Medieval Jewish Philosophy and Its Literary Forms


Book Description

“This well-written, accessible [essay] collection demonstrates a maturation in Jewish studies and medieval philosophy” (Choice). Too often the study of philosophical texts is carried out in ways that do not pay significant attention to how the ideas contained within them are presented, articulated, and developed. This was not always the case. The contributors to this collected work consider Jewish philosophy in the medieval period, when new genres and forms of written expression were flourishing in the wake of renewed interest in ancient philosophy. Many medieval Jewish philosophers were highly accomplished poets, for example, and made conscious efforts to write in a poetic style. This volume turns attention to the connections that medieval Jewish thinkers made between the literary, the exegetical, the philosophical, and the mystical to shed light on the creativity and diversity of medieval thought. As they broaden the scope of what counts as medieval Jewish philosophy, the essays collected here consider questions about how an argument is formed, how text is put into the service of philosophy, and the social and intellectual environment in which philosophical texts were produced.




A Short Survey of the Literature of Rabbinical and Mediæval Judaism


Book Description

Excerpt from A Short Survey of the Literature of Rabbinical and Mediæval Judaism The object of this volume is to provide in outline an introduction to the literature of post-Biblical Judaism. We wish to emphasise the fact that it is an outline, and nothing more, that has been attempted. The field is vast, and only a very broad survey has been possible. Many interesting tracts have perforce been passed over in silence, or dismissed with bare mention; and even when a subject seems to occupy, proportionately, a considerable space, e.g. the general Historical Survey, it must be remembered that only the slightest treatment of the theme has been possible. Anything like an adequate exposition would have required several volumes. Our work is essentially an Introduction, in the elementary sense. We have in mind the needs of a very large body of readers to whom the whole field of later Jewish literature is absolutely unknown. We hope that this manual will open to them a new and fascinating field of study. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.