Interpreting Maimonides

Critical Essays

Charles H. Manekin, Daniel Davies

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Year: 2018
• Print ISBN: 9781107184190
• eBook ISBN: 9781316880135
• Topic: Philosophy
• Subtopic: Medieval & Renaissance Philosophy

Moses Maimonides (1138–1204) was arguably the single most important Jewish thinker of the Middle Ages, with an impact on the later Jewish tradition that was unparalleled by any of his contemporaries. In this volume of new essays, world-leading scholars address themes relevant to his philosophical outlook, including his relationship with his Islamicate surroundings and the impact of his work on subsequent Jewish and Christian writings, as well as his reception in twentieth-century scholarship. The essays also address the nature and aim of Maimonides' philosophical writing, including its connection with biblical exegesis, and the philosophical and theological arguments that are central to his work, such as revelation, ritual, divine providence, and teleology. Wide-ranging and fully up-to-date, the volume will be highly valuable for those interested in Jewish history and thought, medieval philosophy, and religious studies.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half-title page
• Title page
• Copyright page
• Contents
• List of Tables
• List of Contributors
• Acknowledgments
• Note on the Text
• Introduction
• Chapter 1 Maimonides and the Almohads
• Chapter 2 Al-Ghazālī’s Purported “Influence” on Maimonides: A Dissenting Voice in Trending Scholarship
• Chapter 3 Maimonides on the Intellects of Women and Gentiles
• Chapter 4 What the Guide of the Perplexed Is Really About
• Chapter 5 On or above the Ladder? Maimonidean and anti-Maimonidean Readings of Jacob’s Ladder
• Chapter 6 Reading the Guide of the Perplexed as an Intellectual Challenge
• Chapter 7 Jewish Ritual as Trial in the Guide of the Perplexed
• Chapter 8 Maimonides on the Divine Authorship of the Law
• Chapter 9 Divine Knowledge and Providence in the Guide of the Perplexed
• Chapter 10 The World and the Eye: Perplexity about Ends in the Guide of the Perplexed iii.13 and iii.25
• Chapter 11 Early Quotations from Maimonides’s Guide of the Perplexed in the Latin Middle Ages
• Chapter 12 The Agendas of Shlomo Pines for Reading the Guide of the Perplexed from 1963 to 1979
• Chapter 13 How to Begin to Study Strauss’s “How to Begin to Study the Guide of the Perplexed”
• Bibliography
• Index