Howard Kreisel – författare

Examines Maimonides' political thought in light of his medieval Aristotelian and Jewish sources.This book presents a series of studies that cover a wide range of issues relating to Maimonides' political thought, including the basis for political and ethical knowledge; the notion of the "good"; imitatio Dei; apparent contradictions in his position on ethics; the conception of God that he attempts to inculcate to Jewish society at large; and his novel approach to the love and fear of God. Taking into account his medieval Aristotelian and Jewish sources, these explorations also deal with some of the opposing considerations that Maimonides had to balance in developing and presenting his positions on such subjects as the nature of divine law, the static vs. dynamic dimensions of Mosaic law, prophetic and rabbinic authority within Judaism, the reasons for the commandments, and martyrdom. A close reading of the manner in which he formulates his views, in light of their literary and intellectual-historical contexts, allows us a better glimpse of how profound and subtle Maimonides is as a thinker and an educator.

Prophecy, more than any other phenomenon, represents the point at which the Divine meets the human, the Absolute meets the relative. How can a human being attain the Word of God? In what manner does God, when conceived as eternal and transcendent, address corporeal, transitory creatures? What happens to God's divine Truth when it is beheld by minds limited in their power to apprehend, and influenced by the intellectual currents of their time and place? How were these issues viewed by the great Jewish philosophers of the past, who took the divine communication and all it entails seriously, while at the same time desiring to understand it as much as humanly possible in the course of dealing with a myriad of other issues that occupied their attention? This book offers a profound study of prophesy in the thought of seven mediaeval Jewish philosophers: R. Saadiah Gaon, R. Judah Halevi, Maimonides, Gersonides, R. Hasadi Crescas, R. Joseph Albo, and Baruch Spinoza. It attempts to recapture the 'original voice' of these thinkers, looking at the intellectual milieus in which they developed their philosophies and by carefully analysing their views in their textual contexts.It also deals with the relation between the earlier and later approaches. A significant model for narrating the history of an idea.

More than any other topic, prophecy represents the point at which the divine meets the human, the absolute meets the relative. How can a human being attain the Word of God? In what manner does God, when conceived as eternal and transcendent, address corporeal, transitory creatures? What happens to God's divine Truth when it is beheld by minds limited in their power to apprehend, and influenced by the intellectual currents of their time and place? How were these issues viewed by the great Jewish philosophers of the past, who took the divine communication and all it entails seriously, while at the same time desired to understand it as much as humanly possible in the course of dealing with a myriad of other issues that occupied their attention? This volume offers an in-depth study of prophecy in the thought of seven of the leading medieval Jewish philosophers: R. Saadiah Gaon, R. Judah Halevi, Maimonides, Gersonides, R. Asdai Crescas, R. Joseph Albo and Baruch Spinoza. It attempts to capture the "original voice" of these thinkers by looking at the intellectual milieus in which they developed their philosophies, and by carefully analysing their views in their textual contexts.It also deals with the relation between the earlier approaches and the later ones. Overall, this book presents a significant model for narrating the history of an idea.