The Politics of Paradox: Leo Strauss’s Biblical Debt to Spinoza (and Kierkegaard)

• Published in: Sophia Vol. 54; no. 4; pp. 525 - 543
• Main Author: Havers, Grant
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer Netherlands 01.12.2015; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Ancient Greek; Aristotle; Bible; Biblical Philosophy Paper; Democracy; Education; Greek language; Kierkegaard, Soren Aabye (1813-1855); Non-Western Philosophy; Philosophy; Philosophy of Religion; Politics; Religion; Religious Studies; Secularism; Spinoza, Benedictus de (1632-1677); Strauss, Leo; New York; Chicago Illinois; Paradox; Revelation; Kierkegaard; Bible; Democracy; Spinoza; Strauss; Reason
• ISSN: 0038-1527; 1873-930X
• DOI: 10.1007/s11841-015-0505-x

The political philosopher Leo Strauss is famous for contending that any synthesis of reason and revelation is impossible, since they are irreconcilable antagonists. Yet he is also famous for praising the secular regime of liberal democracy as the best regime for all human beings, even though he is well aware that modern philosophers such as Spinoza thought this regime must make use of biblical morality to promote good citizenship. Is democracy, then, both religious and secular? Strauss thought that Spinoza was contradictory in teaching that reason and revelation should be separated from each other while also insisting that a secular democratic politics still requires the biblical morality of charity (love thy neighbor as thyself). The paradox that liberal democracy is both religious and secular, which is central to Spinoza, was dismissed by Strauss as a Machiavellian subterfuge or the cynical attempt to use religion for political purposes. In order to adhere to his dualistic separation of reason and revelation, Strauss turned to ancient Greek political philosophy, particularly the ideas of Plato and Aristotle, as the true ground of liberal democracy since this classical tradition was never exposed to biblical revelation. Yet, the illiberal and hierarchical implications of Greek political thought, which clash with Strauss’s modern views on human individuality and dignity, ultimately take him back to the biblically based philosophies of Spinoza and Kierkegaard, who teach the paradox that the Bible is the true foundation of human freedom.