This thoughtful work.paints the conflict between Spinoza's radical ideas and the oppressive religious doctrines of his times in an entertaining, highly accessible way.An engrossing historical drama. -NY Sun. "By focusing on Spinoza's expulsion from the Jewish community, fictionalizing facts and distilling Spinoza's philosophical writings into the interchanges at the excommunication, Ives has managed to create an intriguing courtroom drama-and he's done so with just seven characters and a good deal of Ivesian wit." -CurtainUp. "A richly intellectual work of theatre that will stimulate all sorts of curiosities about the most fundamental questions facing humanity. What nobler purpose for the stage exists?" -NYTheater.

com. "Theocracy versus universalist science, a Reformation-era prequel to the Scopes trial, Inherit the Wind with a chilling extra touch of proto-Nazism.Comic imagery renders the ideas tangible without coarsening them.we learn enough to sense both the urgent bigness of Ives' subject and the power with which he's captured it." -Village Voice. "Riveting.Ives' fictionalized account of the event is fascinating and heartbreaking." -Huffington Post.