Spinoza’s God:

'Einstein believed in it, but what was it?'

Alex Dean reviews Spinoza's Religion: A new reading of the Ethics, by Claire Carlisle, at Prospect.

"... Spinoza’s thought treads a narrow line between old and new, medieval and modern. Much of his philosophy was decidedly modern in its themes and concepts, and he took a keen interest in new scientific discoveries—after all, he worked in optic science and his telescopic lenses were used by leading astronomers. Yet he also drew inspiration from sources which, by his own time, were profoundly orthodox."

See Spinoza, Ethics, in Great Books of the Western World (first edition, 52 Vol., 1952) volume 31, and (second edition, 60 Vol., 1990) volume 28.