Theology

Maimonides

1138 to 1204, Cordoba and Cairo

Reconciling scripture with Aristotelian reason.

Lessons

Knowing God by Negation

Maimonides’s radical claim that we can say nothing positive about God’s essence - only what God is not - to guard the divine unity from every human image.

The Guide for the Perplexed

Maimonides’s great attempt to reconcile the Torah with the philosophy of Aristotle - for the believer torn between faith and reason.

Creation or Eternity?

Maimonides’s careful verdict on the deepest cosmological question - whether the universe was created or has existed forever - and why he sided with Scripture without claiming to prove it.

What Is a Prophet?

Maimonides’s bold, naturalistic theory that prophecy is the highest perfection of the human mind and imagination - a state most people could, in principle, attain.

The Reasons for the Law

Maimonides’s insistence that every commandment of the Torah has a rational purpose - against the pious view that God’s laws are inscrutable decrees to be obeyed without question.