and one of the most knowledgeable figures on the movement of ideas and authors in Northern Europe. If we confine ourselves to this information, however, we might be embarrassed. Indeed, if he is indeed the complete and only author of L'esprit de M. Benoît de Spinosa, Vroesen must have been a very precocious man, since around 1687, Vroesen was only fifteen or sixteen years old. Until the French Revolution, literate Europe was full of memoirs, hypotheses and questions about the real author of the Treatise of the Three Impostors. People even came to suspect Frederick II of Prussia, a notorious anticleric, of being its author. The only problem is that Frederick was born the same year that the Rotterdam edition was published. And Spinoza? This bibliographical and philosophical enigma of a book does not allow us to forget that it is a tribute to the great philosopher. His spirit floats, indeed, through these vigorous pages. Some authors even tend to believe today that the author of the Ethics is also the one who wrote this mysterious book. Certainly, several passages testify to a careful reading of Spinoza, such as the sixth chapter “On the Spirits called Demons,” which comes straight out of the Short Treatise, or the first two chapters on the popular conception of God, which are borrowed from the same work. Specialists will be happy to find other borrowings. But the virulent disdain for the Old and New Testaments, for example, which is evident in many passages of the Treatise, does not fit Spinoza's ideas or tone at all, nor does the irreverent atheism. Could it be that Levier, the first editor of the Treatise, and the mysterious Vroesen extracted from the Spinozian archives in Holland, "probably from the Rieuwerts collection," notes the critical edition of the Bibliothèque de la Pléïade, a selection of texts that they transformed to their liking? This is, in the end, the hypothesis that seems most plausible. For despite the mysteries and manipulations, if not the forgeries, the shadow of Spinoza hangs over the enterprise and the text clearly comes from Holland. The hypothesis is reinforced by the publisher's brilliant desire to pay homage to Spinoza by publishing in the same volume The Life and Mind of M. Benoît de Spinosa. It is undoubtedly an exaggerated homage to the philosopher, awkwardly reinforced by the borrowings from Pierre Charron and Gabriel Naudé. It evokes those Rubens whose studio notebooks we know that the great painter only added a few touches here and there, but which he nevertheless signed. The result is that the Treatise of the Three Impostors appears as a collective anthology of the resistance to religion in the Europe of the Enlightenment. Spinoza is only the emblem, but he is nevertheless omnipresent.
Author: ARTHUR MACHEN
Publisher: ببلومانيا للنشر والتوزيع
ISBN:
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 256
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Book Description
The Three Imposters is a strange little book, a narrative about a secret society's efforts to retrieve a Roman coin ("The Gold Tiberius"), but this "novel" appears to be little more than a convenient device for telling a series of marvelous, horrific tales. Two of these tales--"The Novel of the Black Seal" and "The Novel of the White Powder"--are first-class works of imaginative fiction, and the entire book itself is entrancing, reminiscent of Stevenson's New Arabian Nights in its descriptions of London--conveyed in musical, Swinburneian prose--make of this nineteenth century metropolis something as exotic and fantastic as the Baghdad of Haroun al-Rashid. In addition, this collection contains not only two short stories but also the novella "The Great God Pan," one of the acknowledged classics of the weird tale. Its Chinese box structure--the horror revealed in fragments, in various voices, with lacunae which must be supplied by the reader--makes the narrative all the more compelling and terrifying in its obliqueness. (Lovecraft used this structure as his model for "The Call of Cthulhu.") "The Great God Pan" has an interesting plot as well, in that it is an inversion of the Ripper murders which occurred only a few years before. Instead of lower-class women murdered in the slums by an unknown male slasher, we have wealthy young men committing suicide in the most fashionable sections of London--and this time a mysterious woman seems to be involved.
Author: Georges Minois
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 0226821064
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 262
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Book Description
A comprehensive biography of the Treatise of the Three Impostors, a controversial nonexistent medieval book. Like a lot of good stories, this one begins with a rumor: in 1239, Pope Gregory IX accused Frederick II, the Holy Roman Emperor, of heresy. Without disclosing evidence of any kind, Gregory announced that Frederick had written a supremely blasphemous book—De tribus impostoribus, or the Treatise of the Three Impostors—in which Frederick denounced Moses, Jesus, and Muhammad as impostors. Of course, Frederick denied the charge, and over the following centuries the story played out across Europe, with libertines, freethinkers, and other “strong minds” seeking a copy of the scandalous text. The fascination persisted until finally, in the eighteenth century, someone brought the purported work into actual existence—in not one but two versions, Latin and French. Although historians have debated the origins and influences of this nonexistent book, there has not been a comprehensive biography of the Treatise of the Three Impostors. In The Atheist’s Bible, the eminent historian Georges Minois tracks the course of the book from its origins in 1239 to its most salient episodes in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, introducing readers to the colorful individuals obsessed with possessing the legendary work—and the equally obsessive passion of those who wanted to punish people who sought it. Minois’s compelling account sheds much-needed light on the power of atheism, the threat of blasphemy, and the persistence of free thought during a time when the outspoken risked being burned at the stake.
Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Impostors and imposture
Languages : en
Pages : 170
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Book Description
Author: Anonymous
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780996577007
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0
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Book Description
Literary Nonfiction. Religion & Spirituality. Philosophy. Hybrid Genre. Those familiar with THE TREATISE OF THE THREE IMPOSTORS recognize it as an Enlightenment-era indictment against the foundations of three major religions--Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. That's only half the story. Published anonymously and attributed to numerous dates, places of origin, and authors--some real, some fantastic--THREE IMPOSTORS is better understood as a performative act of radical critique and protest against religious authorities. This edition of THREE IMPOSTORS includes a new, critical introduction signed only with the author's initials. As presented, we pay homage to and continue this text's subversive inquiry.
Author: The Spirit of Spinoza
Publisher:
ISBN: 9782315010981
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0
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Book Description
According to the mysterious author, who was obviously familiar with Spinoza's work, all religions were fables maintained by impostors, in league with political power to tyrannize the people.
Author: Various
Publisher: DigiCat
ISBN:
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 214
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Book Description
This work is a hard look into the philosophical issues with the three main faiths that developed in the Levant Islam, Christianity, and Judaism. It's a brutal attack on Christianity, Judaism and Islam, all in a single treatise in which, one by one, the foundation of each faith is examined and dismantled.
Author: Don Miller
Publisher: HarperChristian + ORM
ISBN: 1418529958
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 257
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Book Description
With equal parts wit and wisdom, New York Times bestselling author Donald Miller invites you to reconnect with your faith. Miller shares what he's learned firsthand--that our relationship with God is designed to teach us about redemption, grace, healing, and so much more. Searching for God Knows What weaves together timeless stories and fresh perspectives on the Bible to capture one man's journey to discover an authentic faith that's worth believing. Along the way, Miller poses his own questions about faith, religion, and community, asking: What if the motive behind our theology was relational? What if our value exists because God takes pleasure in us? What if the gospel of Jesus is an invitation to know God? Maybe you're a Christian wondering what faith you signed up for. Or maybe you don't believe anything and are daring someone to show you a genuine example of genuine faith. Somewhere beyond the self-help formulas, fancy marketing, and easy promises, there is a life-changing experience with God waiting for you--it just takes a little bit of searching. Praise for Searching for God Knows What: "Like a shaken snow globe, Donald Miller's newest collection of essays creates a swirl of ideas about the Christian life that eventually crystallize into a lovely landscape...[He] is one of the evangelical book market's most creative writers." --Christianity Today "If you have felt that Jesus is someone you respect and admire--but Christianity is something that repels you--Searching for God Knows What will give you hope that you still can follow Jesus and be part of a church without the trappings of organized religion." --Dan Kimball, author of The Emerging Church and Pastor of Vintage Faith Church, Santa Cruz, CA "For fans of Blue Like Jazz, I doubt you will be disappointed. Donald Miller writes with the wit and vulnerability that you expect. He perfectly illustrates important themes in a genuine and humorous manner...For those who would be reading Miller for the first time, this would be a great start." --Relevant
Author: Andrew R. Murphy
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199717494
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 245
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Book Description
"Original and wide-ranging, Murphy's discerning and important study is another reminder that America is 'the nation with the soul of a church.'" -Journal of American History "A wide-ranging and thoughtful meditation on how the theo-political stories we Americans tell ourselves resonate with and sometimes even create the communities we inhabit. This book deserves an honored place among the oeuvre of work by political scientists and historians on the jeremiad." -- Politics and Religion "A significant contribution to the historical account of the role of religion in American politics." --Perspectives on Politics "Prodigal Nation is a careful account of how theologies function politically and deserves attention from political scientists, political theologians, American historians, and others interested in the interface of religion and culture." --Religious Studies Review "This highly original and wonderfully written analysis will be invaluable to anyone interested in the meaning of America." --Harry S. Stout, author of The New England Soul and Upon the Altar of the Nation "A brilliant analysis of the American jeremiad. Elegant, powerful, hopeful, and wise - Prodigal Nation is required reading for anyone who wishes to understand the fitful history of the American spirit." --James A. Morone, author of Hellfire Nation and The Democratic Wish
