Light of the Nations is a philosophical work written by the Jewish intellectual and eminent biblical commentator Obadiah Sforno (ca. 1475–1550). His treatise, an apology for both Jewish and universal monotheistic beliefs, was published in Hebrew in 1537 under the title Or ‘Ammim and was translated by the author into Latin as Lumen Gentium in 1548. Written in the style of a classical medieval Scholastic summa, the treatise’s multilingual and multicultural dimensions reveal key humanist ideas that prevailed in the cities of northern Italy during the early modern period, while also speaking to its author’s abiding exegetical rationality.
Light of the Nations is a philosophical work written by the Jewish intellectual and eminent biblical commentator Obadiah Sforno (ca. 1475–1550). His treatise, an apology for both Jewish and universal monotheistic beliefs, was published in Hebrew in 1537 under the title Or ‘Ammim and was translated by the author into Latin as Lumen Gentium in 1548. Written in the style of a classical medieval Scholastic summa, the treatise’s multilingual and multicultural dimensions reveal key humanist ideas that prevailed in the cities of northern Italy during the early modern period, while also speaking to its author’s abiding exegetical rationality.
Richard H. Popkin (1923–2005) was a pioneer in the field of Jewish studies. His numerous books and articles broke new ground in the study of Jewish-Christian relations in the early modern period and in the exploration of the impact of Jews and Judaism on philosophy and religious thought. A Sceptical Jew: Richard H. Popkin’s Private Republic of Letters brings together selections from Popkin’s private correspondence and other documents to illuminate the sources of his interests and the nature of his contributions to the fields in which he worked.
Richard H. Popkin (1923–2005) was a pioneer in the field of Jewish studies. His numerous books and articles broke new ground in the study of Jewish-Christian relations in the early modern period and in the exploration of the impact of Jews and Judaism on philosophy and religious thought. A Sceptical Jew: Richard H. Popkin’s Private Republic of Letters brings together selections from Popkin’s private correspondence and other documents to illuminate the sources of his interests and the nature of his contributions to the fields in which he worked.
This book focuses on Isaac Albalag’s perspective on the relationship between religion and philosophy. In Sefer Tiqqun ha-Deʿot, a Hebrew translation with a commentary of al-Ġazālī’s Arabic philosophical encyclopedia Maqāṣid al-Falāsifah, Albalag indicates his adherence to what is known in scholarship as the double-truth doctrine. By analysing the Tiqqun against its philosophical background and its critical engagement with the Maqāṣid, this book demonstrates Albalag’s unyielding commitment to Aristotelianism, as known to him through Averroes’s lens, concluding that his apparent embrace of the double-truth doctrine is merely a strategic tool to carve out a distinct space for philosophy, independent of religious beliefs.
This book focuses on Isaac Albalag’s perspective on the relationship between religion and philosophy. In Sefer Tiqqun ha-Deʿot, a Hebrew translation with a commentary of al-Ġazālī’s Arabic philosophical encyclopedia Maqāṣid al-Falāsifah, Albalag indicates his adherence to what is known in scholarship as the double-truth doctrine. By analysing the Tiqqun against its philosophical background and its critical engagement with the Maqāṣid, this book demonstrates Albalag’s unyielding commitment to Aristotelianism, as known to him through Averroes’s lens, concluding that his apparent embrace of the double-truth doctrine is merely a strategic tool to carve out a distinct space for philosophy, independent of religious beliefs.
This essay collection brings together thirteen essays on the Hebrew Bible, five of which are published here for the first time. Each essay in the volume addresses the larger theme of relationships, whether human, divine or textual. In the first part of the book, a number of different social relationships are examined through the lens of gender; in part two, divine relationships — that of Yhwh to other gods, and that of Yhwh to Israel — are investigated; and in the third part of the volume, three examples of the relationship of texts to their larger literary contexts are considered. Topics touched upon by these essays include monotheism, pollution ideologies, competing ideas about holiness, ritual acts, covenant, family structures, and friendship.
