The Cambridge Companion to Medieval Jewish Philosophy (Cambridge Companions to Philosophy)

Cambridge University Press, 9/11/2003
EAN 9780521652070, ISBN10: 0521652073

Hardcover, 508 pages, 22.9 x 15.2 x 3.2 cm
Language: English
Originally published in English

From the ninth to the fifteenth centuries Jewish thinkers living in Islamic and Christian lands philosophized about Judaism. Influenced first by Islamic theological speculation and the great philosophers of classical antiquity, and then in the late medieval period by Christian Scholasticism, Jewish philosophers and scientists reflected on the nature of language about God, the scope and limits of human understanding, the eternity or createdness of the world, prophecy and divine providence, the possibility of human freedom, and the relationship between divine and human law. Though many viewed philosophy as a dangerous threat, others incorporated it into their understanding of what it is to be a Jew. This Companion presents all the major Jewish thinkers of the period, the philosophical and non-philosophical contexts of their thought, and the interactions between Jewish and non-Jewish philosophers. It is a comprehensive introduction to a vital period of Jewish intellectual history.

List of contributors
Preface
Chronology
Note on transliteration
Glossary
Part I
Background and Context
1. Introduction to the study of medieval Jewish philosophy Oliver Leaman
2. The biblical and rabbinic background to medieval Jewish philosophy David Shatz
3. The Islamic context of medieval Jewish philosophy Joel L. Kraemer
Part II. Ideas, Works and Writers
4. Saadya and Jewish kalam Sarah Stroumsa
5. Jewish Neoplatonism
being above Being and divine emanation in Solomon ibn Gabirol and Isaac Israeli Sarah Pessin
6. Judah Halevi and his use of philosophy in the Kuzari Barry S. Kogan
7. Maimonides and medieval Jewish Aristotelianism Daniel H. Frank
8. Maimonides and the sciences Tzvi Langermann
9. Medieval Jewish political thought Menachem Lorberbaum
10. Judaism and Sufism Paul B. Fenton
11. Philosophy and kabbalah
1200–1600 Hava Tirosh-Samuelson
12. Arabic into Hebrew
the Hebrew translation movement and the influence of Averroes upon medieval Jewish thought Steven Harvey
13. Philosophy in southern France
controversy over philosophic study and the influence of Averroes upon Jewish thought Gregg Stern
14. Conservative tendencies in Gersonides' religious philosophy Charles H. Manekin
Part III. The Later Years
15. The impact of scholasticism upon Jewish philosophy in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries T. M. Rudavsky
16. Jewish philosophy and the Jewish-Christian philosophical dialogue in fifteenth-century Spain Ari Ackerman
17. Hasdai Crescas and anti-Aristotelianism James T. Robinson
18. The end and aftereffects of medieval Jewish philosophy Seymour Feldman
Guide to further reading in English
Index.

'... this companion contains much excellent material and I would recommend it very highly.' Jewish Chronicle