Maimonides and the Shaping of the Jewish Canon

James A. Diamond

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Year: 2014
• Print ISBN:
  9781107063341
• eBook ISBN:
  9781139899758
• Topic: Theologie & Religion
• Subtopic: Jüdische Theologie

Jewish thought since the Middle Ages can be regarded as a sustained dialogue with Moses Maimonides, regardless of the different social, cultural, and intellectual environments in which it was conducted. Much of Jewish intellectual history can be viewed as a series of engagements with him, fueled by the kind of 'Jewish' rabbinic and esoteric writing Maimonides practiced. This book examines a wide range of theologians, philosophers, and exegetes who share a passionate engagement with Maimonides, assaulting, adopting, subverting, or adapting his philosophical and jurisprudential thought. This ongoing enterprise is critical to any appreciation of the broader scope of Jewish law, philosophy, biblical interpretation, and Kabbalah. Maimonides's legal, philosophical, and exegetical corpus became canonical in the sense that many subsequent Jewish thinkers were compelled to struggle with it in order to advance their own thought. As such, Maimonides joins fundamental Jewish canon alongside the Bible, the Talmud, and the Zohar.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half title page
• Title page
• Copyright page
• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• Chapter 1 Setting the Stage for the Future of Jewish Thought: What Constitutes the “Jewishness” of Maimonides’ Thought?
• Chapter 2 Maimonides on Maimonides: Loving God Rabbinically and Philosophically
• Chapter 3 Nahmanides (13th Century): Launching the Kabbalistic Assault
• Chapter 4 R. Yom Tov ben Abraham Ishbili (13th–14th Centuries): Pushing Back the Assault
• Chapter 5 Isaac Abarbanel (15th Century): The Akedah of Faith vs. the Akedah of Reason
• Chapter 6 Meir ibn Gabbai (16th Century): The Aimlessness of Philosophy
• Chapter 7 Spinoza (17th Century): Reorienting Maimonides’ Scriptural Hermeneutic
• Chapter 8 Hermann Cohen (19th Century): A New Religion of Reason Out of the Sources of Maimonides
• Chapter 9 R. Naftali Zvi Yehuda Berlin (19th Century): Loving God Strictly Rabbinically
• Chapter 10 R. Abraham Isaac Kook (20th Century): A Kabbalistic Reinvention of Maimonides’ Legal Code
• Conclusion
• Bibliography
• General Index
• Index of Modern Authors
• Source Index