What is your opinion on Maimonides? Is Guide to the Perplexed

>>8778911
>that filename
לל

Hey OP,

I know a lot about medieval Jewish philosophy. Unfortunately, this board never really cares about it.

If you want to delve into him, you need a background in Saadia Gaon. This will help you understand the pre-Maimonidean Jewish philosophy and see how he changes it.

Second, you need a large background in Aristotle. Maimonides very much is trying to synthesize Aristotle with the Bible. Sometimes he agrees with Aristotle (Ex God is incorporeal and therefore allusions to God's body are metaphorical) and sometimes he tries to maintain Jewish thought (Ex eternity of the world and creation ex nihilo both cannot be demonstrated so let's preserve the Jewish view)

If you've read most of the Torah and then pick up The Maimonides Reader and the Hackett Guide to the Perplexed then you'll be in a good spot.

His political philosophy is honestly brilliant. The importance of Maimonides cannot be overstated. Seriously.

>>8781804
thanks for the thoughtful post

>>8778911

I heard he was a Jew, OP. Be careful.

>>8781804
I enjoyed Maimonides when I read him a while back, but some of these I haven't covered. Thanks.

>>8780782
אתה גם יהודון?

>>8782916
Aye, but I can't into ivrit.

>>8781804
Thank you.

Do you have a preferred translation?

>>8781804
good post, saving this

>>8778911

All I know is now Jews filters the old testament through his philosophy.

>>8778911
read Persecution And The Art of Writing by Leo Strauss

>>8783119
Twersky's Maimonides Reader
Hackett Classics Guide of the Perplexed, Chaim Rabin's translation

>>8784258
Yes and no.

Modern traditional Jews understand the Bible through the Rabbinic lens. The Rabbis crafted their own interpretation of the text, which as a work of exegesis is a masterpiece. The ingenuity of (Rabbinic) Judaism and its relationship to the Bible may be the greatest literary achievement ever.

Maimonides represents another layer of that Rabbinic lens. He takes phrases about God's anthropomorphism and changes them into allegories. Personally, I think it is obvious that some of these anthropomorphisms are metaphorical and some demonstrate an earlier understanding of God (Eg Exodus 16, "God is a man of war") or in Genesis 3 that God walks in the garden in the pleasant part of the day

It's important to realize that the Guide of the Perplexed is an esoteric work. It takes the form of a letter to a student, it's a philosophical analysis, and it's also a commentary on the Bible.

Maimonides' peers rejected him, many generations of Jews considered his philosophy subpar, and many of his opinions never became authoritative

>>8785621
>He takes phrases about God's anthropomorphism and changes them into allegories. Personally, I think it is obvious that some of these anthropomorphisms are metaphorical and some demonstrate an earlier understanding of God (Eg Exodus 16, "God is a man of war") or in Genesis 3 that God walks in the garden in the pleasant part of the day

though that's a serious exegetical problem, since YHWH does have a body? Then who did Jeremiah talk to (cause it was the word of the Lord), who did Abraham talk to when YHWH was present with two others? Who did Moses see as the glory of YHWH and talk to if YHWH had no body?