Language:
English
Year of publication:
2021
Titel der Quelle:
Harvard Theological Review
Angaben zur Quelle:
115,1 (2022) 90-109
Keywords:
Abraham Philosophy
;
Maimonides, Moses, Criticism and interpretation
;
Maimonides, Moses,
;
Maimonides, Moses,
;
God (Judaism) History of doctrines
Abstract:
Maimonides opened almost all of his books with the verse “in the name of the Lord, the God of the world” (Gen 21:33). This verse describes the nature of Abraham’s calling, which Maimonides interprets, both in the Mishneh Torah and in the Guide of the Perplexed, as an effort to persuade others to abandon their idolatrous perceptions and affirm the uniqueness of God. There is, however, a difference between the way Maimonides describes Abraham and his calling in the Mishneh Torah and their portrayal in the Guide of the Perplexed. In the former, Abraham is presented as a philosopher; in the latter, as a biblical prophet. In the Mishneh Torah, Maimonides’s description of Abraham revolves around a verse that describes the “God of the world”; in the Guide of the Perplexed, Maimonides adds verses in which Abraham mentions “heaven.” In this article, I shall examine these differences and suggest that they represent developments and shifts in Maimonides’s own philosophical position.
DOI:
10.1017/S0017816022000062
URL:
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