Benedict Baruch Spinoza was born into a lineage of Spanish crypto-Jews through his grandfather and father — Jews living in post-Islam who were forced to adopt Christianity while secretly maintaining the Jewish faith. His father was a merchant in Amsterdam, allowing his son to pursue a thorough education in medieval philosophy, the works of Descartes, Hobbes and other contemporaries. He studied Latin, and read Cicero, Livy, Ovid and Terrence. Spinoza was also a member of the Sephardic Jewish community of Amsterdam.
Spinoza, however, was an independent thinker, rejecting traditional readings of Scripture, and therefore causing a deviation from Jewish orthodoxy. He disagreed with the tendencies to anthropomorphize God, arguing such notions as illogical and theologically unsound, while further contending that the scriptures do not maintain that angels exist, or that the soul is immortal. Instead he promoted modern historical and critical methods for studying biblical interpretations. Not surprisingly, his outspoken nature had him expelled from the synagogue for heretical thought and practice in 1656, and hence he Latinized his name to Benedict.
He took an opportunity to teach at a school for children, on the basis that he could remain an independent thinker from the political situations associated with another career opportunity he repeatedly refused -the appointment of a chair at the University of Heidelberg. Instead, he learned the craft of grinding lenses for glasses and telescopes while teaching at his humble post, to help himself maintain an economic independence as well. Nevertheless, his notoriety as a philosopher attracted many like-minded thinkers, including Gottfried Leibniz.
In his late twenties, Spinoza supervised a discussion group on philosophical and theological issues. As his own ideas developed, he decided to go on retreat from Amsterdam to a cottage in Rijnsburg for three years to formulate them in writing. At this time he wrote A Short Treatise on God, Man and his Well-Being, and On the Improvement of the Understanding. He also composed a geometric version of Descartes' Principles of Philosophy, which his friends and supporters encouraged him to publish. Part of the purpose of the work was to pave the way for publishing his own thoughts that were critical of Cartesianism; producing such a work, he could not be accused later of not understanding Descartes. It was published in 1663 and was the only writing with his name on it during his life. Further developing his own ideas, Spinoza composed his greatest work, The Ethics.
In 1663 Spinoza left Rijnsburg and moved near The Hague. Hoping to publish The Ethics, and anticipating controversy, he wrote and published anonymously his Tractatus Theologico-Politicus (1670) in which he defends the liberty to philosophize in the face of religious or political interference, arguing for political toleration of alternative religious practices. He maintained that Christians and Jews could live peaceably together provided that they rose above the petty theological and cultural controversies that divided them. After a self-initiated and failed diplomatic mission to France, Spinoza was forced to give up hopes of publishing the Ethics. However, his manuscripts were circulated among Spinoza's trusted friends. He was often in correspondence with other intellectuals, and discussion groups were formed by students of his ideas.
He died in 1677 from a lung disease, the result of breathing dust from lens grinding. As directed in Spinoza's Will, the Ethics was published posthumously along with some of his other works (1677).