A brief guide to Spinoza's concept of freedom Baruch de Spinoza The Jew of Voorburg Of the several very short introductions to Spinoza Ian Buruma’s Spinoza: Freedom’s Messiah , part of Yale’s Jewish Lives  series, is the most useful for those entirely new to the philosopher. Buruma, a journalist and historian, acknowledges in the book’s introduction “I’m not an expert in philosophy and I cannot propose to offer any fresh insights into Spinoza’s thinking”. Buruma’s book is a b