New Jereusalem

Tickets and Information

Visit the New Jereusalem website:
http://www.washingtondcjcc.org/center-for-arts/theater-j/

In this theological courtroom drama rationalist philosopher and accused apostate Baruch de Spinoza, played by Alexander Strain, faces excommunication from the Jewish community of 1656 Amsterdam. Spinoza is considered to be one of Western philosophy's most important philosophers, laying the groundwork for the 18th-Century Enlightenment and modern biblical criticism. By putting Spinoza and his radical ideas on trial, the play examines the clash between religion and modernity that Jews, Christians and Muslims are still, some 350 years later, struggling to reconcile. According to The New York Times, "Mr. Ives's humor has always mixed the cerebral with the silly... his daring leap into metaphysics is... an engrossing primer on Spinoza's radical thinking."