The first part of this study focused almost entirely on the philosophy in Spinoza's Ethics. The second part was concerned largely with his views on religion in the Theological-Political Treatise. Nothing has been said about his personal position in religion: where he stood himself, and his own theological or religious views. Or so it may seem, because hardly any of his biography has been mentioned, and it has been possible to deal with his thinking in objective, depersonalised terms. In fact, the reality is that it is hard to get much closer to Spinoza than by looking at his philosophy. That can be taken negatively, in a feeling that a personality is lacking, in that he effaced any personal character from his writing; or it can be taken more positively, as a sign of how completely he was able to express himself in the most abstract and impersonal of forms – in metaphysics demonstrated in the geometrical manner.

It would be a mistake to think of some parts of his work as any more personal than others, but there are some important elements that have scarcely been considered so far, and these may be important in his attitude to religion. May be, because we might imagine that what he would say about the figure of Christ in religion, and about the existence of the mind in eternity, would be philosophically or personally central to him, if only because both of these look like sensitive and vital subjects. The truth is that they are among the many areas where we have to remain uncertain.