Neoplatonism and Jewish thought / edited by Lenn E. Goodman.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Goodman, Lenn Evan, 1944-

Series:

Studies in Neoplatonism : Ancient and Modern

Studies in Neoplatonism ; v. 7

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Neoplatonism--Congresses.

Neoplatonism.

Jewish philosophy--Congresses.

Jewish philosophy.

Judaism and philosophy--Congresses.

Judaism and philosophy.

Philosophy, Comparative--Congresses.

Philosophy, Comparative.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (467 p.)

Place of Publication:

Albany : State University of New York Press, c1992.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

This book deals primarily with the problem of the one and the many. The problems of creation, of evil, of revelation, and of ethics are all treated as special cases of the general problem of relating the finite to the infinite, the many to the one. The authors focus on the unifying theme of mediation, the means by which the Absolute relates to the here and now. The principal figures studied include Philo, Plotinus, Iamblichus, Isaac Israeli, Avicenna, Ibn Gabirol, Al-Ghazâlî, Abraham Ibn Daud, Maimonides, Averroes, Albertus Magnus, Aquinas, Gersonides, Nahmanides, Ibn Falaquera, Narboni, Albalag, Leone Ebreo (Judah Abarbanel), and Spinoza, as well as such Kabbalistic thinkers as Bahir, Cordovero, Luria, Moses de Leon, Ya'akov ben Sheshet, Isaac the Blind, Menahem Renanti, Shem Tov ben Shem Tov, Azriel of Gerona, Alemanno, Luzzato, Cordovero, and Abraham Herrera.The authors include David Winston, John Dillon, Carl Mathis, Bernard McGinn, Arthur Hyman, Alfred Ivry, Lenn E. Goodman, Menachem Kellner, David Burrell, Idit Dobbs-Weinstein, David Bleich, Seymour Feldman, Steven Katz, Moshe Idel, David Novak, Hubert Dethier, Richard Popkin, and Robert McLaren. Taken together, these essays offer an impressive historical survey of the ideas, achievements, and philosophic struggles of a group of men who worked to form a unique and durable tradition that bridged the gap between rival confessions and sects-mystics, rationalists, and empiricists; Jews, Christians, and Muslims. This is a philosophic source whose vitality is not yet exhausted.

Contents:

""Front Matter""; ""Half Title Page""; ""Title Page""; ""Copyright Page""; ""Table of Contents""; ""LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS""; ""PREFACE""; ""EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION : Thematizing a Tradition""; ""Content""; ""Philo's Conception of the Divine Nature""; ""Solomon Ibn Gabirol's Doctrine of Intelligible Matter""; ""Parallel Structures in the Metaphysics of Iamblichus and Ibn Gabiror""; ""Ibn Gabirol: The Sage Among the Schoolmen""; ""From What is One and Simple only What is One and Simple Can Come to Be·""; ""Maimonides and Neoplatonism: Challenge and Response""; ""Maimonidean Naturalism""

""The Virtue of Faith""""Why not Pursue the Metaphor of Artisan and View God's Knowledge as Practical?""; ""Matter as Creature and Matter as the Source of Evil: Maimonides and Aquinas""; ""Divine Unity in Maimonides, the Tosafists and Me'iri""; ""Platonic Themes in Gersonides' Doctrine of the Active Intellect""""; ""Utterance and Ineffability in Jewish Neoplatonism""; ""Self-Contraction of the Godhead in Kabbalistic Theology·""; ""Jewish Kabbalah and Platonism in the Middle Ages and Renaissance""; ""Love and Intellect in Leone Ebreo: The Joys and Pains of Human Passion""

""Spinoza, Neopiatonic Kabbalist?""""The Psychodynamics of Neoplatonic Ontology""; ""Back Matter ""; ""Bibliography""; ""The Contributors""; ""INDEX""

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 427-434) and index.

ISBN:

1-4384-0440-9

OCLC:

794701329