Table of Contents

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.

Promotional Information

An introduction to Jewish philosophical thought during the Middle Ages.

About the Author

Daniel H. Frank is Professor of Philosophy and Director of the Judaic Studies Program at the University of Kentucky. Among recent publications are History of Jewish Philosophy (edited with Oliver Leaman, 1997), The Jewish Philosophy Reader (edited with Oliver Leaman and Charles Manekin, 2000), and revised editions of two Jewish philosophical classics, Maimonides' Guide of the Perplexed (1995) and Saadya Gaon's Book of Doctrines and Beliefs (2002). Oliver Leaman is Professor of Philosophy and Zantker Professor of Judaic Studies at the University of Kentucky. He is the author of An Introduction to Classical Islamic Philosophy (2001), Evil and Suffering in Jewish Philosophy (1995), and is editor of Encyclopedia of Asian Philosophy ( 2001) and Companion Encyclopedia of Middle Eastern and North African Film (2001). He is co-editor, with Glennys Howarth, of Encyclopedia of Death and Dying (2001).

Reviews

'... this companion contains much excellent material and I would recommend it very highly.' Jewish Chronicle '... this is a useful collection that would probably function well as an advanced introduction to Medieval Jewish Philosophy for undergraduate and taught postgraduate students.' Journal of Jewish Studies