Maimonides : Torah and philosophical quest / David Hartman ; foreword by Shlomo Pines.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Hartman, David, 1931-2013.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Maimonides, Moses, 1135-1204.

Maimonides, Moses.

Jewish philosophy.

Philosophy, Medieval.

Jewish law--Philosophy.

Jewish law.

Physical Description:

xv, 323 pages ; 22 cm

Edition:

Expanded edition.

Place of Publication:

Philadelphia : Jewish Publication Society, 2009.

Summary:

In his original 1976 version of Maimonides: Torah and Philosophic Quest, noted scholar and theologian David Hartman departs from traditional scholarly views about Maimonides by offering a new way of understanding the great 12th-century philosopher and his work. The best-known works by Maimonides, his Mishneh Torah and Guide to the Perplexed, have often been viewed by scholars as having different audiences and different messages, together reflecting the two sides of the author himself.

Hartman examines these two sides of Maimonides: the halakhist, who focused on piety through obedience to Jewish law, and the philosopher, who advocated closeness to God through reflection and knowledge of nature. But while many scholars look at one aspect of Maimonides to the exclusion of the other, Hartman argues that the way to really understand him is to see both adherence to the law and to philosophical pursuits as two essential aspects of Judaism.

Winner of the National Jewish Book Award, this expanded edition of Maimonides: Torah and Philosophic Quest includes the original study as well as Hartman's new postscript that sheds a fresh light on his argument and indeed on Judaism as Maimonides interpreted it.

Contents:

1 Philosophy in Maimonides' Legal Works 28

2 Halakhic and Aggadic Categories and Their Relationship to Philosophic Spirituality 66

3 Reason and Traditional Authority within Halakhah and Philosophy 102

4 The Philosophic Religious Sensibility 139

5 Morality and the Passionate Love for God 187.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 269-288) and index.

ISBN:

9780827609112

0827609116

OCLC:

318878332