Horst Steinke
216
the initially established methodological principle of accordance
with the scientific study of Nature. On the face of it, Scripture
and Nature seem to be different worlds, the former a cultural,
intellectual creation or product, the latter physical reality external
to humans; it is thus anything but transparent or trivially obvious
that both realms can and need to be dealt with uniformly. Spino-
za simply makes this assertion («I hold that …»
496
), without any
supporting arguments; but due to the centrality of this nexus,
Spinoza’s stance regarding the natural sciences cannot be left out
of purview and not brought to bear on his biblical hermeneutics.
9.1
Spinoza’s philosophy of science
It might be said, loosely speaking, that Spinoza had the good
fortune of living at a time, and in a place, that coincidentally was
not out of sync with his own epistemic and philosophical preoc-
cupations. Historians have felt that there is sufficient evidence to
warrant speaking of a “golden age” of Dutch culture and sci-
ence
497
. Although Spinoza’s core interests and predilections were
philosophical, it is noteworthy that he was also personally en-
gaged in both theoretical and applied science.
Optics
,
physics
(
kine-
matics
), and
chemistry
were specific fields in which he participated
in the prevailing discourse
498
, most prominently optics by choos-
ing the manufacture of optical lenses and instruments in his own
workshop as his occupation to support himself, not being asso-
ciated with, or receiving remuneration from, academic institu-
tions. This “hands-on” involvement, however, put him at the
center of key technological advances of telescopes and micro-
scopes
499
, and brought him into association with and made him a
part of the community of outstanding scientists such as Christi-
aan Huygens, and theorists-philosophers like Leibniz
500
.
Spinoza’s own scientific research activities are insofar of par-
ticular interest in relation to our subject as they can be consid-
ered as a correlate to his biblical studies. As discussed above,
Spinoza’s approach (hermeneutics) to biblical studies was in-