Maimonides: Torah and Philosophic Quest - Softcover

Hartman, Rabbi David

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0827609116 ISBN 13: 9780827609112

Publisher: JEWISH PUBLICATON SOCIETY, 2009

Synopsis

In his 1976 Maimonides: Torah and Philosophical Quest, David Hartman departs from traditional scholarly views about Maimonides by offering a new way of understanding the great man and his work. This expanded edition contains Hartman’s new postscript.

A 12th-century rabbi, scholar, physician, and philosopher, Moses Maimonides is best known for his two great works on Judaism: Mishneh Torah and Guide to the Perplexed. They have often been viewed by scholars as having different audiences and different messages, together reflecting the two sides of the author himself: Maimonides the halakhist, who focused on piety through obedience to Jewish law; and Maimonides the philosopher, who advocated closeness with God through reflection and knowledge of nature. Hartman argues that while many scholars look at one aspect of Maimonides to the exclusion or dismissal of the other, the way to really understand him is to see both adherence to the law and philosophical pursuits as two essential aspects of Judaism.

Hartman’s 2009 postscript sheds new light on his argument and indeed on Judaism as Maimonides interpreted it. In it Hartman explains that while Maimonides never envisioned the integration of halakhah with philosophy, he did view them as existing in a symbiotic relationship. While the focus of the Mishneh Torah was halakha and obedience to Jewish law, Guide to the Perplexed spoke to individuals whose love of God grew through their passion, devotion and yearning to understand God’s wisdom and power in nature. Both modes of spiritual orientation lived in the thought of Maimonides.

About this title

From the Publisher:

A National Jewish Book Award winner, now in a new edition

From the Back Cover:

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 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 new light on his argument and indeed on Judaism as Maimonides interpreted it.

David Hartman is founder of the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem, the world-renown center for the study of classical Jewish sources and of contemporary Israeli and Jewish issues. He is the author of A Living Covenant: The Innovative Spirit in Traditional Judaism and Israelis and the Jewish Tradition: An Ancient People Debating Its Future. Dr. Hartman received his rabbinical ordination from Yeshiva University and his PhD in philosophy from McGill University.

About this edition

• Publisher: JEWISH PUBLICATON SOCIETY
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 0827609116
• ISBN 13: 9780827609112
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 320