This essay collection brings together thirteen essays on the Hebrew Bible, five of which are published here for the first time. Each essay in the volume addresses the larger theme of relationships, whether human, divine or textual. In the first part of the book, a number of different social relationships are examined through the lens of gender; in part two, divine relationships — that of Yhwh to other gods, and that of Yhwh to Israel — are investigated; and in the third part of the volume, three examples of the relationship of texts to their larger literary contexts are considered. Topics touched upon by these essays include monotheism, pollution ideologies, competing ideas about holiness, ritual acts, covenant, family structures, and friendship.
The Freudian Exodus redefines the traumatic experience that Freud argued was the origin of Judaic monotheism, the murder of Moses. Focusing instead on the Babylonian Exile, the study explores a series of topics understood as the aftershocks of that cultural trauma. Among these are the nature of anti-Semitism, Christianity’s vexed relationship to Judaism, the fantasmatic status of subjectivity, the cultural function of Torah, and Freud’s escape at the end of his life from Nazi-controlled Austria. The in-depth analysis of these topics aims for a new understanding of psychoanalysis, conceived more as a philosophy than as a mode of therapy.
The Freudian Exodus redefines the traumatic experience that Freud argued was the origin of Judaic monotheism, the murder of Moses. Focusing instead on the Babylonian Exile, the study explores a series of topics understood as the aftershocks of that cultural trauma. Among these are the nature of anti-Semitism, Christianity’s vexed relationship to Judaism, the fantasmatic status of subjectivity, the cultural function of Torah, and Freud’s escape at the end of his life from Nazi-controlled Austria. The in-depth analysis of these topics aims for a new understanding of psychoanalysis, conceived more as a philosophy than as a mode of therapy.
The Maimonides Review of Philosophy and Religion is an annual collection of double-blind peer-reviewed articles that seeks to provide a broad international arena for an intellectual exchange of ideas between the disciplines of philosophy, theology, religion, cultural history, and literature and to showcase their multifarious junctures within the framework of Jewish studies. Contributions to the Review place special thematic emphasis on scepticism within Jewish thought and its links to other religious traditions and secular worldviews. The Review is interested in the tension at the heart of matters of reason and faith, rationalism and mysticism, theory and practice, narrativity and normativity, doubt and dogma.
The Maimonides Review of Philosophy and Religion is an annual collection of double-blind peer-reviewed articles that seeks to provide a broad international arena for an intellectual exchange of ideas between the disciplines of philosophy, theology, religion, cultural history, and literature and to showcase their multifarious junctures within the framework of Jewish studies. Contributions to the Review place special thematic emphasis on scepticism within Jewish thought and its links to other religious traditions and secular worldviews. The Review is interested in the tension at the heart of matters of reason and faith, rationalism and mysticism, theory and practice, narrativity and normativity, doubt and dogma.
Gerrit Bos (Ph.D. 1989) is Professor Emeritus of Jewish Studies at the University of Cologne. He has published extensively in the fields of Jewish studies, Islamic studies, and medieval science and medicine in Arabic and Hebrew texts. In July 2023, he celebrated his 75th birthday. On this occasion, his colleagues and students presented him with a Festschrift containing over twenty original papers. They deal with various topics belonging to his wider fields of interest ranging from the Ancient Orient, Jewish and Islamic theology and philosophy, medicine and natural sciences in medieval Islamicate and European countries, to Romance philology and linguistics.
Gerrit Bos (Ph.D. 1989) is Professor Emeritus of Jewish Studies at the University of Cologne. He has published extensively in the fields of Jewish studies, Islamic studies, and medieval science and medicine in Arabic and Hebrew texts. In July 2023, he celebrated his 75th birthday. On this occasion, his colleagues and students presented him with a Festschrift containing over twenty original papers. They deal with various topics belonging to his wider fields of interest ranging from the Ancient Orient, Jewish and Islamic theology and philosophy, medicine and natural sciences in medieval Islamicate and European countries, to Romance philology and linguistics.