How did later writers such as Novalis describe Spinoza’s religious outlook?

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Engraved portrait of Benedict de Spinoza by Friedrich Roth-Scholtz, showing Spinoza in formal 17th-century attire with a circular symbol in the upper left corner. — Benedict de Spinoza Benedict de Spinoza.

While Benedict de Spinoza was widely misunderstood and denounced as an atheist for nearly a century following his death, later writers offered more nuanced interpretations of his religious outlook.

In the late 18th century, the German poet Novalis provided a discerning assessment of the philosopher, famously describing him as a "God-intoxicated man." This characterization highlights the intensely religious, yet entirely rational and undogmatic, nature of Spinoza’s thought, which has been widely appreciated by poets and philosophers alike in the years since.1