The Cambridge Companion to Medieval Jewish Philosophy

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.

• Examines the formative role of medieval thought for modern Judaism in a unique and comprehensive introduction • Eighteen essays present all the major Jewish thinkers of the period • Written in a clear, accessible style by some of the leading writers in this field

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.